The Man Behind the Iron Mask (4 page)

Scene Eight
: Vaux-le-Vicomte. Later that morning. The King's chamber with the shutters half-closed and the King, dressed in hunting costume, receiving his morning visitors. Though the Queen Mother has noticed a slight difference in his voice, the young man is imitating his brother's lofty manner and controlling his own profound feelings so well that not the slightest suspicion has been aroused. The fact that Aramis and Fouquet have not yet appeared surprises him, and while someone is sent to fetch them, he lets it be known that Aramis is now established in his confidence and Fouquet re-established in his favour. The voice of Fouquet is heard from the secret staircase and when the door in the panelling opens, a cry of amazement and horror fills the chamber. Twin Kings, wearing by uncanny chance identical clothes, stand facing each other across the room, both pale as death and trembling, clenching their hands convulsively, their eyes bolting from their heads; then the King who has just entered leaps at one of the shutters and flings it open. Light floods the chamber, and the assembly looks on dumbfounded as both Kings kneel at the Queen Mother's feet and beg to be acknowledged as her son. The newly arrived King then turns to d'Artagnan and demands to be recognized. Rousing himself from his shock and wonder, d'Artagnan places his hand on the shoulder of the other King. The choice is made. The triumphant King turns from his rival and sweeps from the room, taking everyone with him except the Queen Mother and Fouquet. Gently, with tragic nobility, the defeated King reproaches his mother for her cruelty. Graciously, with compassion and respect, d'Artagnan and Fouquet ask the young man's forgiveness. Silently, without expression, Colbert appears in the doorway and gives d'Artagnan a written order from the King. The prisoner is to be conducted to the island of Sainte-Marguerite, his face covered with an iron mask, and if he attempts to remove the mask he is to be killed.

Scene Nine
: The Harbour of Antibes.
²⁴
Morning sunlight on the sea. Athos and his son, Raoul, together on the quay. Heroic, tragic Athos, the purest and wisest of them all, with his brave, heart-broken son. Betrayed in his love for Louise de La Vallière, Raoul has volunteered for service with the Duc de Beaufort, the Grand Admiral of France, who is leaving Toulon with the fleet on a punitive expedition against Gigelli
²⁵
in North Africa. They are in Antibes to requisition fishing-boats to serve as lighters for the embarkation, and one of the fishermen they talk to has a strange tale to tell. Six days previously, a gentleman he did not know came in the night to hire his boat to go to the island of Saint-Honorat.
²⁶
The stranger had a huge trunk with him and, in spite of the dangers and difficulties of transporting such a thing, insisted on taking it along. In mid-crossing, however, he decided that the approach to Saint-Honorat was too dangerous in the dark and wanted to be landed at Sainte-Marguerite instead. The fisherman, who knew the waters well, was confident that he could make it to Saint-Honorat in safety, but when he refused to change course the stranger drew his sword. Seizing their hatchets, the fisherman and his mate made ready to defend themselves, when the huge trunk sprang open of its own accord and the devil himself climbed out, a phantom whose head was covered in a black mask like a helmet. Terrified, the fisherman and his mate jumped overboard. The stranger thanked the devil and the boat drifted on. When it was found the next day, it was beached and broken on the island of Sainte-Marguerite and the devil, the trunk and the stranger had vanished into thin air. The fisherman went at once to the fortress to tell what had happened, but the governor refused to believe his story and threatened to have him flogged if he persisted in it.

Scene Ten
: Island of Sainte-Marguerite. That afternoon. Athos and Raoul in a garden at the foot of the fortress wall. Someone calls out and, looking up, they see a hand at a barred window throw a silver plate towards them. When they pick it up they discover that a message has been scratched into the metal with the point of a knife: ‘I am the brother of the King of France – a prisoner today – a madman tomorrow. French gentlemen and Christians, pray to God for the soul and the sanity of the son of your masters.' A musket-ball fired from above strikes the ground at their feet. They are being shot at by two of the prison guards, but with an exclamation of surprise one of their assailants knocks up the musket of the other, and the next moment they are surrounded by soldiers. The governor would have them shot on the spot because the prisoner has made contact with them, but d'Artagnan arrives from the top of the wall in time to save them. They are Spanish, he says, and friends of his: he knows they have not read the prisoner's message because they cannot read a word of French; and taking the plate from them, he scrapes out the writing with the tip of his sword.

Scene Eleven
: Island of Sainte-Marguerite. That evening. The ramparts of the fortress in a storm. Dark wracks and wild seas. Thunder and lightning. D'Artagnan, Athos and Raoul have concealed themselves in an angle of the staircase to watch the governor go by with his prisoner. Under the fiery tumult of the exploding heavens, the lambent flash and flicker of lightning reflected, a man clothed all in black stops to look at the storm and breathe its sulphurous fumes; his head is encased in an iron helmet, a mask of iron covering his face, the iron sheathed in fire under the streaming rain. ‘Come, sir,' cries the governor impatiently. ‘Say, “my lord”,' exclaims Athos angrily. ‘Say neither,' declares a hollow and dreadful voice from the iron mask. ‘Call me the Accursed.'

Not only is this version of the Iron Mask story the one most people know, often it is the only one they know. The novels of Dumas were always bestsellers and when in the twentieth century the cinema came to challenge and supersede the written word, his Musketeer stories were quickly reproduced in the new form. Since 1902 more than a score of films of the Iron Mask have been made in English, French, Italian, Spanish and German, and almost all have used or adapted the story of the twins as told by Dumas, with one actor playing the parts of both Louis XIV and the Iron Mask, as did Richard Chamberlain in 1976 and Leonardo Di Caprio in 1998, though in earlier films the star of the cast invariably took the rôle of d'Artagnan, as did Douglas Fairbanks in 1919 and Jean Marais in 1962. The story of the Iron Mask continues to be part of western popular myth in our own day, as it was part of French political myth two hundred years ago. With the passing of the years the bestseller has prevailed over history to such an extent that it is not perhaps too much of an exaggeration to suggest that by the vast majority of people today, at least outside of France, the illustrious Louis XIV is not likely to be known or remembered except as the monster-brother of the Man in the Iron Mask.

What in the meantime had become of the imaginary skeleton of the Iron Mask found in the Bastille in 1789 is not known. Presumably it was laid to rest in some imaginary tomb, liberated at last from its terrible mask of iron. Certainly the mask itself was not interred with the bones because half a century later it turned up again, discovered in a heap of old iron, far away from Paris, in the little town of Langres, just to the north of Dijon. How it reached Langres was not explained, but it was reasonable to suppose that it had been brought by one of the many scrap-iron merchants who served the booming cutlery industry there. The event was recorded by Paul Lacroix in his
Revue Universelle des Arts
for 1855.

It has been reported in several newspapers that the famous iron mask has been recovered in a heap of scrap-iron at a sale in Langres. Acquired first of all by a second-hand dealer, it was apparently passed on for a modest sum to a distinguished enthusiast, who having scratched at the thick coating of dust which covered the interior brought to light a little strip of parchment blackened with age on which it was still possible to see some half-erased letters. This strip, carefully washed and treated, revealed the following inscription: ‘Anno praesenti 1703 ferream mors avulsit personam quam postnato geminus imponi jusserat fra …' (i.e. ‘In this year 1703, death removed the iron mask which the twin commanded to be fixed upon his younger bro …'). The rest of the inscription is missing; but according to a local newspaper, what there is of it is enough to prove that the mask in question is precisely the one which was used to cover the face of the state prisoner known by the name of the Man in the Iron Mask. This discovery of the famous iron mask, with its beautiful inscription broken off in the middle of the word ‘frater', must have been made during carnival-time.

The story of the Mask of Langres, like all good stories, as with the story of the Iron Mask himself, has a basis in truth. An actual mask of iron was found, and still exists today as part of the collection of the Langres Museum. It was donated by a certain Canon Defay, who was the headmaster of a local school, but its provenance beyond that is not known, and it certainly bears no trace of any inscription. The dimension of the object, as given by the museum, are: ‘height 18.3 cms., width 17.3 cms., weight 470 grams'; that is to say, 7.2 inches from top to bottom, 6.8 inches from side to side, and a little more than one pound in weight. The catalogue-card reads as follows: ‘Mask of Iron. Hammered plate with cut-out eyes, nostrils and mouth. Formerly painted (traces of pink glaze around eyes and nostrils). Upper rim scalloped. Three holes in form of triangle in middle of forehead. Lower edge pierced with holes along entire length. Keyhole cut into left side of chin. Perforation in each ear-section.'

No doubt the holes around the edge of the mask were made for a web of straps which fastened around the wearer's head. Presumably there was one strap attached to the top of the forehead, with two more attached to the ears, and they met at the back of the head where they were anchored by a fourth strap linking them to a collar which was secured to the chin. What the purpose of the keyhole was, one cannot say. There is no trace of a locking device, and it is difficult to imagine how any such mechanism could have been incorporated into the chin. Perhaps it was added later to suggest a lock which never existed. As it is, the mask appears to be very old and could well be Celtic. Beautiful and terrible, with its smoothly ridged features and asymmetric eyes, it defies interrogation. It could have been made for the wearer's protection, a mask of war or of ritual, a defence against physical or spiritual harm. It is not even sure that it was made to cover the face of any living man. It might have been strapped to the head of an image or a corpse, a living god or a dead hero, the face of a totem or a trophy skull. Exhibited today with its startled, staring eyes and gaping, gasping mouth, it siezes the attention and demands an explanation. But its mystery remains as impenetrable as the mystery of the man who, in the popular imagination, was condemned to live out his life in prison, with such a mask on his face.

NOTES

1
.   
Louis XIV
: King of France, b. 1638, reigned 1661–1715 after the regency of his mother, Anne of Austria, 1642–1661, and before the regency of his nephew, Philippe, Duc d'Orléans, 1715–1723.

2
.   
Louis XVI
: King of France, b. 1754, reigned 1774–1793, after the reign of his grandfather Louis XV, 1723–1774. He was deposed and executed during the French Revolution.

3
.   Bastille
: French state prison in Paris stormed, captured and destroyed in the early days of the French Revolution.

4
.   
Voltaire
: pen-name of François-Marie Arouet, 1694–1778. Controversial and influential French writer, best known for his historical and philosophical writings, for his satire and social criticism.

5
.   
Pantheon
: Neoclassical-style building in Paris, built between 1758 and 1789. Originally intended as a church but secularized under the Revolution to serve as a national temple in honour of great Frenchmen.

6
.   
Cardinal Jules Mazarin
: Prime Minister and virtual ruler of France under the regency of Anne of Austria.

7
.   
Sainte-Marguerite
: an island facing the town of Cannes on the French Riviera.

8
.   
Benigne d'Auvergne de Saint-Mars
, 1626–1708.

9
.   
Pignerol
: modern town of Pinerolo, south-west of Turin in Piedmont, Italy.

10
.  
Michel Chamillart
, 1652–1721. Minister of State under Louis XIV from 1699 to 1709.

11
.  When in 1791 Louis XVI tried to escape the revolutionary forces and flee the country disguised as a valet, he was arrested in a provincial town because a simple postmaster there recognized him from his portrait on the coinage.

12
.  
Louis XV
: King of France, b. 1710, reigned 1723–1774, great-grandson of Louis XIV.

13
.  
Philippe, Duc d'Orléans
, 1674–1723, was the son of Louis XIV's only brother.

14
.  
Armand de Vignerot, Duc de Richelieu
, 1696–1788.

15
.  
Louis XIII
: King of France, b. 1601, reigned 1617–1643, after the regency of his mother, Marie de' Medici, 1610–1617, and before the regency of his widow, Anne of Austria.

16
.  
Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu
: Prime Minister under Louis XIII from 1628 to 1642.

17
.  M.D.: presumably the initials signify
Monsieur le duc
, i.e. her father the Regent.

18
.  
Forest of Sénart
: south-east of Paris.

19
.  
pistole
: Spanish gold coin.

20
.  
Jean-Baptiste Colbert
, 1619–1683. Finance Minister under Louis XIV from 1665 to 1683.