Who The Man In The Iron Mask Really Was According To Historians

Along with speculation from other historians, history professor Paul Sonnino claimed in 2016 that he finally found an answer to a nearly 400-year-old question: who was the man in the iron mask? His name was Eustache Dauger, and he was probably a valet. It gets a bit tricky from there.

Although the consensus is that Dauger was a valet, no one knew who he worked for, nor why he was put under such close guard for 30 years. An arrest warrant for Dauger, dating back to 1669, included instructions on limiting Dauger's contact with other prisoners, and "[threatening] him with death if he [spoke] one word except about his actual needs."

Sonnino concluded that Dauger was a valet for the treasurer working for Cardinal Mazarin, an extremely wealthy minister of France who effectively served as president of the state before the role had actually been created. The theory is that Dauger knew Mazarin was stealing, spoke out about it, and was punished severely for it. That would explain the pains taken to seclude Dauger and keep his identity a secret—all to protect Mazarin.

The tale began as a rumor spread throughout France about a strange prisoner made to wear an iron mask. In 1687, a gazette reported the prisoner's transfer from the harsh fortress of Pignerol. In 1698, the prisoner moved again, this time to the Bastille in Paris. In reports from guards at the Bastille, he still wore the iron mask.

Although reports of the man in the iron mask began as early as his incarceration, his story really took off after his passing in 1703. Even the circumstances surrounding his demise were mysterious; it was said that everything he owned was burned, and the walls of his prison cell were scrubbed clean. Thus began the myth of the man in the iron mask.

Sonnino's conclusion gives a lot of insight into why concealing Dauger's identity was so imperative. The long-standing myth of the iron mask is legendary. A hidden identity gave way to persistent speculation , rumors, and tall tales that circulated for hundreds of years. The mask Dauger was forced to don not only covered up his identity, but allowed for a fascinating story to become part of French history.

Sonnino backed up another claim that many historians had been saying for years: the man in the iron mask was more likely the man in the velvet mask. Rather than wearing the metal accessory consistently, he was probably forced to wear it to hide his identity while being transferred between prisons. 

The velvet mask is less dramatic, but makes a lot more sense historically. Women at that time wore masks of velvet to protect their skin from the sun, for accessorizing, or for keeping their identity a secret during an assignation—a respectable way to do something most certainly not respectable.

Voltaire, the French Enlightenment philosopher and writer, was imprisoned within the Bastille in 1717. During his internment, he collected stories about the masked man from older prisoners who claimed they knew Dauger (not by name, of course). Voltaire took liberties with the descriptions; his version was the first to spread the detail that the mask was made of iron. He even went into detail about the horrific contraption, writing, "the chin of [the mask] was composed of steel springs, which gave him liberty to eat with it on."

Voltaire's version claimed the prisoner was clearly important since he received fine food and visits from the Governor, had refined manners, and even played guitar.

Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, was captivated by the story of the man in the iron mask. He based a character in his novel The Vicomte of Bragelonne off of Dauger, inspired by Voltaire's detailed (albeit second-hand) descriptions.

Dumas's take on the mysterious figure endured as the most popular. Dumas theorized that the man in the iron mask was twin brother to the king, Louis XIV, and a threat to the king's legitimacy. This is the theory used in various 20th century depictions of the tale, including the 1998 film staring Leonardo DiCaprio.