Part 1
Transcriber’s Note
Obvious typographical and printing errors have been corrected. Variations in hyphenation have been normalized; other spelling inconsistencies have been retained.
Additional notes and details of the corrections can be found at the end of this e-text.
THE
TRUE HISTORY
OF
THE STATE PRISONER,
COMMONLY CALLED
THE IRON MASK,
EXTRACTED FROM DOCUMENTS IN THE FRENCH ARCHIVES.
BY
THE HON. GEORGE AGAR ELLIS.
LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET MDCCCXXVI.
LONDON: PRINTED BY S. AND R. BENTLEY, DORSET STREET.
PREFACE.
I was led to undertake the following Narrative by the perusal of a work, lately published at Paris, entitled “Histoire de L’Homme au Masque de Fer, par J. Delort;” in which the name of that state prisoner is most clearly and satisfactorily ascertained, by means of authentic documents.
Under these circumstances, it may be asked why I was not contented to leave the question, thus set at rest, in the hands of M. Delort, who had the original merit of the discovery:--to this I would answer, that M. Delort’s part of the book struck me as peculiarly ill arranged and confused; besides being unnecessarily filled with the most fulsome flattery of Lewis the Fourteenth, never, certainly, more inappropriately bestowed, than while in the act of recording one of the most cruel and oppressive acts of that Sovereign’s cruel and oppressive reign.
I have also thought, that the subject was one of sufficient historical curiosity to interest the English public.
For these reasons, I have been induced to throw together the following chain of evidence upon the subject, making use of the same documents as M. Delort, to which I have added some others previously published, and printing the whole series in an Appendix.
G. A. E.
_April, 1826._
CONTENTS.
Page
HISTORY OF THE IRON MASK 1
APPENDIX.
No. 1. Estrades to Lewis the Fourteenth. Commencement of the Negociation.--State of the Court of Mantua.--Influence of the Spaniards there 89
No. 2. Matthioli to Lewis the Fourteenth. Protestations of devotion to Lewis.--Belief in the good intentions of the Duke of Mantua 101
No. 3. Estrades to Pomponne. Continuation of the negociation.--Intrigues of the Austrian Party 104
No. 4. Estrades to Pomponne. Intrigues of the Spaniards to form a league in Italy against France 108
No. 5. Pomponne to Estrades 110
No. 6. Pomponne to Estrades. The King’s approval of the negociation ib.
No. 7. Lewis the Fourteenth to Estrades. Approval of the negociation.--Answer to the demands of the Duke of Mantua 112
No. 8. Lewis the Fourteenth to Matthioli 116
No. 9. Estrades to Pomponne 117
No. 10. Estrades to Lewis the Fourteenth. Conference with Matthioli.--Discussion of the demands of the Duke of Mantua 119
No. 11. Estrades to Pomponne. The Duke of Mantua watched by the Spaniards 126
No. 12. Estrades to Pomponne. Impatience of the Duke of Mantua to conclude the Negociation 130
No. 13. Estrades to Pomponne. Plans of the Spaniards.--Dispositions of the Venetian Government 131
No. 14. Pomponne to Estrades. Recommendations of Delay in the Negociation 138
No. 15. Estrades to Pomponne. Information respecting the Dispositions of the Venetians 140
No. 16. Estrades to Pomponne. Fears of the Duke of Mantua 143
No. 17. Estrades to Lewis the Fourteenth. Account of his Interview with the Duke of Mantua.--The latter insists upon sending Matthioli to Paris 146
No. 18. Estrades to Pomponne. Reasons for consenting to the mission of Matthioli to 151
No. 19. Estrades to Pomponne 155
No. 20. Pomponne to Estrades. Approval of Matthioli’s Mission to France.--Permission to Estrades to leave Venice 156
No. 21. Estrades to Pomponne. Conversation with Matthioli 158
No. 22. Pomponne to Estrades 160
No. 23. Estrades to Pomponne. Means of protracting the Negociation.--Views of Matthioli 162
No. 24. Estrades to Pomponne. Delay in Matthioli’s Journey to Paris 164
No. 25. Estrades to Pomponne. Interview with Matthioli 166
No. 26. Pomponne to Estrades 169
No. 27. Pomponne to Estrades 170
No. 28. Estrades to Pomponne. Differences between the Duke of Mantua and the Spaniards 171
No. 29. Estrades to Pomponne. Excuses for the delay of Matthioli 173
No. 30. Pomponne to Estrades 174
No. 31. Estrades to Pomponne 175
No. 32. Pomponne to Estrades 176
No. 33. Estrades to Lewis the Fourteenth. Good dispositions of the Duke of Mantua, and of the Garrison of Casale 177
No. 34. Pinchesne to Pomponne 179
No. 35. Matthioli to Lewis the Fourteenth. Excuses his own delay ib.
No. 36. Pinchesne to Pomponne 180
No. 37. Pomponne to Pinchesne 181
No. 38. Pomponne to Pinchesne 182
No. 39. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Intention of Estrades to leave Venice 183
No. 40. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Continued delay of Matthioli 184
No. 41. Pinchesne to Pomponne 185
No. 42. Pomponne to Pinchesne 186
No. 43. Pomponne to Pinchesne ib.
No. 44. Pomponne to Pinchesne 187
No. 45. Pinchesne to Pomponne 188
No. 46. Pinchesne to Pomponne ib.
No. 47. Pomponne to Pinchesne 189
No. 48. Powers granted to Pomponne, to treat with Matthioli 190
No. 49. Lewis the Fourteenth to the Duke of Mantua. Promises his protection to the Duke 192
No. 50. Pomponne to Pinchesne 193
No. 51. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Interview of Pinchesne with Don Joseph Varano 194
No. 52. Pomponne to Pinchesne. A courier sent to Venice with a new cypher 196
No. 53. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Catinat sent to Pignerol 197
No. 54. Pomponne to Pinchesne. D’Asfeld sent to Venice 198
No. 55. Pomponne to Pinchesne 199
No. 56. Pinchesne to Pomponne 200
No. 57. Pinchesne to Pomponne 201
No. 58. Pinchesne to Pomponne 202
No. 59. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Arrival of d’Asfeld at Venice 203
No. 60. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Delays of Matthioli, and of the Duke of Mantua 206
No. 61. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Further Delays of Matthioli 208
No. 62. Louvois to Saint-Mars 211
No. 63. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Interviews with Matthioli.--Further Delays in the Ratification of the Treaty 212
No. 64. Louvois to Saint-Mars 215
No. 65. Pomponne to Pinchesne ib.
No. 66. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Reasons for the Duke of Mantua’s delay in going to Casale 216
No. 67. Pomponne to Matthioli 220
No. 68. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Arrangements for the Exchange of the Ratifications of the Treaty 222
No. 69. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Suspicions of the House of Austria respecting the Negociations 225
No. 70. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Arrest of d’Asfeld.--Departure of the Duke of Mantua from Venice 227
No. 71. Pomponne to Matthioli. Letter of Credence to be presented to Matthioli by Catinat 230
No. 72. Estrades to Matthioli. Complaints of the Delays in the Conclusion of the Negociation 232
No. 73. Louvois to Saint-Mars 235
No. 74. Pomponne to Pinchesne 237
No. 75. Pomponne to Pinchesne. Suspicions of the Fidelity of Matthioli 238
No. 76. Chanois to Louvois. Reports of Catinat being at Pignerol.--Different Rumours respecting the Negociation 239
No. 77. Catinat to Louvois 241
No. 78. Catinat to Louvois. Rumours of Catinat’s being at Pignerol.--Civilities of Saint-Mars to him 242
No. 79. Pomponne to Pinchesne. Continued Suspicions of Matthioli 245
No. 80. Louvois to Saint-Mars 246
No. 81. Pomponne to Pinchesne. Confirmation of the Suspicions respecting Matthioli’s want of fidelity 247
No. 82. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Order to receive Matthioli as a Prisoner 248
No. 83. Pomponne to Pinchesne. Further confirmation of the Treachery of Matthioli 249
No. 84. Catinat to Louvois. Arrest of Matthioli 250
No. 85. Catinat to Louvois. Intelligence respecting Matthioli’s Papers 252
No. 86. Inventory sent by Catinat to Louvois, of the Papers which Matthioli had about his person 256
No. 87. Catinat to Louvois. First Examination of Matthioli 260
No. 88. Pomponne to Pinchesne 271
No. 89. Pinchesne to Pomponne. Interviews between the Duke of Mantua and the Senator Foscarini 272
No. 90. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Orders to treat Matthioli with severity 275
No. 91. Catinat to Louvois. Plans of Catinat for obtaining possession of Casale 276
No. 92. Second Examination of Matthioli 280
No. 93. Louvois to Saint-Mars 293
No. 94. Catinat to Louvois. Further particulars respecting Matthioli ib.
No. 95. Third Examination of Matthioli 296
No. 96. Louvois to Saint-Mars 302
No. 97. Catinat to Louvois. Concluding Examination of Matthioli 303
No. 98. Varengeville to Pomponne. Proposed recompense to Giuliani 307
No. 99. Louvois to Saint-Mars 309
No. 100. Louvois to Saint-Mars 310
No. 101. Saint-Mars to Louvois ib.
No. 102. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Matthioli complains of his Treatment, and gives Proofs of Insanity 311
No. 103. Louvois to Saint-Mars 312
No. 104. Louvois to Saint-Mars 313
No. 105. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Matthioli and the Jacobin placed together 314
No. 106. Saint-Mars to Louvois 315
No. 107. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Particulars respecting the Ring given by Matthioli to Blainvilliers 316
No. 108. Louvois to Saint-Mars 317
No. 109. Louvois to Saint-Mars 318
No. 110. Louvois to Saint-Mars 319
No. 111. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Appointment of Saint-Mars to the Government of Exiles--Measures to be taken by him thereupon 320
No. 112. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Precautions for the Journey of the Prisoners from Pignerol to Exiles 322
No. 113. Louvois to Saint-Mars 325
No. 114. Louvois to Saint-Mars 326
No. 115. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Precautions for the Security and Concealment of the Prisoners at Exiles 327
No. 116. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Departure of Saint-Mars from Pignerol ordered to be deferred, in order that he might receive Catinat there 328
No. 117. Louvois to Saint-Mars 329
No. 118. Louvois to Saint-Mars. Orders for the Reception of Catinat at Pignerol 330
No. 119. Louvois to Saint-Mars 332
No. 120. Louvois to Saint-Mars ib.
No. 121. Saint-Mars to Louvois 333
No. 122. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Description of the Apartment and manner of Confinement of the Prisoners at Exiles 334
No. 123. Saint-Mars to Louvois 336
No. 124. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Saint-Mars is made Governor of the Islands of Saint Margaret 337
No. 125. Saint-Mars to Louvois 338
No. 126. Saint-Mars to Louvois. Arrival of Matthioli at the Islands of Saint Margaret 340
No. 127. Saint-Mars to the Minister. Relation of the conduct of two Protestant Ministers 341
No. 128. Extract from the Register of the Bastille, published in the Work entitled, “La Bastille Dévoilée” 342
No. 129. Second Extract from the Register of the Bastille, published in the Work entitled, “La Bastille Dévoilée” 343
No. 130. Extract from the Register of Burials of the Church of Saint Paul, at Paris 345
No. 131. Extract from the Work entitled “La Correspondance Interceptée,” by M. Lewis Dutens, published in 1789 346
No. 132. Extract from the article on the Iron Mask in the Work entitled “_Mélanges d’Histoire et de Littérature_;” by Mr. Quintin Craufurd 347
No. 133. Letter from the Baron de Heiss to the Authors of the “_Journal Encyclopédique_” on the subject of the Iron Mask; published in that Journal in 1770 348
Letter on the subject of the Man in the Iron Mask, announced in the preceding one 349
HISTORY
OF
THE IRON MASK.
The curiosity of the public has been now, for above a century, so much wrought upon by the mystery which has enveloped the name of the Iron Mask, (or as the French more properly designate him, “_the Man of the Iron Mask_,”[1]) that the eagerness for discovery has thus been carried much farther than the real importance of the subject deserved. Numerous have been the papers written, and the conjectures hazarded in favour of different theories; almost all presenting, at first view, some semblance of probability; but all, without exception, crumbling to nothing when exposed to the researches of accurate inquiry. Under these circumstances, it is certainly satisfactory, that the question should be finally set at rest.
It is singular, that among all the inquiries hitherto made respecting the Iron Mask, no one seems ever to have thought of recurring to the only source from whence true information could be derived--the archives of the French Government, during the reign of Lewis the Fourteenth. It was reserved for M. Delort to make these researches; which he did by the permission of the Count d’Hauterive, Keeper of the Archives of the office of Secretary of State for the Foreign department, and the result has been perfectly conclusive. In those archives, he found the continued correspondence of the French ministers, proving, beyond a doubt, that the Iron Mask was an Italian of the name of Matthioli; a personage who was first put on the list of candidates for that honour, in a pamphlet published in 1801, by M. Roux (Fazillac);[2] who, however, was then unable to support his opinion with sufficient authorities.
Hercules Anthony Matthioli[3] was a Bolognese of ancient family, distinguished in the law. He was the son of Valerian Matthioli and Girolama Maggi, and was born on the 1st of December 1640. On the 13th of January, 1661, he married Camilla, daughter of Bernard Paleotti, and widow of Alexander Piatesi. By her he had two sons, one of whom only had posterity, which has long since been extinct. Early in life he was public reader in the University of Bologna, but he soon quitted his native city to enter into the service of Charles the Third, Duke of Mantua, by whom he was much favoured, and towards the conclusion of whose reign he was made Secretary of State. His successor, Ferdinand, Charles the Fourth, the last sovereign of Mantua, of the house of Gonzaga, created Matthioli Supernumerary Senator of Mantua, an honour which had formerly been enjoyed by his great grandfather, and gave him the title of Count. When he ceased to be Secretary of State at Mantua does not appear; but he was clearly not in that office when he first, unhappily for himself, was involved in diplomatic relations with the agents of the French Government.
Towards the end of the year 1677, the Abbé d’Estrades,[4] ambassador from France to the Republic of Venice, conceived the idea, which he was well aware would be highly acceptable to the insatiable ambition of his master, of inducing the Duke of Mantua[5] to allow of the introduction of a French garrison into Casale,[6] a strongly fortified town, the capital of the Montferrat, and in a great measure the key of Italy. The cession of the fortress of Pignerol[7] to the French, by Victor Amadeus,[8] Duke of Savoy, in 1632, had opened to them the entry of Piedmont, and the possession of Casale would enable them to invade the Milanese, whenever they were so inclined.
At this time the council of the Duke of Mantua, headed by his mother,[9] an Austrian Archduchess, was entirely in the interests of the Court of Spain; while the young Duke, plunged in pleasures and excesses of every kind, took little apparent interest in politicks. The great difficulty, therefore, which Estrades had to encounter in the prosecution of this intrigue, was the establishment of a channel of communication with the Duke; who, as has been stated, was surrounded by persons in the Spanish interest. If he could once enter into secret relations with that Prince, he hoped to be able to bribe him into a concurrence in his designs; for Ferdinand Charles was both needy and unprincipled. He had, besides, discovered, as he writes word to Lewis, in his first letter[10] to him, dated Venice, Dec. 18th, 1677, that the Duke was not so abandoned to his pleasures, but that he still had some ambition, and much chagrin at the state of subjection in which he was kept by his mother; joined to a great distrust of the Spaniards, who were supposed to foment the divisions of the Court of Mantua, with the view of, eventually, themselves obtaining possession of Casale and the rest of the Montferrat.
The desired channel of communication Estrades thought he had found in Matthioli, who was a complete master of Italian politicks, as well as much in the Duke’s good graces. Before, however, he proceeded to enlist him in his service, he deemed it necessary to discover what was the bent of his inclinations. This he effected ingeniously enough, by sending a certain Giuliani, in whom he appears to have placed implicit confidence, to Verona, where Matthioli then was, to act as a spy upon him. The report of Giuliani, upon his return to Venice, was so favourable, both with regard to the discontent of Matthioli against the Spaniards, “who had always amused him with hopes, and afterwards abandoned him,”[11] and his wish to enter into the service of the French Monarch, that Estrades lost no time in sending him (Giuliani) back again for the purpose of conferring with Matthioli upon the subject of the proposed negociation.
Giuliani was instructed by the Ambassador to enlarge to Matthioli upon the jeopardy which the sovereignty of the Duke of Mantua was in, in consequence of the different pretensions of various branches of his family to his territories, which were more or less countenanced by the Spaniards for the purposes of their own aggrandizement. These were, among others, those of the Empress Eleanor[12] to the Montferrat; and those of the Marquis of Laguna[13] to the Duchy of Guastalla, to the prejudice of the Duke of Mantua, who was the rightful heir. Giuliani was also to lament the dependant state of the Duke of Mantua, the revenues of whose states, as well as all the powers of government, were entirely in the hands of his mother, and the Monk Bulgarini;[14] and to explain the necessity which, on these accounts, existed for that Prince to seek, without delay, the alliance and protection of Lewis the Fourteenth. He was to assure him, in conclusion, that Estrades had no doubt of the readiness of Lewis to assist in freeing the Duke of Mantua from his embarrassments; but that, in order to enable him to do this effectually, it was absolutely necessary to garrison Casale with French troops.
Matthioli concurred entirely in these views of Giuliani, and offered to sound the Duke of Mantua upon the subject. A few days afterwards, he sent word to Estrades, that he had managed to have an interview with that Prince (having previously established himself secretly in the neighbourhood of Mantua), and had found him generally well-disposed to the plan. He also requested Estrades to send Giuliani again to him, in order that they might act in concert; the said Giuliani being also a person who might, without suspicion, carry intelligence backwards and forwards,[15] which was not the case with Matthioli himself.
Giuliani was accordingly sent, and had an audience of the Duke of Mantua, who received him very favourably, and acquainted him with his willingness to enter into an alliance with France, and to deliver up Casale, upon the understanding that Estrades was to try to obtain for him any reasonable requests he might make; the principal of these, in addition to the grant of a sum of money, was the being made generalissimo of any French army that might be sent into Italy, “that being,” says Estrades, “what he wishes beyond all things; or rather, that being the only thing he is very anxious for, in order that he may have the same consideration in Italy the late Duke of Modena[16] had, and the late Duke of Mantua,[17] who at his age commanded in chief the Emperor’s army, with the title of Vicar General of the Empire.”[18]
The Duke of Mantua also announced in this conference, that he put himself, on this occasion, entirely into the hands of Matthioli, whom he promised to reinstate in his place of Secretary of State, and to appoint his first minister, as soon as he himself should have regained his authority, and that the treaty, he was now projecting with the King of France, had been duly executed.