The True History of the State Prisoner, commonly called the Iron Mask. Dover George Agar Ellis
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 Matthioli3 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 Mantua5 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 Pignerol7 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 letter10 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 Eleanor12 to the Montferrat; and those of the Marquis of Laguna13 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 Modena16 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.
To Matthioli were joined in the negociation the two counsellors
“L’homme au masque de fer.”
M. Roux (Fazillac) published several of the documents, since republished by M. Delort, but he does not appear to have seen the whole series; and therefore his reasoning upon the subject is inconclusive. M. Delort has, however, copied a great deal from him in his narrative – whole sentences sometimes, word for word, without any acknowledgment of the plagiarism.
Delort.
The Abbé d’Estrades, Ambassador for a considerable time from Lewis the Fourteenth, to the Republic of Venice, was son of Godfrey, Count d’Estrades, so long employed in negociations and embassies in Holland, and who was one of the eight Marshals of France made upon the death of Turenne. Madame Cornuel called them, “La Monnoie de M. de Turenne.”
Ferdinand Charles IV., Duke of Mantua, a weak and unfortunate Prince. Died July the 5th, 1708, as it is said of poison, administered by a lady he was in love with.
Casale did not come into the possession of the French till 1681. In 1695, it was taken by the Allies, and its fortifications demolished. It was, however, retaken by the French, and fortified again. The King of Sardinia, (Victor Amadeus,) made himself master of it in 1706. His successor, Charles Emmanuel, lost it again to the French in 1745, but regained it the following year.
The strong fort of Pignerol, acquired to the Crown of France by the negociations of Richelieu, continued in their possession for 68 years. In 1696, it was restored by treaty to Victor Amadeus II., Duke of Savoy; its fortifications having been previously dismantled.
Victor Amadeus I., Duke of Savoy, a prince of great bravery and considerable talent. He married Christina, daughter of Henry IV., King of France, by whom he had two sons, Francis Hyacinth and Charles Emmanuel II., successively Dukes of Savoy. Died October 7th, 1637. He was the first Duke of Savoy, who appropriated to himself the title of
Isabella Clara, of Austria, daughter of the Archduke Leopold, who was grandson of the Emperor Ferdinand III. Married June 13th, 1649, to Charles III., Duke of Mantua.
Appendix, No. 1.
Appendix, No. 1.
The Empress Eleanor was daughter of Charles, Duke of Rhetelois, who died in the life-time of his father, Charles I. Duke of Mantua, in spite of which he is generally denominated by historians, Charles II., Duke of Mantua. She became, on the 30th of April, 1651, the third wife of Ferdinand III., Emperor of Germany, whom she survived many years, and died December 5th, 1686. She was the aunt of Ferdinand Charles IV., Duke of Mantua.
Thomas de la Cerda, Marquis of Laguna, in Spain, married April 22, 1672, to Maria Louisa, only daughter of Vespasian Gonzaga, only brother of Ferdinand III., the reigning Duke of Guastalla.
The Monk Bulgarini appears to have been the confessor and favourite of the Duchess-mother of Mantua; and to have been entirely devoted to the Spanish interests.
The profession of Giuliani was, that of an editor of newspapers, in which capacity he was in the habit of travelling from town to town, to collect and convey news. See Appendix, No. 98.
Alphonso IV., Duke of Modena, succeeded his father Francis I. in his territories, and in the command in chief of the French army in Italy, in 1658. Died in the 29th year of his age, July 16, 1662, having married, May 27, 1655, Laura Martinozzi, niece of Cardinal Mazarin.
Charles III., Duke of Mantua, father of Ferdinand Charles IV., the reigning Duke, had the command of the Imperial Army in Italy, and took upon himself the office of Vicar General of the Empire in Italy, during the interregnum which followed the death of the Emperor Ferdinand III. in 1657, in virtue of a diploma, lately granted to him by that Prince. His right was contested by the Duke of Savoy, who, upon the ground of old usage, claimed the office for himself. The Electors of the Empire annulled the appointment of the Duke of Mantua.
Appendix, No. 1.