The True History of the State Prisoner, commonly called the Iron Mask. Dover George Agar Ellis
to sanction such a proceeding. It is indeed most painful to think, that power should have been placed in the hands of men, who could abuse it by such needless acts of cruelty.
We have no farther particulars of the state of Matthioli’s mind: but, being more than half-mad at the time he was placed with the Jacobin, who was quite so, it is probable the company of the latter increased and perpetuated his phrensy. It is even not impossible that such may have been the intention of St. Mars, as, while Matthioli continued insane, it was of course more reasonable and plausible to continue the extraordinary rigour of his confinement.
Nor were mental sufferings the only ones which the barbarity of Lewis and his minister obliged Matthioli to undergo. We have before seen, from the letters of Louvois to St. Mars, that the latter was desired generally to treat Matthioli with great severity; afterwards he writes to him upon the subject of his clothing, “You must make the clothes of such sort of people as he is last three or four years.”103 Some idea may also be formed of the kind of furniture of his dungeon, from the circumstance, mentioned by St. Mars, that, upon the removal of his prisoner from the fort of Exiles to the Island of St. Margaret in 1687, his bed had been sold, because it was so old and broken as not to be worth the carriage; and that all his furniture and linen being added to it, the sum produced by the sale was only thirteen crowns.104
It may be worth remarking here that the letter of Louvois, respecting Matthioli’s clothes, is a sufficient answer to the absurd stories with regard to the richness of the lace, &c. worn by the Iron Mask; and the relations from St. Mars himself of his threats to his prisoner, of even corporal punishment, no less disprove the erroneous accounts of the extraordinary respect shown to him.
In the year 1681, St. Mars was offered the government of the citadel of Pignerol, which he declined accepting, for what reasons we are not told: Lewis, who was anxious to recompense his services as a gaoler of State prisoners, then gave him the government of Exiles,105 a strong fortress and pass near Susa, on the frontier of Piedmont and the Briançonnois, which was vacant by the death of the Duke de Lesdiguières; at the same time augmenting the salary attached to that situation, so as to make it equal to that of the towns in Flanders.106 Louvois, in a letter dated May 12th, 1681, acquaints St. Mars with his appointment; and informs him that “the two prisoners in the lower part of the tower” are the only ones of those under his care at Pignerol, whom the King wishes to accompany him to Exiles.107 “The two prisoners in the lower part of the tower,” signify, as we have before seen, Matthioli and the monk.
An additional proof indeed, if any were wanted, that Matthioli was one of the two prisoners conveyed to Exiles, is given in the following extract from a letter of Louvois, dated June 9th, 1681: – “With regard to the effects belonging to the Sieur Matthioli which are in your possession, you will have them taken to Exiles, in order to be given back to him, if ever his Majesty should order him to be set at liberty.”108
It is to be remarked, that this is the last time Matthioli is mentioned by name in the correspondence between Louvois and St. Mars – in consequence, it appears, of what is said by the former in his letter before quoted of the 12th of May, where he desires a list of the names of all the prisoners then under the guard of St. Mars to be sent to him, and adds – “with regard to the two who are in the lower part of the tower, you need only designate them in that manner, without adding any thing else.”109 This precaution was evidently enjoined lest the list should fall into other hands, while it also shows that the necessity for concealment was still considered as strong as ever.
This is also proved by the precautions ordered to be taken during the journey of the two prisoners, lest they should be seen or spoken to by any one; and by the repeated orders for their strict confinement. – “The intention of his Majesty is, that, as soon as the room at Exiles, which you shall judge the most proper for the secure keeping of the two prisoners in the lower part of the tower, shall be in a state to receive them, you should send them out of the citadel of Pignerol in a litter, and conduct them there under the escort of your troop.”110 “His Majesty expects that you will guard the two before-mentioned prisoners, with the same exactitude you have made use of hitherto.”111 To these instructions St. Mars returned an answer in the same strain, dated from Pignerol, as he was on the point of setting off for Exiles. – “In order that the prisoners may not be seen (at Exiles), they will not leave their chamber when they hear mass; and in order that they may be kept the more securely, one of my lieutenants will sleep above them, and there will be two sentinels night and day, who will watch the whole round of the tower, without its being possible for them and the prisoners to see and to speak to one another, or even to hear any thing of one another. They will be the soldiers of my company, who will be always the sentinels over the prisoners. There is only a confessor, about whom I have my doubts; but if you do not disapprove, I will give them the curate of Exiles instead, who is a good man, and very old; whom I will forbid, on the part of his Majesty, to inquire who these prisoners are, or their names, or what they have been, or to speak of them in any way, or to receive from them by word of mouth, or by writing, either communications or notes.”112
Before St. Mars removed finally to Exiles, he went there to inspect the fortress, leaving his prisoners under the guard of one of his lieutenants; which is here mentioned to show the falseness of the idea that he never quitted his mysterious prisoner. Louvois enjoined him before he left them, to arrange the guarding of his prisoners in such a manner, that no accident might happen to them during his short absence; and “that they might have no intercourse with any one, any more than they had had during the time they had been under his charge.”113 Subsequently Louvois desired him not to be more than one night at a time absent from Pignerol.114
St. Mars found certain repairs to be necessary to that part of the fortress of Exiles, which he deemed the most proper residence for “the two prisoners in the lower part of the tower.” He demanded money for this purpose, and Louvois returned for answer that the King accorded him a thousand crowns, on condition he kept the grant a profound secret, and gave out that the repairs he was making, were at his own expense.115 This again was evidently for the purpose of concealing from the neighbourhood, that any prisoners of importance were to be removed from Pignerol to Exiles.
The repairs of the tower at Exiles first delayed the removal of St. Mars, and afterwards he was ordered to stay some time longer at Pignerol, in order to receive Catinat, who was again sent there secretly, again under the assumed name of Richemont, and again for the purpose of taking possession of Casale.116 This time the King of France was more fortunate than he had been in 1679, as Casale was actually sold to him by the Duke of Mantua, in the autumn of this year, 1681.
Finally, it appears that St. Mars and his prisoners did not move to Exiles till late in the autumn of 1681. About this time, St. Mars apparently requested permission to see and converse with Matthioli occasionally, for Louvois writes, “this word is only to acknowledge the receipt of your letter. The King does not disapprove of your visiting from time to time the last prisoner who has been placed in your charge, after he shall have been established in his new prison, and shall have left that where he is at present confined.”117 It is rather curious to observe, from this document, that St. Mars was permitted to visit his prisoner at Exiles, but not while he continued at Pignerol.
The first communication of St. Mars to Louvois after his arrival at Exiles, which has been published, is dated December the 4th, 1681,118 and relates to the sickness of his prisoners: and the next is a letter, dated March 11th, 1682, containing a similar detail to those already alluded to,
M. Roux (Fazillac), quoting from an unpublished letter of Louvois to St. Mars, dated December 14th, 1681.
About 1
Exiles was taken from the French in 1708, by the Duke of Savoy, but restored to them by the treaty of Utrecht.
Appendix, No. 111.
Appendix, No. 111.
Appendix, No. 112.
Appendix, No. 111.
Appendix, No. 112.
Ibid.
Appendix, No. 115.
Appendix, No. 111.
Appendix, No. 117.
Appendix, No. 113.
Appendix, No. 120.
Appendix, No. 121.