Fascinating 350-Year-Old Mystery Of The Man In The Iron Mask – Unmasked

MessageToEagle.com – The identity of The Man in the Iron Mask is undoubtedly among the most fascinating historical mysteries.

But perhaps it is no longer a mystery. Now, after almost three decades of meticulous digging, Paul Sonnino, a professor of history at UC Santa Barbara, claims he has figured the 350-year-old mystery out.

In his latest book, “The Search for the Man in the Iron Mask: A Historical Detective Story”, he presents his thorough investigation supported by a large number of documents. official records and the vast correspondence.

Sonnino says that serious historians have long ago discounted the legend popularized by Voltaire and Dumas that the mysterious figure was the twin brother of Louis XIV. They are pretty much in agreement that his name was Eustache Dauger, that he only occasionally wore the mask, and that when he did wear a mask, it was velvet, not iron.

The historians are also convinced that the man was a valet, but what they have not been able to figure out is whose valet he was and for what possible reason he was held under tight security for over 30 years, according to Sonnino.

Dauger was the valet of the treasurer of the late Cardinal Mazarin, who had been principal minister of France during Louis XIV’s childhood and youth, and who had accumulated a huge fortune, some of which he even passed on to the king himself, the researcher says.

The Search for the Man in the Iron Mask triumphantly solves an enduring puzzle that has stumped historians for centuries and seduced novelists and filmmakers to this day. Who was the man who was rumored to have been kept in prison and treated royally during much of the reign of Louis XIV while being forced to wear an iron mask? Could he possibly have been the twin brother of the Sun King? Like every other serious scholar, intrepid historian Paul Sonnino discounts this theory, instead taking the reader along on his adventures to uncover the truth behind this ancient enigma. Exploring the hidden, squalid side of the lavish court of France, the author uncovers the full spectrum of French society, from humble servants to wealthy merchants to kings and queens. All had self-interested reasons to hold their secrets close until one humble valet named Eustache Dauger was arrested and jailed for decades, simply because he knew too much and opened his mouth at the wrong time. Presenting his dramatic solution to the mystery, Sonnino convincingly shows that no one will be able to tell the story of the man in the iron mask without taking into account the staggering array of evidence he has uncovered over the course of decades. Read more

“What I was able to determine,” Sonnino says, “was that Mazarin had ripped off some of his huge fortune from the previous king and queen of England, and that Eustache was arrested years later just as Louis XIV was trying to con their son, the present king of England, into joining him in a war.

Dauger must have blabbed at the wrong time.  He was informed when arrested that if he revealed his identity to anyone he would immediately be killed.”

Asked why the prisoner’s identity has remained obscured for so long, Sonnino replied that this is the problem with all history.

“Historians insist on making it antiseptic, moralistic, sensible. Life does not make sense. Humans are much more complicated than that.”

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