On November 19, 1703, a prisoner died in the Bastille, who went down in history as "the man in the iron mask." The secret of the life of this man who was a life prisoner under Louis XIV, has been of interest to historians and writers for many centuries. However, many are concerned about the question: did he exist at all or is it just fiction and a legend
The most famous legends about the Iron Mask are the writings Voltaire. Back in 1751, he writes about how a certain young prisoner arrived on the island of St. Margaret, on whose face was an iron mask. Later, the assistant minister of war came for him. Marquise de Louvois and transported him to the Bastille, where the prisoner was kept in luxurious conditions. They were fed with delicious dishes, dressed in the best clothes and carried out any order. Even the governor himself set the table for him. All this indicated that this prisoner was from a noble family.
Voltaire later mentioned the Iron Mask again in another of his books. He wrote that the captive wore this mask even in the presence of a doctor. And all because in his facial features there was an amazing resemblance to some very famous person at court. And even later, Voltaire even directly stated that the prisoner in the mask was the brother of Louis XIV. It is this version that is one of the most popular, especially in cinema and literature.
The five most interesting versions:
The Prisoner in the Iron Mask was the twin brother of Louis XIV.
Louis XIII it was predicted that if twins were born to him, they would bring him misfortune and a quick death. So when he had two twin sons, he hid one of them away from home. When Louis XIV, already king, found out about his brother, he found him and imprisoned him forever, putting an iron mask on him so that no one would ever know their secret.
The Prisoner in the Iron Mask was the half-brother of Louis XIV.
According to this version, the masked man was the elder brother of the king, whom Anna of Austria gave birth to her lover, and not the legal husband of King Louis XIII. Fearing the wrath of her husband, Anna was forced to hide the baby.
The prisoner and Louis XIV are the sons of Anne of Austria, but not the king.
There is also a version according to which Louis XIV and the “man in the iron mask” were indeed brothers, mother brothers. But none of them was the son of a king. Consequently, neither one nor the second had legal rights to the throne. But if the father of the "man in the iron mask" was one of the many lovers of Anna of Austria, then the father of the future Louis XIV - Cardinal Mazarin. Using his influence at court, the cardinal could leave his son as the future king, and keep the second child of Anna of Austria secret.
The Italian origin of the prisoner.
After his death, the mysterious prisoner was buried under the name Marchioli. In this regard, there were suggestions about the possible Italian roots of the prisoner. Allegedly, the prisoner was actually called Ercol Antonio Mattioli. And during the burial, due to confusion in languages, they could write incorrectly. But Mattioli's spy really entered history. He first appeared at the French court in 1678 and posed as a Spanish minister. Later, he pulled off a series of scams, tried to betray the state secret of the king, and was severely punished for this. He was put in jail and always had an iron mask on his face. However, this version has a lot of controversial nuances.
Three prisoners in velvet masks.
The version that is most supported by the facts.
On the island of St. Margaret, and then in the Bastille, for almost thirty years, as many as three prisoners were kept, whose faces were covered with masks. True, they were velvet, not iron. One of them is really the adventurer Mattioli. Second - Minister Nicolas Fouquet, who was imprisoned due to a conflict with the king. On duty, he knew so many royal secrets that it was impossible to allow him to contact other people. Fouquet was so smart that he insured himself: in the event of his violent death, some state secrets would emerge from the hands of people loyal to Fouquet and would destroy the king. Therefore, Louis XIV was forced to leave the disgraced minister alive.
And finally, the third prisoner in the mask - Eustache Dauger. It is believed that this was a priest who learned about the affair of Louis XIV with Madame Montespan. For which he paid with freedom.
Rice. 1. False Peter the First and my reading of the inscriptions on his portrait
The portrait I borrowed from the video where the Announcer says: " But already on his other engraving, as well as on all subsequent portraits of other artists, we see a completely different person, unlike his relatives. It would seem absurd!
But the oddities don't end there either. On the engravings and portraits of 1698, this man looks more like a 20-year-old boy. However, in the Dutch and German portraits of 1697, the same person looks more like 30 years old.
How could this happen?»
I am starting an epigraphic analysis of this portrait. A clue to where to look for certain inscriptions are the two previous portraits. First, I read the inscription on the brooch attached to the headdress, which says: MIM YAR RURIK. In other words, this is another priest of Yar Rurik, although there is no signature of CHARAOH. It may very well be that the absence of this highest spiritual rank means that this priest did not recognize the spiritual priority of Rurik, although formally he was his priest. In this case, he was very suitable for the role of Peter's double.
Then I read the inscriptions on the fur collar on the left, above the white frame: TEMPLE OF MARY YARA. I consider this inscription as a continuation of the previous one. And inside the fragment circled in white, I read the words in inverted color: MOSCOW MARY 865 YARA (YEAR). Under Mary's Moscow, Veliky Novgorod was understood; however, already the first Romanov introduces real Christianity, and Patriarch Nikon, under Alexei Mikhailovich, eliminates all remnants of Russian Vedism from Muscovy. Consequently, Russian Vedists partly go to the Russian hinterland, partly go to the Russian diaspora in neighboring states. And the year 865 Yar is 1721 A.D. , this is more than 70 years after Nikon's reforms. By this time, the places of the priests were no longer occupied by children, but by the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the priests removed by Nikon, and the grandchildren and great-grandchildren often no longer speak the speech of their grandfathers and great-grandfathers. But, perhaps, the year of the final design of this engraving, which was begun in 1698, is shown. But even in this case, the depicted young man is 6-8 years younger than Peter.
And on the very bottom fragment, under the frame on the fur collar on the left, I read the word MASK. Then I read the inscription on the fur collar on the right: the top of the collar, diagonally, contains the inscription ANATOLY FROM RUSSIA MARY, and the line below - 35 ARKONA YARA. But the 35th Arkona Yar, this is the same as Mary's Moscow, this is Veliky Novgorod. In other words, one of the ancestors of this Anatoly in the middle of the 17th century could actually be a priest in this city, while after Nikon's reforms he ended up somewhere in the Russian diaspora. It is possible that in Catholic Poland, which very diligently carried out all the decrees of the Pope.
Rice. 2. Portrait of Peter by an unknown artist at the end of the 18th century
So, we now know that the young man with the bulging eyes was not Peter at all, but Anatoly; in other words, the substitution of the king is documented.
We see that this portrait was painted in Veliky Novgorod. But apart from the name of False Peter, this portrait did not bring any details, and, moreover, the artist was not even named, so this portrait was not entirely acceptable as an evidence document, which made me look for other canvases. And soon the desired portrait was found: “ Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia, portrait by an unknown late artistXVIII century» . Below I will show why the artist was unknown.
Epigraphic analysis of the second portrait of the False Peter.
I chose this particular image of Peter, because on his silk baldric I read the word YARA below, deciding that the portrait belonged to the painter of their Yara temple. And I was not mistaken. The letters were inscribed both in separate parts of the face and in the folds of clothing.
Rice. 3. My reading of the inscriptions on the portrait of Peter in fig. 2
It is clear that if I suspected the presence of Russian inscriptions on a blue silk ribbon, then I began reading from it. True, since in the direct color these letters are not very contrasting, I go to the inverted color. And here you can see the inscription, made in very large letters: TEMPLE YAR, and on the collar - the inscription MASK. This confirmed my preliminary reading. In modern terms, this means: IMAGE FROM THE TEMPLE OF YAR .
And then I moved on to reading the inscriptions on the parts of the face. First - on the right side of the face, on the left at the viewer's point of view. On the lower strands of hair (I rotated this fragment 90 degrees to the right, clockwise). Here I read the words: MASK OF THE TEMPLE OF RURIK. In other words, IMAGE FROM THE TEMPLE OF RURIK .
On the hair above the forehead you can read the words: MIM OF THE TEMPLE OF RURIK. Finally, on the right from the viewer's point of view, on the left side of the face, one can read ANATOLY MASK FROM RURIK YAR JUTLAND. Firstly, it is confirmed here that False Peter was called Anatoly, and, secondly, it turned out that he does not come from Holland, as many researchers have suggested, but from neighboring Denmark. However, the transition from one country to another at the end of the 17th century, apparently, did not pose a big problem.
Next, I move on to reading the inscription on the mustache. Here you can read the words: RIMA MIM. In other words, Dane by birth and Dutch by language, was an agent of Rome's influence. For the umpteenth time, the final center of action against Russia-Russia is Rome!
But can this claim be verified? - I examine the armor on the right hand, as well as the background behind the hand. True, for readability, I rotate this fragment to the right by 90 degrees (clockwise). And here on the background in the form of fur you can read the words: MASK OF THE TEMPLE OF ROME and ROMA MIM RUSSIA RIMA. In other words, about the fact that before us is really the image of not the emperor of Russia, but the priest of Rome! And on armor, hands can be read on every two plates: ROMA MIM. RIMA MIM.
Finally, on the fur collar next to the left arm, one can read the words: RURIK ROME MIM.
Thus, it becomes clear that the temples of Rurik existed as early as the 18th century, and their priests, creating portraits of dead people (usually the priests of the temple of Mary did this), usually wrote their titles, as well as names. This is exactly what we saw in this portrait. However, in a Christian country (where Christianity had been the official religion for more than a century), it was not safe to advertise the existence of Vedic temples, which is why the artist of this portrait remained unknown.
Rice. 4. The death mask of Rurik and my reading of the inscriptions
Death mask of Peter.
Then I decided to look on the Internet for foreign sites. In the article, I read the section “The Great Embassy” with interest. In particular, it said: " His Grand Embassy, numbering 250 participants, left Moscow in March 1697. Peter became the first king to leave his kingdom. The official purpose of the embassy was to give a new breath to the coalition against the Ottoman Empire. However, Peter made no secret of the fact that he went to "observe and learn" and to recruit foreign specialists for his new Russia. In the then Swedish city of Riga, the tsar was allowed to inspect the fortress, but to his great surprise, he was not allowed to take measurements. In Courland (the current region of the coast of Lithuania and Latvia), Peter met with the Dutch ruler, Frederick Casimir. The prince tried to persuade Peter to join his coalition against Sweden. In Königsberg, Peter visited the fortress of Friedrichsburg. He took part in visiting artillery courses, and graduated with a diploma certifying that "Peter Mikhailov received skills as a bombardier and skills in the use of firearms».
The following describes a visit by Peter Leeuwenhoek with his microscope and Witsen, who compiled a book describing northern and eastern Tartaria. But most of all I was interested in the description of his secret meeting: September 11, 1697 Peter had a secret meeting with King William of EnglandIII. Nothing is known about their negotiations, except that they lasted two hours and ended in a friendly parting. At that time, the English navy was regarded as the fastest in the world. King William assured that Peter should visit the English naval shipyards, where he would learn to understand the design of ships, make measurements and calculations, and learn how to use instruments and tools. As soon as he arrived in England he tried to sail the Thames» .
One gets the impression that it was in England that the best conditions were formed for the replacement of Peter by Anatoly.
The same article published the death mask of Peter the Great. The caption underneath reads: "DeathmaskofPeter. After 1725, St Petersburg, from the original by Bartolomeo Rastrelli, after 1725, Bronze-tinted plaster. Case 34.5 x 29 x 33 cm. State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg." This death mask has forehead I read the inscription in the form of a strand of hair: MIMA RUSI ROME MASK. She confirms that this image does not belong to the Emperor of Russia Peter the Great, but to the Roman priest Anatoly.
Rice. 5. Miniature by an unknown artist and my reading of the inscriptions
Miniature by an unknown artist.
I found it at the address with the signature: “PetertheGreat (1672 - 1725) of Russia. Enamel miniature portrait by an unknown artist, late 1790s. #Russian #history #Romanov”, Fig.5.
Upon inspection, it can be argued that the largest number of inscriptions is on the background. The miniature itself I strengthened in contrast. To the left and above the head of the portrait, I read the captions: ROMA RURIK YARA MARY TEMPLE AND ROME MIM AND ARKONA 30. In other words, now it is specified in which particular temple of Mary of Rome the miniature was made: in the capital of the state of Rome, in the city a little to the west CAIRA .
To the left of the head at the level of the hair, I read in the background the words: MARY RUSSIA TEMPLE OF VAGRIA. Perhaps this is the address of the customer of the thumbnail. Finally, I read the inscriptions on the character's face, on his left cheek (where the wart on the left side of his nose is missing), and here you can read the words below the shadow of the cheek: RIMA MIM ANATOLY RIMA JAR STOLITSY. So, once again, the name of Anatoly is confirmed, now written in rather large letters.
Rice. 6. A fragment of a picture from the British Encyclopedia and my reading of the inscriptions
Painting of Peter from the Encyclopædia Britannica.
Here I read the inscriptions on the fragment, where there is a bust portrait, fig. 6, although the full picture is much larger, Fig. 7. However, I singled out exactly the fragment and the size that suited me perfectly for epigraphic analysis.
The first inscription that I began to read is the image of a mustache. On them you can read the words: TEMPLE OF ROME MIMA, and then - continuation on the upper lip: RURIK, and then on the red part of the lip: MARY'S TEMPLE MASK, and further - on the lower lip: ANATOLY ROMA ARKONA 30. In other words, here we see a confirmation of the previous inscriptions: again the name of Anatoly, and again his link to the temple of Mary Rurik in the city near Cairo.
Then I read the inscription on the collar: 30 ARKONA YARA. And then I turn to the consideration of the fragment to the left of Peter's face, which I circled with a black frame. Here I read the words: 30 ARKONA YARA that has already been read. But then there are new and amazing words: ANATOLY MARY TEMPLE IN ANKARA ROME. It is not so much the existence of a special temple dedicated to Anatolia that is surprising, but the location of such a temple in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. I have not yet read such words anywhere. Moreover, the word ANATOLY can be understood not only as a proper name of a person, but also as the name of a locality in Turkey.
For the time being, I consider it sufficient to consider the inscriptions on the portraits. And then I am interested in the details of the substitution of the Russian Tsar, which can be found in printed works on the Internet.
Rice. 7. Painting from Encyclopædia Britannica online
Wikipedia's opinion on the substitution of Peter the Great.
In the article “The Double of Peter I”, Wikipedia, in particular, states: “ According to one version, the substitution of Peter I was organized by some influential forces in Europe during the tsar's trip to the Grand Embassy. It is alleged that of the Russian people who accompanied the tsar on a diplomatic trip to Europe, only Alexander Menshikov returned - the rest are believed to have been killed. The purpose of this crime was to put his protege at the head of Russia, who pursued a policy that was beneficial to the organizers of the substitution and those who stood behind them. One of the possible goals of this substitution is the weakening of Russia».
Note that the history of the conspiracy to change the tsar of Russia in this presentation is conveyed only from the side of facts, and, moreover, very vaguely. As if the Great Embassy itself had only the goal of creating a coalition against the Ottoman Empire, and not the goal of replacing the real Romanov with his double.
« It is alleged that Peter I, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, changed dramatically after returning from the Great Embassy. As evidence of the substitution, portraits of the king are given before and after his return from Europe. It is alleged that in the portrait of Peter, before traveling to Europe, he had an elongated face, curly hair and a large wart under his left eye. In the portraits of the king after returning from Europe, he had a round face, straight hair and no wart under his left eye. When Peter I returned from the Great Embassy, he was 28 years old, and on his portraits after his return he looked to be about 40 years old. It is believed that the king before the trip was of a dense build and above average height, but still not a two-meter giant. The returned king was thin, had very narrow shoulders, and his height, which was established quite accurately, was 2 meters 4 centimeters. Such tall people were a rarity at that time.».
We see that the authors of these Wikipedia lines do not at all share the provisions that they present to the reader, although these provisions are facts. How can you not notice such a striking change in appearance? Thus, Wikipedia tries to present obvious provisions with some speculation, something like this: “ it is said that two times two equals four". The fact that the person who arrived from the embassy was different can be seen by comparing any of the portraits in fig. 1-7 with a portrait of the departed king, fig. eight.
Rice. 8. Portrait of the departed Tsar Peter the Great and my reading of the inscriptions
To the dissimilarity of facial features, one can add the dissimilarity of implicit inscriptions on these two types of portraits. The real Peter is signed as "Peter Alekseevich", False Peter on all five portraits - as Anatoly. Although both were mimes (priests) of the temple of Rurik in Rome.
I will continue to quote Wikipedia: According to supporters of the conspiracy theory, soon after the arrival of the double in Russia, rumors began to spread among the archers that the tsar was not real. Peter's sister Sophia, realizing that an impostor had arrived instead of her brother, led a streltsy revolt, which was brutally suppressed, and Sophia was imprisoned in a monastery».
Note that in this case, the motive for the uprising of the archers and Sophia turns out to be extremely serious, while the motive for Sophia’s struggle with her brother for the throne in a country where only men still reigned (a common motive of academic historiography) seems to be very far-fetched.
« It is alleged that Peter loved his wife Evdokia Lopukhina very much, often corresponded with her when he was away. After the return of the king from Europe, on his orders, Lopukhina was forcibly sent to the Suzdal monastery, even against the will of the clergy (it is alleged that Peter did not even see her and did not explain the reasons for Lopukhina's imprisonment in the monastery).
It is believed that after his return, Peter did not recognize his relatives and subsequently did not meet either with them or with his inner circle. In 1698, shortly after Peter's return from Europe, his associates Lefort and Gordon died suddenly. According to conspiracy theorists, it was on their initiative that Peter went to Europe».
It is not clear why Wikipedia calls this concept conspiracy theories. According to a conspiracy of the nobility, Paul the First was killed, the conspirators threw a bomb at the feet of Alexander II, the USA, England and Germany contributed to the elimination of Nicholas II. In other words, the West has repeatedly interfered in the fate of Russian sovereigns.
« Supporters of the conspiracy theory argue that the returned king was ill with a chronic dengue fever, while it can only be contracted in southern waters, and even then only after visiting the jungle. The route of the Great Embassy passed by the northern sea route. The surviving documents of the Great Embassy do not mention that the constable Pyotr Mikhailov (under this name the tsar went with the embassy) fell ill with a fever, while for the people accompanying him it was no secret who Mikhailov really was. After returning from the Great Embassy, Peter I during naval battles demonstrated extensive experience in boarding combat, which has specific features that can only be mastered by experience. Boarding combat skills require direct participation in many boarding battles. Before traveling to Europe, Peter I did not take part in naval battles, since during his childhood and youth, Russia did not have access to the seas, with the exception of the White Sea, which Peter I did not visit often - mainly as an honored passenger».
It follows from this that Anatoly was a naval officer who took part in the naval battles of the southern seas, having been ill with tropical fever.
« It is alleged that the returned tsar spoke Russian poorly, that he did not learn to write correctly in Russian until the end of his life, and that he "hated everything Russian." Conspiracy theorists believe that before traveling to Europe, the tsar was distinguished by piety, and when he returned, he stopped observing fasts, attending church, mocked the clergy, began persecuting the Old Believers and began to close monasteries. It is believed that in two years Peter forgot all the sciences and subjects that the educated Moscow nobility owned, and at the same time acquired skills of a simple craftsman. There is a striking, according to conspiracy theorists, change in the character and psyche of Peter after returning».
Again, there are clear changes not only in Peter's appearance, but also in Peter's language and habits. In other words, Anatoly did not belong not only to the royal, but even to the nobility, being a typical representative of the third estate. In addition, there is no mention that Anatoly spoke Dutch fluently, which many researchers note. In other words, he came from somewhere in the Dutch-Danish region.
« It is alleged that the tsar, having returned from Europe, did not know about the location of the richest library of Ivan the Terrible, although the secret of finding this library was passed from tsar to tsar. So, Princess Sophia allegedly knew where the library was and visited it, and Peter, who came from Europe, repeatedly made attempts to find the library and even organized excavations.».
Again, a specific fact is given out by Wikipedia for some "statements".
« As evidence of the substitution of Peter, his behavior and actions are given (in particular, the fact that the tsar, who used to prefer traditional Russian clothes, no longer wore it after returning from Europe, including royal clothes with a crown - conspiracy theorists explain the latter fact by the fact that the impostor was taller than Peter and had narrower shoulders, and the things of the king did not fit him), as well as his reforms. It is argued that these reforms have done far more harm to Russia than good. As evidence, the tightening of serfdom by Peter, and the persecution of the Old Believers, and the fact that under Peter I in Russia there were many foreigners in the service and in various positions are used as evidence. Before his trip to Europe, Peter I set as his goal to expand the territory of Russia, including moving south towards the Black and Mediterranean Seas. One of the main goals of the Grand Embassy was to achieve an alliance of European powers against Turkey. While the returned king began the struggle for mastery of the Baltic coast. The war with Sweden conducted by the tsar, according to supporters of the conspiracy theory, was needed by Western states that wanted to crush the growing power of Sweden with the hands of Russia. It is alleged that Peter I pursued a foreign policy in the interests of Poland, Saxony and Denmark, which could not resist the Swedish king Charles XII».
It is clear that the raids of the Crimean khans on Moscow were a constant threat to Russia, and the rulers of the Ottoman Empire stood behind the Crimean khans. Therefore, the fight against Turkey was a more important strategic task for Russia than the fight on the Baltic coast. And the Wikipedia mention of Denmark is consistent with the inscription on one of the portraits that Anatoly was from Jutland.
« As evidence, the case of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich is also cited, who fled abroad in 1716, where he planned to wait for the death of Peter (who was seriously ill during this period) on the territory of the Holy Roman Empire and then, relying on the help of the Austrians, become the Russian Tsar. According to supporters of the version of the substitution of the king, Alexei Petrovich fled to Europe because he sought to free his real father, imprisoned in the Bastille. According to Gleb Nosovsky, the agents of the impostor announced to Alexei that after his return he would be able to take the throne himself, since loyal troops were waiting for him in Russia, ready to support his coming to power. Aleksey Petrovich, who returned, is believed by conspiracy theorists to have been killed on the orders of an impostor.».
And this version turns out to be more serious than the academic one, where the son opposes his father for ideological reasons, and the father, without putting his son under house arrest, immediately applies capital punishment. All this in the academic version looks unconvincing.
Version of Gleb Nosovsky.
Wikipedia also sets out a version of the new chronologists. " According to Gleb Nosovsky, initially he heard many times about the version of Peter's substitution, but he never believed in it. At one time, Fomenko and Nosovsky studied an exact copy of the throne of Ivan the Terrible. In those days, the zodiac signs of the current rulers were placed on the thrones. Examining the signs placed on the throne of Ivan the Terrible, Nosovsky and Fomenko found out that the actual date of his birth differs from the official version by four years.
The authors of the New Chronology compiled a table of the names of Russian tsars and their birthdays, and thanks to this table, they found out that the official birthday of Peter I (May 30) does not coincide with the day of his angel, which is a noticeable contradiction compared to all the names of Russian tsars. After all, names in Russia at baptism were given exclusively according to the holy calendar, and the name given to Peter violated the established centuries-old tradition, which in itself does not fit into the framework and laws of that time. Nosovsky and Fomenko, on the basis of the table, found out that the real name, which falls on the official date of birth of Peter I, was "Isakiy". This explains the name of the main cathedral of tsarist Russia, St. Isaac's.
Nosovsky believes that the Russian historian Pavel Milyukov also shared the opinion about the forgery of the tsar in an article in the encyclopedia of Brockhausazai and Evfron, Milyukov, according to Nosovsky, without stating directly, repeatedly hinted that Peter I was an impostor. The substitution of the tsar by an impostor was carried out, according to Nosovsky, by a certain group of Germans, and together with a double, a group of foreigners came to Russia. According to Nosovsky, rumors about the substitution of the tsar were very common among Peter's contemporaries, and almost all archers claimed that the tsar was fake. Nosovsky believes that May 30 was in fact not Peter's birthday, but the impostor who replaced him, on whose orders St. Isaac's Cathedral was built, named after him».
The name "Anatoly" revealed by us does not contradict this version, because the name "Anatoly" was a monastic one, and not given at birth. - As you can see, the "new chronologists" have added another touch to the portrait of the impostor.
Historiography of Peter.
It would seem that what is easier is to consider the biographies of Peter the Great, preferably lifetime ones, and explain the contradictions that interest us.
However, this is where disappointment awaits us. Here's what you can read in the work: " There were persistent rumors among the people about the non-Russian origin of Peter. He was called the Antichrist, the German foundling. The difference between Tsar Alexei and his son was so striking that many historians suspected Peter's non-Russian origin. Moreover, the official version of the origin of Peter was too unconvincing. She left and leaves more questions than answers. Many researchers have tried to lift the veil of strange reticence about the Petrine phenomenon. However, all these attempts instantly fell under the strictest taboo of the ruling house of the Romanovs. The phenomenon of Peter remained unsolved».
So, the people unequivocally asserted that Peter had been replaced. Doubts arose not only among the people, but even among historians. And then we read with surprise: In an incomprehensible way, until the middle of the 19th century, not a single work was published with a complete historiography of Peter the Great. The first who decided to publish a complete scientific and historical biography of Peter was the remarkable Russian historian Nikolai Gerasimovich Ustryalov, already mentioned by us. In the introduction to his work "History of the reign of Peter the Great" he details why until now (the middle of the 19th century) there is no scientific work on the history of Peter the Great". This is how this detective story began.
According to Ustryalov, back in 1711, Peter was eager to get the history of his reign and entrusted this honorary mission to the translator of the Posolsky Prikaz Venedikt Schiling. The latter was provided with all the necessary materials and archives, but ... the work was never published, not a single sheet of the manuscript was preserved. Even more mysterious: “The Russian Tsar had every right to be proud of his exploits and wish to pass on to posterity the memory of his deeds in a true, unadorned form. Thought he undertook to fulfillFeofan Prokopovich , Bishop of Pskov, and teacher of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich,Baron Huysen . Both of them were informed of official materials, as can be seen from the writings of Theophanes, and as is even more evidenced by the Sovereign's handwritten note of 1714, preserved in his office affairs: “Give all the journals to Gizen”(one). It would seem that now the History of Peter I will finally be published. But it was not there: “A skillful preacher, a learned theologian, Theophan was not a historian at all ... From that, describing the battles, he fell into inevitable mistakes; moreover, he worked with obvious haste, in haste, made omissions that he wanted to supplement later.. As we can see, Peter's choice was unsuccessful: Feofan was not a historian and did not understand anything at all. Huysen's work also turned out to be unsatisfactory and was not published: “Baron Huysen, having in his hands authentic journals of campaigns and travels, limited himself to extracts from them until 1715, without any connection, entangling many trifles and outsiders into historical events”.
In a word, neither this biography nor subsequent ones took place. And the author comes to this conclusion: The strictest censorship of all historical research continued into the 19th century. So the work of N.G. Ustryalov, which is the first scientific historiography of Peter I, was subjected to severe censorship. From the 10-volume edition, only separate excerpts from 4 volumes have been preserved! The last time this fundamental study about Peter I (1, 2, 3 vols, part of the 4th vol, 6 vols) was published in a truncated version only in 1863! Today it is actually lost and is preserved only in antique collections. The same fate befell the work of I.I. Golikov "Acts of Peter the Great", which has not been reprinted since the century before last! Notes of an associate and personal turner of Peter I A.K. Nartov "Reliable Narratives and Speeches of Peter the Great" were first opened and published only in 1819. At the same time, a scanty circulation in the little-known magazine "Son of the Fatherland". But even that edition underwent an unprecedented revision, when only 74 out of 162 stories were published. This work was not reprinted anymore, the original was irretrievably lost.» .
The entire book by Alexander Kas is called "The collapse of the empire of Russian tsars" (1675-1700), which implies the establishment of an empire of non-Russian tsars. And in chapter IX, under the title "How the royal dynasty was cut out under Peter," he describes the standing of Stepan Razin's troops 12 miles near Moscow. And he describes many other interesting, but practically unknown events. However, he does not give more information about the False Peter.
Other opinions.
Again, I will continue to quote the already named Wikipedia article: “It is alleged that Peter's double was an experienced sailor who participated in many naval battles and sailed a lot in the southern seas. It is sometimes stated that he was a sea pirate. Sergei Sall believes that the impostor was a high-ranking Dutch Freemason and a relative of the King of Holland and Great Britain, William of Orange. It is most often mentioned that the real name of the double was Isaac (according to one version, his name was Isaac Andre). According to Bayda, the double was either from Sweden or Denmark, and by religion he was most likely a Lutheran.
Bayda claims that the real Peter was imprisoned in the Bastille, and that he was the famous prisoner who went down in history under the name of the Iron Mask. According to Bayda, this prisoner was recorded under the name Marchiel, which can be interpreted as "Mikhailov" (under this surname Peter went to the Great Embassy). It is stated that the Iron Mask was tall, carried himself with dignity, and was treated reasonably well. In 1703, Peter, according to Bayda, was killed in the Bastille. Nosovsky claims that the real Peter was kidnapped and most likely killed.
It is sometimes argued that the real Peter was actually tricked into going to Europe so that some foreign powers could force him to subsequently pursue the policies they wanted. Not agreeing to this, Peter was kidnapped or killed, and a double was put in his place.
In one version of the version, the real Peter was captured by the Jesuits and imprisoned in a Swedish fortress. He managed to convey the letter to the King of Sweden, Charles XII, and he rescued him from captivity. Later, Karl and Peter organized a campaign against the impostor, but the Swedish army was defeated near Poltava by Russian troops led by Peter's double and the forces of Jesuits and Masons behind them. Peter I was again captured and hidden away from Russia - imprisoned in the Bastille, where he later died. According to this version, the conspirators kept Peter alive, hoping to use him for their own purposes.
Bayda's version can be verified by examining engravings from that time.
Rice. 9. The prisoner in the iron mask (illustration from Wikipedia)
Iron mask.
Wikipedia writes about this prisoner: Iron Mask (fr. Le masque de fer. Born circa 1640, d. November 19, 1703) - a mysterious prisoner under the number 64389000 of the times of Louis XIV, kept in various prisons, including (since 1698) the Bastille, and wearing a velvet mask (later legends turned this mask into an iron one)».
The suspicions about the prisoner were as follows: Duke of Vermandois, illegitimate son of Louis XIV and Louise de La Valliere, who allegedly slapped his half-brother, the Grand Dauphin, and atoned for this guilt with eternal imprisonment. The version is implausible, since the real Louis of Bourbon died back in 1683, at the age of 16", according to Voltaire -" The Iron Mask was the twin brother of Louis XIV. Subsequently, dozens of various hypotheses were expressed about this prisoner and the reasons for his imprisonment.", some Dutch writers suggested that " Iron Mask "- a foreigner, a young nobleman, a chamberlain of Queen Anne of Austria and the real father of Louis XIV. Lagrange-Chansel tried to prove in "L'annee litteraire(1759) that the Iron Mask was none other than Duke François de Beaufort, which has been completely refutedN. Aulairein hisHistoire de la fronte". Reliable information about the "iron mask" was given for the first time by the Jesuit Griffe, who was a confessor in the Bastille for 9 years, in his "Traité des différentes sortes de preuves qui servent à établir la vérité dans l'Histoire” (1769), where he gives the diary of Dujoncas, the royal lieutenant in the Bastille, and the list of the dead of the church of St. Paul. According to this diary, on September 19, 1698, a prisoner was brought from the island of St. Margaret in a stretcher, whose name was unknown and whose face was constantly covered with a black velvet (not iron) mask».
However, as I believe, the simplest method of verification is epigraphic. On fig. 9 depicted " Prisoner in an iron mask in an anonymous print from the French Revolution(same Wikipedia article). I decided to read the signature on the central character, fig. 10, slightly increasing the size of this fragment.
Rice. 10. My reading of the inscriptions on the image of the "Iron Mask"
I read the inscriptions on the wall above the prisoner's bunk, starting from the 4th row of masonry above the sheet. And gradually moving from one row to another, lower: MASK OF THE TEMPLE OF MARY RUSSIA RURIK YAR SKIF MIMA OF THE WORLD MARY OF MOSCOW RUSSIA AND 35 ARKONY YAR. In other words, IMAGE OF THE PRIEST-SCYTHIAN OF THE TEMPLE OF THE RUSSIAN GODDESS MARY RURIK YAR MIRA MARY OF MOSCOW RUSSIA AND GREAT NOVGOROD , which no longer corresponds to the inscriptions on the image of Anatoly, who was a mime (priest) of Rome (near Cairo), that is, the 30th Arkona Yar.
But the most interesting inscription is on a row of stonework at the level of the prisoner's head. On the left, a fragment of it is very small in size, and having increased it 15 times, I read the words as a continuation of the previous inscription: KHARAOH YAR RUSSIA YAR RURIK KING, and then I read the inscription, made in large letters to the left of the head: PETRA ALEKSEEV, and to the right of the head - MIMA YARA.
So, confirmation that the prisoner of the "Iron Mask" was Peter the Great is obvious. True, the question may arise - why PETER ALEKSEEV , but not PETER ALEKSEEVICH ? But after all, the tsar pretended to be the craftsman Peter Mikhailov, and the people of the third estate were called something like the Bulgarians now: not Pyotr Alekseevich Mikhailov, but Pyotr Alekseev Mikhailov.
Thus, the version of Dmitry Bayda found epigraphic confirmation.
Rice. 11. Ankara urban glyph from a height of 15 km
Did the temple of Anatolia exist? To answer this question, it is necessary to consider the urban glyph of Ankara, that is, the view of this city from a certain height. To accomplish this task, you can turn to the Google Earth program. The view of the city from above is called the urbanoglyph. In this case, a screenshot with the Ankara urban glyph is shown in fig. eleven.
It should be noted that the image turned out to be low-contrast, which is explained by photographing from a satellite through the entire thickness of the air of the atmosphere. But even in this case, it is clear that on the left and above the inscription: "Ankara" building blocks form the face of a mustachioed and bearded man in the left profile. And to the left (west) of this person are not quite ordered building blocks, forming an area called "Enimahalle".
Rice. 12. Urban glyph of part of Ankara from a height of 8.5 km
I was just interested in these two objects. I selected them from a height of 8.5 km and increased the contrast of the image. Now it is quite possible to read the inscriptions on it, fig. 15. True, it should be noted that the inscription: “Ankara” has completely disappeared, and only the last half of the inscription: “Enimahalle” has remained.
But you can understand that where no system was visible from a height of 15 km, now letters are visible from a height of 8.5 km. I read these letters on the decryption field, fig. 13. So, above the fragment of the word "Enimahalle" I read the letter X of the word TEMPLE, and the letters "X" and "P" are superimposed on each other, forming a ligature. And just below I read the word ANATOLY, so that both words read form the desired phrase TEMPLE OF ANATOLY . So such a temple really existed in Ankara.
However, the inscriptions of the Ankara urban glyph do not end there. The word "Anatolia" is superimposed with the digits of the number " 20 ", and below you can read the words: YARA ARKONY. So Ankara was just the secondary Arkona Yar No. 20. And even lower I read the words: 33 YARA YEAR. In terms of the usual chronology for us, they form the date: 889 A.D. . Most likely, they mean the date of construction of the temple of Anatolia in Ankara.
It turns out that the name "Anatoly" is not the proper name of False Peter, but the name of the temple in which he was trained. By the way, S.A. Sall, after reading my article, suggested that the name of Anatolia is connected with Turkey, with its Anatolia. I considered this assumption quite plausible. However, now, during the epigraphic analysis, it turned out that this was the name of a particular temple in the city of Ankara, which is now the capital of the Turkish Republic. In other words, the assumption was concretized.
It is clear that the temple of Anatolia did not get its name from the monastic name of False Peter, but, on the contrary, the monk and executor of the will of the Orange family received its code name agent from the name of this temple.
Rice. 13. My reading of the inscriptions on the Ankara urban glyph
Discussion.
It is clear that such a historical act (more precisely, atrocity), as the substitution of the Russian Tsar of the Romanov dynasty, requires a comprehensive consideration. I tried to make my contribution and, by means of epigraphic analysis, either confirm or refute the opinion of researchers both about the personality of Peter the Great in captivity and about the personality of False Peter. I think I've managed to move in both directions.
First of all, it was possible to show that the prisoner of the Bastille (since 1698) under the name "Iron Mask" really was the Tsar of Moscow, Peter Alekseevich Romanov. Now you can specify the years of his life: he was born on May 30, 1672, and died not on January 28, 1725, but on November 19, 1703. - So the last tsar of all Russia (since 1682) lived not 53 years, but only 31 years.
Since the Great Embassy began in March 1697, it is most likely that Peter was captured somewhere at the end of 1697, then he was transferred from prison to prison until he ended up in the Bastille on September 19, 1698. However, he could have been captured in 1898. He spent 5 years and exactly 1 month in the Bastille. So what we have before us is not another "conspiracy" fiction, but the use by the West of a chance to replace the Tsar of Muscovy, who did not understand the danger of secret visits to Western countries. Of course, if the visit were official, it would be much more difficult to replace the king.
As for the False Peter, it was possible to understand that he was not only a protege of Rome (moreover, a real one, next to Cairo, and not a nominal one, in Italy), but also received the undercover name "Anatoly" after the name of the Anatoly temple in Ankara. If at the time of the end of the embassy Peter was 26 years old, and Anatoly looked 40 years old, then he was at least 14 years older than Peter, so the years of his life are as follows: he was born around 1658, and died on January 28, 1725, having lived 67 years, about twice as long as Peter.
The falsification of Anatoly as Peter is confirmed by five portraits, both in the form of canvases, and in the form of a death mask and miniature. It turns out that the artists and sculptors knew perfectly well who they depict, so the substitution of Peter was an open secret. And it turns out that with the accession of Anatoly, the Romanov dynasty was interrupted not only along the female line (for after his arrival in Russia, Anatoly married a low-class Baltic woman), but also along the male line, because Anatoly was not Peter.
But it follows from this that the Romanov dynasty ended in 1703, having lasted only 90 years since 1613. This is a little more than the Soviet power, which lasted from November 1917 to August 1991, that is, 77 years. But whose dynasty was established from 1703 to 1917, for a period of 214 years, remains to be seen.
And from the fact that temples of Mara Rurik are mentioned in many portraits of Anatoly, it follows that these temples successfully existed both in Europe and in the Ottoman Empire, and in Egypt as early as the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. AD so that a real attack on the temples of Rurik could begin only after the accession of Anatoly in Russia, who became the persecutor of not only Russian Vedism, but also Russian Christian orthodoxy of the Byzantine model. The occupation of the royal throne gave him the opportunity not only to attack Russian traditions and weaken the Russian people in the economic sense, but also to strengthen the Western states at the expense of Russia.
Particular finds of this epigraphic study were the finding of the temple of Anatolia in Ankara and the determination of the number of Ankara as a secondary Arkona Yar. It was the twentieth Arkona Yar, which can be shown on the table by adding to it, fig. fifteen.
Rice. 14. Replenished numbering table Arkon
It can also be noted that the role of Ankara in the activities of Rome has not yet been sufficiently identified.
Conclusion.
It is possible that the Great Embassy of Peter the Great to Western countries was prepared in advance by Lefort and other acquaintances of Peter, but as one of the possible scenarios and not at all with the aim of overthrowing the tsar and replacing him with another person, but to involve him in Western politics. He had a lot of reasons not to materialize. However, when it happened, and in a secret way, it was already possible to deal with these foreigners in a way that was not required by diplomatic protocol. Most likely, there were other circumstances that facilitated the capture of Peter as a prisoner. For example, the scattering of part of the retinue for various reasons: some for taverns, some for girls, some for doctors, some for resorts. And when instead of 250 courtiers and guards there were only a dozen or two people from the retinue, the capture of a royal person became not too difficult. It is quite possible that Peter's intractability and his adherence to principles on political and religious issues prompted the monarchs who received him to take the most decisive action. But for now, this is just speculation.
And as a proven fact, only one thing can be counted: Peter was imprisoned in the Bastille as an "Iron Mask", and Anatoly began to rampage in Russia, which he declared an empire in the Western manner. Although the word "king" meant "tse Yar", that is, "this is the messenger of the god Yar", while "emperor" is simply "ruler". But the rest of the details must be clarified from other sources.
Literature.
- Chudinov V.A.. About Petersburg according to the statements of Sall..
- Vakolyuk Yarik. Nevsky Gates (2015). September 2, 2015.
On September 18, 1698, the most mysterious prisoner in history was transferred to the Bastille, whose face no one saw even after his death.
It is only known for certain that this prisoner was listed in the Parisian fortress under the number 64489001. Presumably, he was born in the 40s of the 17th century, and was previously held in various prisons. In the Bastille he died five years later and was buried under the name Marchialli. All belongings of the deceased were burned, and the walls were disfigured so that no message remained from him. the site considers various versions - who was hiding behind a terrible mask and for what sins.
Version number 1: illegitimate son
For the first time, a secret prisoner is mentioned in the Secret Notes of the Persian Court (1745), which directly states that he was an illegitimate son Louis XIV and his favorites Louise Francoise de Lavaliere. He bore the title of Duke of Vermandois and allegedly severely blundered by hitting his brother, the Grand Dauphin, in the face. For this reason, he was put behind bars, hiding his face. However, the illegitimate offspring of the king died at the age of 16 in 1683, and according to the records of the confessor of the Bastille, the Jesuit Griffe, an unknown person went to prison in 1698. By the way, a Catholic monk claimed that a velvet mask covered his face. Iron writers hung on him.
Version #2: The Hated Twin
Philosopher-educator François Voltaire in his historical essay The Age of Louis XIV (1751) he wrote that under a terrible mask was the twin brother of the "Sun King". One boy was being prepared for the succession to the throne, but the second was unlucky - he was carefully hidden from the public. When Louis met his mirror image, he decided to imprison him in the Bastille so as not to share the throne with anyone.
Version #3: Adventure Romance
Another version: the Italian swindler of noble blood was disfigured with a mask Ercole Antonio Mattioli- Minister Charles Ferdinand of Mantua. In 1678, he concluded an agreement with the king, according to which, for 10 thousand crowns, he promised to force his duke to surrender the fortress of Casale in Piedmont. However, the deceiver took the money, but did not do what he promised, and he sold this secret to other countries, again for a fee. It was decided to throw the state traitor into the dungeons, and put his vile face in a mask.
Version number 4: Russian trace
The most incredible assumption is that a Russian was tortured behind an iron visor Emperor Peter I. It was during this period of time that he was in Europe on a diplomatic mission. The autocrat was caught, thrown into the fortress, and instead of him a double returned to St. Petersburg. The version was also justified by the fact that after that trip, Peter I turned his attention to European traditions and began to plant them in Russia.
Peter I, art. — Paul Delaroche. Source: wikipedia Version number 5: a shameful past
Turns out, Louis XIV kept secret encrypted notes, which were read by a French cryptographer. According to him, the angry king could have thrown a French general into the Bastille Vivienne de Boulonda, who dishonored the country in one of the battles of the Nine Years' War. Among the candidates for the prisoner in the iron mask, there are several dozen more people, and among them is one unknown woman.
More versions
The British insisted that the abbot was hidden under the iron mask Pregnani- secret agent Louis XIV, who disappeared on a secret mission in 1669 to Charles II of England. The French historian spoke of a certain priest that he knew too much about the adultery of the king with the marquise de Montespan. There was an assumption that the little Moor was hidden in this way. Nabo- Servant of the Sun King's Wife Maria Theresa of Austria. Allegedly, she became the boy's mistress and even gave birth to him.
In 1698, a prisoner was brought to the Bastille, whose face was hidden by a terrible iron mask. His name was unknown, and in prison he was numbered 64489001. The created halo of mystery gave rise to many versions of who this masked man could be. 
A prisoner in an iron mask in an anonymous engraving from the French Revolution (1789).
The authorities knew absolutely nothing about the prisoner transferred from another prison. They were ordered to place a masked man in the most deaf cell and not talk to him. Five years later, the prisoner died. He was buried under the name Marchialli. All the belongings of the deceased were burned, and the walls were torn open so that no notes were left.
When the Bastille fell under the onslaught of the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, the new government released documents that shed light on the fate of the prisoners. But in them there was not a single word about the masked man. 
The Bastille is a French prison.
The Jesuit Griffe, who was a confessor in the Bastille at the end of the 17th century, wrote that a prisoner in a velvet (not iron) mask was brought to prison. In addition, the prisoner put it on only when someone appeared in the cell. From a medical point of view, if the prisoner really wore a mask of metal, then this would invariably disfigure his face. The iron mask was “made” by writers who shared their assumptions about who this mysterious prisoner could actually be. 
The Man in the Iron Mask.
For the first time, a masked prisoner is mentioned in the Secret Notes of the Persian Court, published in 1745 in Amsterdam. According to the Notes, prisoner No. 64489001 was none other than the illegitimate son of Louis XIV and his mistress Louise Françoise de La Vallière. He bore the title of Duke of Vermandois, allegedly slapped his brother the Great Dauphin, for which he landed in jail. In fact, this version is implausible, since the illegitimate son of the French king died at the age of 16 in 1683. And according to the records of the confessor of the Bastille, Jesuit Griffe, an unknown person was imprisoned in 1698, and he died in 1703.
Frame from the movie "The Man in the Iron Mask" (1998).
François Voltaire, in his The Age of Louis XIV, written in 1751, first pointed out that the Iron Mask could very well be the twin brother of the Sun King. To avoid problems with the succession to the throne, one of the boys was brought up in secret. When Louis XIV found out about the existence of his brother, he condemned him to eternal imprisonment. This hypothesis so logically explained that the prisoner had a mask that it became the most popular among other versions and was subsequently filmed more than once by directors. 
Under the mask, the Italian adventurer Ercol Antonio Mattioli could be hiding.
There is an opinion that the famous Italian adventurer Ercol Antonio Mattioli was forced to wear a mask. In 1678, the Italian entered into an agreement with Louis XIV, under which he undertook to force his duke to surrender the fortress of Casale to the king in exchange for a reward of 10,000 skudos. The adventurer took the money, but did not fulfill the contract. Moreover, Mattioli gave this state secret to several other countries for a separate fee. For this betrayal, the French government sent him to the Bastille, forcing him to wear a mask. 
Russian Emperor Peter I.
Some researchers have put forward very implausible versions of the man in the iron mask. According to one of them, this prisoner could be the Russian Emperor Peter I. It was at that time that Peter I was in Europe with his diplomatic mission (“Great Embassy”). The autocrat was allegedly imprisoned in the Bastille, and a figurehead was sent home instead. Like, how else to explain the fact that the tsar left Russia as a Christian who sacredly honored traditions, and returned back as a typical European who wished to break the patriarchal foundations of Russia.
The prisoner in the iron mask
The mysterious story of the prisoner in the iron mask has haunted novelists, playwrights and historians for several centuries. Who was this unfortunate, doomed to wear a mask until the end of his days? Is it really the brother of Louis XIV? So far, no documents or evidence have been found that could shed light on this historical mystery.
The brilliant Voltaire first drew attention to the mysterious story of the prisoner in the iron mask. In his work “The Age of Louis XIV,” he wrote: “An unknown prisoner was sent to the castle on the island of St. Margaret, off the coast of Provence, taller than average, young, with the noblest posture. On the journey, he wore a mask with steel latches on the bottom of the mask that allowed him to eat without removing the mask. The order was given to kill him if he took off his mask.”
For twenty years, Voltaire periodically returned to the story of the mysterious prisoner, supplementing it with new facts. Finally, in 1771, in the next reprint of his work, ostensibly from the publisher, he wrote: "The Iron Mask, without a doubt, was the elder brother - Louis XIV ..." How did he come to this conclusion? The fact is that the mother of the monarch, Anna of Austria, had a delicate taste, in particular with regard to fine linen. The same predilection was with the Iron Mask. In addition, as Voltaire pointed out, at the moment the mysterious prisoner appeared on the historical stage in Europe, the disappearance of any influential and famous person was not noted, so the mask most likely hid the resemblance of the prisoner to some important and well-known person.
"Iron Mask"
Voltaire believed that the Iron Mask was the elder brother of Louis XIV, whom the queen gave birth to from an extramarital affair and raised in secret from everyone, trusting only Cardinal Richelieu. An even more curious version of the origin of the Iron Mask emerged from the notes of Cardinal Richelieu, in which he reported the birth of twin sons to Anna of Austria on September 5, 1638. Interestingly, the boys were born with a break of several hours. When the first of them had already been declared the legitimate heir, the second was born, who, according to the law, was the eldest. The Queen was informed of the death of her second child. As a teenager, the unrecognized prince was sent to England, where he received an upbringing appropriate to his origin. In 1669, the brother of Louis XIV learned the truth about his origins and became involved in a conspiracy to regain the throne. The plot was uncovered, and the main conspirator, the Huguenot Roux de Marsilli, was captured. Before his death, under torture, he admitted that in the role of his servant Eustache Dauger was the real king of France. Doge was arrested when he arrived at Dunkirk, and since then this man had to put on a mask and live in captivity.
However, serious historians consider such a development unlikely. Their doubts are based on records and documents related to the identity of Saint-Mar, the head jailer of the Iron Mask.
Benigne de Saint-Mars enjoyed the special confidence of Louis XIV and kept especially important prisoners of the king under his supervision. In 1665, this man was commandant of the Pinerol fortress in the Alps. Here, for the first time, the historical trace of the Iron Mask appears, because it is from this fortress that the mysterious prisoner was transferred in 1681, together with Saint-Mar, to the fortress of Egzil. It is known from the registers that Saint-Mars had five prisoners in Pinerol, two of them very famous people: the former minister Fouquet and Marshal de Lauzin. Of these two, neither could be the Iron Mask: there was absolutely no need to hide their faces, besides, Fouquet died in 1680, and Lauzin was released before Saint-Mars moved to Aigues. True, places in the prison were not empty, and there were still five prisoners. Of these five, Saint-Mar took two with him to a new duty station.
Who was among the five prisoners? One of the prisoners was a swindler monk convicted of deceiving the ladies of the court, the other was an officer Dubreuil, imprisoned for treason. The third prisoner was the Italian Count Mattioli, who paid with his freedom for deceiving Louis XIV himself - it was he who was assigned the role of a mysterious prisoner by many researchers. The fourth is the servant of Fouquet, who was only guilty of serving his master, who knew many state secrets. Finally, the fifth prisoner was Eustache Dauger, who was serving a sentence in the case of poisoning.
Of these five, Mattioli was perhaps the most suited to the role of the Iron Mask. Mattioli was a minister at the court of Charles IV, Duke of Mantua, in charge of this courtier was the fortress of Casale Monferrato, which Louis XIV intended to buy. The French king not only agreed with Mattioli to sell the fortress, but also made him very valuable gifts. It is not known why Mattioli violated the agreement with the king. In general, the Italian courtier informed many European courts of Louis' plans for an Italian fortress. For the French king, this was a political embarrassment, for which he decided to take revenge on Mattioli. He was kidnapped and imprisoned in Pinerol.
However, it is known that the whole story of the capture of the Italian was not a secret at that time, so there was no point in hiding the face of this prisoner. In addition, at the time of the death of the Iron Mask in the Bastille, Mattioli would have turned 63 years old, while the mysterious prisoner was only about 45 years old. Saint-Mar, after leaving Pinerol, noted in correspondence that Mattioli and Dubreuil remained in the fortress, and the swindler monk died. Thus, it becomes clear that Fouquet's servant and Eustache Dauger went with Saint-Mar to Egzil. Fouquet's servant should not have been hidden behind a mask, so the mysterious prisoner was clearly Eustache Dauger. It is known that in 1694, when Saint-Mar was already the governor of the island of Saint Margaret, Mattioli and Dubreuil again joined him and the Doge. Mattioli soon died, and Saint-Mar goes to the Bastille, to a new place of service, again with two prisoners - one of them in a mask, the other Dubreuil. And this fact confirms that the Doge was the Iron Mask.
Why was the Doge such an important prisoner? It is believed that he knew some important state secret. In addition, at one time Doge replaced the ill servant Fouquet, serving the former minister, and he could also learn some secrets from him. Or maybe the Doge was actually the brother of Louis? The famous French historian Alain Decaux categorically rejects this version. In his book, he writes: “The Sun King would never allow a man of the same blood to be made a lackey of Fouquet!”
But what if the Doge was the illegitimate son of some important courtier and looked very much like him? Maybe he tried to blackmail him and ended up in jail for it? Then the respectful attitude towards the prisoner and the unwillingness to take his life could be explained.
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From the book Russian explorers - the glory and pride of Russia author Glazyrin Maxim YurievichProcessing of iron ore Tsibakin Yaroslav Fedorovich (Ekaterinoslav, 1911–1989, Hamilton, Ontario), Russian metallurgical engineer. In Canada since 1949. Lead inventor of The Steel Company of Canada Ltd. Stelco. In 1962, Ya. F. Tsibakin invents a new economical way
From the book Creators and Monuments author Yarov Roman EfremovichWith an iron hand, the crane was moving noticeably against the current from 10 am to 5 pm. At that moment, his movement slowed down: another danger threatened. We had to go aground on the left bank. Here the barge was flooded in advance; the crane stood over her. The pumps are working
