224 MAN IN THE IRON MASK. 



means of Alexandre Dumas' novel, ''Le Mcomte de Brage- 

 lonne", this fable \\'as spread far and wide. After most 

 rareful sifting of all the docu^lcntar^• evidence hv Funk- 

 Brentano in tlie "Re\'ue Historic|ue" of 1894, we may take 

 it as proved that the "Man in the Iron Mask" was Count 

 Hercules Anthony ^vlattioli, Minister of State to the Duke 

 Charles IV of Mantua. In 1770 Baron Heiss, "ancien 

 capitaine du regiment d' Alsace", a prominent bibliophile 

 had alread^• expressecl this opinion which, ho^^■ever, was 

 not generally accepted, and the same assertion b\' later 

 experts met with as little credence. The report that the 

 prisoner \A'as a scion of the Ro^'al House gained great popu- 

 larit}' during the French Revolution. And yet Baron Heiss 

 was right. This Mattioli, with whom he had identified the 

 "Man in the Iron Mask", was born in lf)40 in Bologna 

 and came of a much respected family. He early distin- 

 guished himself by his abilities, and soon after his twen- 

 tieth year \\as elected Professor at the University of Bo- 

 logna. Charles III of Gonzaga made him his Secretary of 

 Slate, and liis successor Charles I\^ made him his Min- 

 ister. Mattioli was ^'er)' ambitious and intriguing. The 

 Abbe d'Estrade, Louis XIV's ambassador at the X'enetian 

 court, took ad\antage of these weaknesses to make use of 

 him for the King's plans. Mattioli had induced the friv- 

 olous Duke of Modena, who \\as alwa\'s in mone\' diffi- 

 culties, to sell the fortress of Casale Monlerrato to France, 

 and this won for Irim the favour of Louis XI\^. Since gaining 

 possession of the fortress of Pignerolo, the French had been 

 masters of the approach to Piedmont; and the acquisition 

 of Casale had now given them acces^s to the fertile plain 



