Man in the Iron Mask (essay) | Page 6

sent to the Iles Sainte-Marguerite no personage
of note disappeared from the European stage."
The story of the Comte de Vermandois and the blow was treated as an
absurd and romantic invention, which does not even attempt to keep
within the bounds of the possible, by Baron C. (according to P.
Marchand, Baron Crunyngen) in a letter inserted in the 'Bibliotheque
raisonnee des Ouvrages des Savants de d'Europe', June 1745. The
discussion was revived somewhat later, however, and a few Dutch
scholars were supposed to be responsible for a new theory founded on
history; the foundations proving somewhat shaky, however,--a quality
which it shares, we must say, with all the other theories which have
ever been advanced.
According to this new theory, the masked prisoner was a young foreign
nobleman, groom of the chambers to Anne of Austria, and the real
father of Louis XIV. This anecdote appears first in a duodecimo
volume printed by Pierre Marteau at Cologne in 1692, and which bears
the title, 'The Loves of Anne of Austria, Consort of Louis XIII, with M.
le C. D. R., the Real Father of Louis XIV, King of France; being a
Minute Account of the Measures taken to give an Heir to the Throne of
France, the Influences at Work to bring this to pass, and the Denoument
of the Comedy'.
This libel ran through five editions, bearing date successively, 1692,
1693, 1696, 1722, and 1738. In the title of the edition of 1696 the
words "Cardinal de Richelieu" are inserted in place of the initials "C. D.
R.," but that this is only a printer's error everyone who reads the work
will perceive. Some have thought the three letters stood for Comte de
Riviere, others for Comte de Rochefort, whose 'Memoires' compiled by
Sandras de Courtilz supply these initials. The author of the book was an
Orange writer in the pay of William III, and its object was, he says, "to

unveil the great mystery of iniquity which hid the true origin of Louis
XIV." He goes on to remark that "the knowledge of this fraud, although
comparatively rare outside France, was widely spread within her
borders. The well-known coldness of Louis XIII; the extraordinary
birth of Louis-Dieudonne, so called because he was born in the
twenty-third year of a childless marriage, and several other remarkable
circumstances connected with the birth, all point clearly to a father
other than the prince, who with great effrontery is passed off by his
adherents as such. The famous barricades of Paris, and the organised
revolt led by distinguished men against Louis XIV on his accession to
the throne, proclaimed aloud the king's illegitimacy, so that it rang
through the country; and as the accusation had reason on its side,
hardly anyone doubted its truth."
We give below a short abstract of the narrative, the plot of which is
rather skilfully constructed:--
"Cardinal Richelieu, looking with satisfied pride at the love of Gaston,
Duc d'Orleans, brother of the king, for his niece Parisiatis (Madame de
Combalet), formed the plan of uniting the young couple in marriage.
Gaston taking the suggestion as an insult, struck the cardinal. Pere
Joseph then tried to gain the cardinal's consent and that of his niece to
an attempt to deprive Gaston of the throne, which the childless
marriage of Louis XIII seemed to assure him. A young man, the C. D.
R. of the book, was introduced into Anne of Austria's room, who
though a wife in name had long been a widow in reality. She defended
herself but feebly, and on seeing the cardinal next day said to him,
"Well, you have had your wicked will; but take good care, sir cardinal,
that I may find above the mercy and goodness which you have tried by
many pious sophistries to convince me is awaiting me. Watch over my
soul, I charge you, for I have yielded!" The queen having given herself
up to love for some time, the joyful news that she would soon become a
mother began to spread over the kingdom. In this manner was born
Louis XIV, the putative son of Louis XIII. If this installment of the tale
be favourably received, says the pamphleteer, the sequel will soon
follow, in which the sad fate of C. D. R. will be related, who was made
to pay dearly for his short-lived pleasure."
Although the first part was a great success, the promised sequel never
appeared. It must be admitted that such a story, though it never

convinced a single person of the illegitimacy of Louis XIV, was an
excellent prologue to the tale of the unfortunate lot of the Man in the
Iron Mask, and increased the interest and curiosity with which that
singular historical mystery was regarded. But the views of the Dutch