Editing Man in the Iron Mask (section)

==Prisoner==
===Arrest and imprisonment===
[[File:Citadelle de Pignerol.jpg|thumb|left|Etching of the citadel and dungeon of Pignerol, in Piedmont, Italy ({{circa}} 1650)]]
The earliest surviving records of the masked prisoner are from 19 July 1669,{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=181}} when [[Louis XIV of France|Louis XIV]]'s minister, the [[François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois|Marquis de Louvois]], sent a letter to [[Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars]], governor of the prison of [[Pignerol]] (which at the time was part of France). In his letter, Louvois informed Saint-Mars that a prisoner named "Eustache Dauger" was due to arrive in the next month or so.{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=181}}

He instructed Saint-Mars to prepare a cell with multiple doors, one closing upon the other, which were to prevent anyone from the outside listening in.{{efn|name=nomask}} Saint-Mars was to see Dauger only once a day to provide food and whatever else he needed. Dauger was to be told that if he ever spoke of anything other than his immediate needs he would be killed, but, according to Louvois, the prisoner should not require much since he was "only a valet".{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|pp=181–182}} Historians have noted that the name "Eustache Dauger" was written in a handwriting different from that used in the rest of the letter's text, suggesting that a clerk wrote the letter under Louvois' dictation, while someone else, very likely Louvois, added the name afterward.{{sfn|Lincoln ''Timewatch'', 1988}}

Dauger was arrested by Captain Alexandre de Vauroy, garrison commander of [[Dunkirk|Dunkerque]], on 28 July{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=184}} and taken to Pignerol, where he arrived on 24 August.{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=185}}{{sfn|Noone|1988|p=152}} Evidence has been produced to suggest that the arrest was actually made in [[Calais]] and that not even the local governor was informed of the event—Vauroy's absence being explained away by his hunting for Spanish soldiers who had strayed into France via the [[Spanish Netherlands]].{{sfn|Noone|1988|p=151}} The first rumours of the prisoner's identity (specifically as a [[Marshal of France]]) began to circulate at this point.

===Dauger serves as a valet===
The prison at Pignerol, like the others at which Dauger was later held, was used for men who were considered an embarrassment to the state and usually held only a handful of prisoners at a time.{{sfn|Lincoln ''Timewatch'', 1988}} Saint-Mars's other prisoners at Pignerol included Count [[Ercole Antonio Mattioli]], an Italian diplomat who had been kidnapped and jailed for double-crossing the French over the purchase of the important fortress town of [[Casale Monferrato|Casale]] on the [[Duchy of Mantua|Mantuan]] border. There was [[Nicolas Fouquet]], Marquis of Belle-Île, a former superintendent of finances who had been jailed by Louis XIV on the charge of embezzlement, and the [[Antoine Nompar de Caumont|Marquis de Lauzun]], who had become engaged to the [[Anne, Duchess of Montpensier|Duchess of Montpensier]], a cousin of the king, without the king's consent. Fouquet's cell was above that of Lauzun. In his letters to Louvois, Saint-Mars describes Dauger as a quiet man, giving no trouble, "disposed to the will of God and to the king", compared to his other prisoners, who were always complaining, constantly trying to escape, or simply mad.{{sfn|Noone|1988}}

Dauger was not always isolated from the other prisoners. Wealthy and important ones usually had manservants; Fouquet, for instance, was served by a man called La Rivière. These servants, however, would become as much prisoners as their masters and it was thus difficult to find people willing to volunteer for such an occupation. Because La Rivière was often ill, Saint-Mars applied for permission for Dauger to act as servant for Fouquet. In 1675, Louvois gave permission for such an arrangement on condition that he was to serve Fouquet only while La Rivière was unavailable and that he was not to meet anyone else; for instance, if Fouquet and Lauzun were to meet, Dauger was not to be present.{{sfn|Lincoln ''Timewatch'', 1988}} Fouquet was never expected to be released; thus, meeting Dauger was no great matter, but Lauzun was expected to be set free eventually, and it would have been important not to have him spread rumours of Dauger's existence or of secrets he might have known. The important fact that Dauger served as a valet to Fouquet strongly indicates he was born a [[commoner]].{{efn|name=valet}}

On 23 November 1678, Louvois wrote directly to Fouquet to inform him that the King was disposed to soften considerably the strictures of his incarceration, subject to Fouquet writing back to Louvois&mdash;without informing Saint-Mars of the contents of his reply&mdash;concerning whether or not Dauger had talked to him, Fouquet, in front of La Rivière, "about what he was employed to do before being brought to Pignerol".{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=190}} From this revealing letter, French historian Mongrédien concluded that Louvois was clearly anxious that any details about Dauger's former employment should not leak out if the King decided to relax the conditions of Fouquet's or Lauzun's incarceration.{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=191}}

After Fouquet's death on 23 March 1680, Saint-Mars discovered a secret hole between Fouquet and Lauzun's cells. He was sure that they had communicated through this hole without detection by him or his guards and thus that Lauzun must have been made aware of Dauger's existence. On 8 April 1680, Louvois therefore wrote to Saint-Mars and instructed him to move Lauzun to Fouquet's cell and to tell him that Dauger and La Rivière had been released, after secretly relocating them to a new cell in the lower tower of Pignerol's dungeon.{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=193}}{{sfn|Lincoln ''Timewatch'', 1988}} They became henceforth identified in official correspondence only as "the two gentlemen of the lower tower" ("les messieurs de la tour d'en bas").{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|pp=195–196}} After La Rivière died in early 1687, Dauger continued to be referred to as "La Tour" by prison staff{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|pp=25, 235}} and as the "old prisoner" ("l'ancien prisonnier") in correspondence.{{sfn|Mongrédien|1961|p=197}}

===Dauger's subsequent prisons===
[[File:Exilles02.JPG|thumb|left|[[Fortress of Exilles]]]]

Lauzun was freed on 22 April 1681.{{sfn|Noone|1988|p=173}} Two months later, Saint-Mars was appointed governor of the prison of the [[Exilles Fort|Exiles Fort]] (now [[Exilles]] in Italy); he went there in September 1681, taking Dauger and La Rivière with him.{{sfn|Noone|1988|p=291}} La Rivière's death was reported in January 1687; in May of that year, Saint-Mars and Dauger moved to [[Île Sainte-Marguerite|Sainte-Marguerite]], one of the [[Lérins Islands]], half a mile offshore from Cannes. It was during the journey to Sainte-Marguerite that rumours spread that the prisoner was wearing an iron mask. Again, he was placed in a cell with multiple doors.{{sfn|Noone|1988}}
[[File:Lerins-iron mask prison.jpg|thumb|right|Fort of [[Île Sainte-Marguerite]]]]

On 18 September 1698, Saint-Mars took up his new post as governor of the [[Bastille]] prison in Paris, bringing Dauger with him. He was placed in a solitary cell in the prefurnished third chamber of the Bertaudière tower. The prison's second-in-command, de Rosarges, was to feed him. Lieutenant du Junca, another officer of the Bastille, noted that the new prisoner wore "a mask of black velvet". Dauger died there on 19 November 1703 and was buried the next day under the name of "Marchioly".{{sfn|Lincoln ''Timewatch'', 1988}}