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The Man Behind The Iron Mask
Includes bibliograhy and index.
Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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87 people want to read
About the author
John Noone
22 booksJohn Noone was a British writer. He was born in Darlington, County Durham, into a family of mixed Irish-Scots heritage. He graduated from King's College, Newcastle. He served in the Suez Canal Zone as part of his National Service and returned to Egypt in 1961 to teach at Alexandria University. Later, he also lived and worked in Libya, Japan and France.
His first novel The Man with the Chocolate Egg won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1967. His second novel The Night of Accomplishment was also well-received. His short stories have been collected in the volume Like As Not. He was known for two other specialist works: The Man Behind the Iron Mask (first published in 1988 and revised several times thereafter), and Turtle Tortoise, Image and Symbol.
His first novel The Man with the Chocolate Egg won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1967. His second novel The Night of Accomplishment was also well-received. His short stories have been collected in the volume Like As Not. He was known for two other specialist works: The Man Behind the Iron Mask (first published in 1988 and revised several times thereafter), and Turtle Tortoise, Image and Symbol.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 19, 2017
A review of the legends and the realities.
Yes, there was a prisoner kept masked -- velvet, it seems, not iron. But things expanded from there. From Voltaire's hints, where he points out with great portentousness but, unfortunately no accuracy, that no one prominent vanished the year the man was arrested, that lead to the most common story, the twin of Louis XIV -- not, as it turns out, plausible, because all accounts agreed that the man in the mask was tall, and Louis XIV was, in fact, rather short. There is even a story that the man married the governor's daughter, and the Bonapartes were descended from the union.
Some of the others include an Italian involved in certain intrigues (the mask is credited to an Italian custom of wearing them to protect the face from the sun), a princess (Louis XIV was substituted for her so Louis XIII would have an heir -- this theory comes from supporters of his brother Philippe's descendants, who would then be the rightful heir), an illegitimate son of Anne of Austria, an illegitimate son of Louis XIV, an illegitimate son of Charles II, the man that a secret society wanted to make king (kept alive so they would not go to a new candidate), and more.
His own theory was the prisoner was as obscure as he seemed from other evidence, and the drama was done by the prison governor to make his position look important.
It really is hard to reconcile the obsessive care taken with the prisoner with the menial treatment he also got.
Also touches on a lot of related topics, like prison and the justice system. Useful for anyone who wants to steal a melodramatic plot.
Yes, there was a prisoner kept masked -- velvet, it seems, not iron. But things expanded from there. From Voltaire's hints, where he points out with great portentousness but, unfortunately no accuracy, that no one prominent vanished the year the man was arrested, that lead to the most common story, the twin of Louis XIV -- not, as it turns out, plausible, because all accounts agreed that the man in the mask was tall, and Louis XIV was, in fact, rather short. There is even a story that the man married the governor's daughter, and the Bonapartes were descended from the union.
Some of the others include an Italian involved in certain intrigues (the mask is credited to an Italian custom of wearing them to protect the face from the sun), a princess (Louis XIV was substituted for her so Louis XIII would have an heir -- this theory comes from supporters of his brother Philippe's descendants, who would then be the rightful heir), an illegitimate son of Anne of Austria, an illegitimate son of Louis XIV, an illegitimate son of Charles II, the man that a secret society wanted to make king (kept alive so they would not go to a new candidate), and more.
His own theory was the prisoner was as obscure as he seemed from other evidence, and the drama was done by the prison governor to make his position look important.
It really is hard to reconcile the obsessive care taken with the prisoner with the menial treatment he also got.
Also touches on a lot of related topics, like prison and the justice system. Useful for anyone who wants to steal a melodramatic plot.
June 10, 2011
An odd little book, but one I once stayed up all night reading. Noone looks at the tale of the Man In The Iron Mask, made famous by Dumas (please, let's not think about Leonardo di Caprio) and applies wit, intelligence, research skills, and clear good sense to reach some elegantly sensible conclusions. We know there was a real prisoner, kept in special cells and kept hidden away--- though masked in velvet, not iron, when transported ---and we know that a host of wild guesses exist about his identity: twin brother of Louis XIV being the most famous, but a host of others (a bastard son of Louis, the duc de Lauzun, even Moliere) having been proposed as well. John Noone asked a simple enough question... If you were trying to hide a secret prisoner, why exactly would you take him masked into public and allow warders to sell wealthy tourists the right to see the masked prisoner in his cell? Noone turned his gaze not on the prisoner, but on his long-time jailor and then went to work in French archives to ferret out a very satisfying answer. "Man Behind the Iron Mask" is a horrifying tale in some ways--- certainly for the hapless prisoner ---but a lovely piece of research and a nicely-done look at prisons, politics, and the bureaucracy of Louis XIV's France. A small work of puzzle-solving that's well done and makes for a very enjoyable evening's reading.
March 6, 2025
3.5 stars. Ok as others have said, we don't get proof who the Iron Mask was. This is a bit of a longgg journey to get there and maybe a bad pick as I know very little of 16th century French/ European history but I learned a lot of interesting things. It is well written it's just like the book version of a History channel documentary where you spend all that time to only get a shrug.
June 9, 2025
What begins as an intriguing quest to uncover the real story behind a much-loved mystery, taking in the changing accounts and historiographical debates, sadly devolves quickly into an average to middling list of different rumours.
It quickly begins to feel as if the author could not bring themselves to remove any part of their research from the final copy, with little regard for flow or engagement. This book leans heavily on repetition of conclusions and an almost derisive view of those who have told or questioned the story before. The text would also have benefited greatly from competent editing, as there are disappointing grammatical errors and some of the language is unnecessarily florid to the point of incomprehension.
I’m sorry to say I was unable to finish this book, as it simply began to feel too much like a battle between the author and the reader. Perhaps the text improves significantly in the latter half but I saw no incentive to find out.
It quickly begins to feel as if the author could not bring themselves to remove any part of their research from the final copy, with little regard for flow or engagement. This book leans heavily on repetition of conclusions and an almost derisive view of those who have told or questioned the story before. The text would also have benefited greatly from competent editing, as there are disappointing grammatical errors and some of the language is unnecessarily florid to the point of incomprehension.
I’m sorry to say I was unable to finish this book, as it simply began to feel too much like a battle between the author and the reader. Perhaps the text improves significantly in the latter half but I saw no incentive to find out.
April 11, 2016
Who hasn't heard the story of the man in the iron mask and wondered who he really was?
Maybe Noone tells you more than you want to know about all the solutions to the mystery that have been proposed, beginning with Voltaire. Get ready for a roller-coaster ride through 17th century French and English history -- well written but with lots of names to keep track of - some famous, some not. I had been wanting to know more about Louvois, Louis XIV's minister of war, and I was not disappointed by the portrait given here. Noone fairly presents each proposal as if it were fact, and sometimes I got impatient with disentangling the arguments.
I won't share Noone's solution to the problem but I do find it more credible, if less spectacular, than the other proposals.
There are chronologies at the end, great maps, bibliography, and a terrific index.
Well worth a read, even if you haven't read Dumas's novel The Viscount of Bragelonne, the third of the Three Musketeers books, which contains the story of the masked prisoner.
Maybe Noone tells you more than you want to know about all the solutions to the mystery that have been proposed, beginning with Voltaire. Get ready for a roller-coaster ride through 17th century French and English history -- well written but with lots of names to keep track of - some famous, some not. I had been wanting to know more about Louvois, Louis XIV's minister of war, and I was not disappointed by the portrait given here. Noone fairly presents each proposal as if it were fact, and sometimes I got impatient with disentangling the arguments.
I won't share Noone's solution to the problem but I do find it more credible, if less spectacular, than the other proposals.
There are chronologies at the end, great maps, bibliography, and a terrific index.
Well worth a read, even if you haven't read Dumas's novel The Viscount of Bragelonne, the third of the Three Musketeers books, which contains the story of the masked prisoner.
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October 29, 2016What I enjoyed learning: the prisoner in the iron mask was NOT the identical twin of the king. Dumas' d'Artagnan was a real Musketeer, Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan, who lived during the time of the prisoner. There was a real prisoner who was taken in a sedan chair for two hundred miles wearing an iron mask when he was being transferred.
October 16, 2015
Close enough to four stars, though I often lost track of the various names. A look into how the Man in the Iron Mask became widespread legend in France and possible explanations. Emphasis on possible. If you want definitive, too bad.
October 1, 2012
A thriller not to be missed.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews