Webthe man in the iron mask: The true story of europe’s most famous prisoner. Written by josephine wilkinson. In 1669, french soldiers arrested eustache d’auger. He was jailed without formal charges or trial, not uncommon. Webthe man in the iron mask was a prisoner arrested in 1669 and held in the bastille and other french jails for more than three decades, until his death in 1703. Webproponents of the theory that matthioli was the masked prisoner tracked down the parish death records of the masked man and discovered that the journal entry. Webhistorians point to two men as the most often suspected identities behind the iron mask: Ercole matthiole and eustache dauger. The former was an italian count who. Webit all began in the 1680s, when a mysterious prisoner, locked up by order of king louis xiv of france, was spotted wearing a mask made of iron. No one ever saw. Webthe legend of the man in the iron mask is based on the true life story of eustache dauger. Over time, however, the story became legend, and the legend faded. Weba mysterious figure who languished in french prisons and was forbidden from divulging his crime, the man in the iron mask is one of history’s great legends. Webthe true identity of the ‘man in the iron mask’ is one of history’s most enduring mysteries. Immortalised in literature by alexandre dumas’ novel the vicomte. Webno one knew his identity or why he was in jail. Even stranger, no one knew what he looked like—the prisoner was never seen without a black velvet mask covering.