The Riddle of the Man in the Iron Mask () ()

My Web page about Cryptology

The Louis XIV's codebooks

Bazeries believes he has solved the riddle of the man in the iron mask

In the previous chapters, we learned that Commander Bazeries, towards the end of the 19th century, managed to read ciphered letters by two part codebook of Louis XIV (cf. the decryption of Bazeries, the code of 1691).

Deciphering a letter dated July 8, 1691 from Louvois addressed to Catinat, Bazeries is shocked by the following text: 

...
0023: 276 083 374 052 026 084 284 149 500 573 347 172 093 469 096 300 091
        elle-desir-e-que-vous-fa-s-si-e-z-a-r-re-s-te-r-mon-
0024: 493 042 282 255 034 273 024 084 574 305 522 206 194 088 192 055 009
        sieur-de-bu-lon-de-et-le-fa-s-si-e-z-co-n-du-i(j)-re-
0025: 385 337 402 116 073 276 034 566 390 070 520 544 311 416 214 154
        a-la-ci-ta-d-elle-de-Pignerol-ou-Sa_Majeste-veu-t-qu'il-uo(vo)-gard-e-
0026: 022 419 013 122 570 129 064 159 145 339 089 248 437 146 017 136
        en-fe-r-me-pe-n-da-nt-la-nu-it-dans-u(v)-ne-c-ha-
0027: 230 298 167 034 145 461 229 181 402 116 580 276 436 068 075 141
        m-b-re-de-la-d-i(j)-te-ci-ta-d-elle-et-le-jour-ayant-
0028: 145 325 204 565 096 097 079 501 174 450 125 579 081 124 009 514 292
        la-juge-be-r-te-de-se-p-ro-me-ne-r-sur-les-re-m-par-
0029: 561 345 553 186 200 330 309 359 068 023 412 565 034 566 289 152
        t-s-avec-u(v)-n-(???)-.-comme-le-gouvern-eu(ev)-r-de-Pignerol-est-a-
0030: 467 121 300 323 093 584 198 382 403 522 093 318 469 434 026 585
        vos-o-r-d-re-s-vous-luy-envoi-e-re-z-s-il-vous-p-
0031: 337 055 115 191 324 574 503 024 487 008 290 415 042 145 416 255
        la-i(j)-St-ceux-ci-s-pour-le-x-e-cu-tion-de-la-uo(vo)-lon-
0032: 181 034 070 209 108 567 479 289 022 166 097 091 493 042 513 424 574
        te-de-Sa_Majeste-.-.-.-le_Roy-est-en-peine-de-mon-sieur-de-ui(vi)-n-s-

Here is the text in concise form:

(Sa Majesté) désire que vous fassiez arrêter Monsieur de Bulonde et le fassiez conduire à la Citadelle de Pignerol où Sa Majesté veut qu’il soit gardé enfermé pendant le nuit dans une chambre de la dite citadelle et le jour ayant la liberté de se promener sur les remparts avec un 330. ...

The same text in english:

(His Majesty) desires that you have Monsieur de Bulonde arrested and taken to the Citadel of Pignerol where His Majesty wants him to be kept locked up during the night in a room of the said citadel and during the day having the freedom to walk on the ramparts with a 330. ...

On line 29, what can the codegroup 330 mean? For Bazeries, there is no doubt, the code 330 means "Mask". And suddenly, he has just solved one of the greatest mysteries in the history of France: the identity of the person whose face was hidden by a mask of iron. It was about Mr Vivien de Bulonde imprisoned by order of the King because he had lifted (without order) the siege of the city of Cuneo.

Bazeries had finally found the title of the book he was writing with the historian Emile Burgaud concerning the encrypted correspondence of Louis XIV: "Le masque de Fer" (The Iron mask)". It will be published under this title in 1893 and will cause a stir.

Was the Bazeries hypothesis plausible? Not at all. In all the correspondence deciphered by Bazeries, the code 330 appears only once. On the other hand of all the nomenclators of the time, I have (personally) never seen the word "mask". In a nomenclator it is of interest to put only the most frequent words. What would the word "mask" do in a military vocabulary? Conversely, I have seen the word "guard" in several 17th and 18th century codebooks. It is therefore much more likely that the code 330 meant "guard". This would then yield the phrase: "...the day having the freedom to walk the ramparts with a GUARD". In the same period, in the plain text of a letter from Louvois, I counted the word "GUARD" up to 13 times.

It should be noted that for several codegroups, Bazeries was not sure of his translation and indicated it with a question mark. On the other hand for the code 330, for him, he had no doubts!

Why did a renowned cryptologist, Commander Bazeries make such a big mistake? I think like all humans, he craved notoriety. The solving of the riddle of the Man in the iron mask, was (in his mind) to bring him recognition and glory.

Références

  • Man in the Iron Mask Wikipedia
  • Le masque de Fer, Révélation de la correspondance chiffrée de Louis XIV. Emile Burgaud et commandant Bazeries, 1893, librairie de Fimin-Didot.
  • David Kahn (2005) THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK – ENCORE ET ENFIN, CRYPTOLOGICALLY, Cryptologia, 29:1, 43-49, DOI: 10.1080/0161-110591893753