Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
| Domain | Definition |
Literature | Iron Mask The man in the iron mask (called Lestang) was Count Ercolo Antonio Matthioli, a senator of Mantua, and private agent of Ferdinand Charles, Duke of Mantua. He suffered imprisonment of twenty-four years for having deceived Louis XIV. in a secret treaty for the purchase of the fortress of Casale, the key of Italy. The agents of Spain and Austria bribed him by out-bidding the Grande Monarque. The secrecy observed by all parties was inviolate, because the infamy of the transaction would not bear daylight. (H. G. A. Ellis: True History of the Iron Mask.) M. Loiseleur utterly denies that Matthioli (sometimes called Giacomo) was the real homme du masque de fer (See Temple Bar, May, 1872, pp. 182-184); but Marius Topin, in The Man in the Iron Mask, maintains it as an indubitable fact. There is an English translation of Topin's book by Vizetelli, published by Smith and Elder. There are several others "identified" as the veritable Iron Mask, e.g. emdash (1) Louis, Due de Vermandois, natural son of Louis XIV. by De la Vallière, who was imprisoned for life because he gave the Dauphin a box on the ears. (Mèmoires Secrets pour servir à l'Histoire de Perse. This cannot be, as the duke died in camp, 1683. (2) A young foreign nobleman, chamberlain of Queen Anne, and real father of Louis XIV. (A Dutch story. (3) Due de Beaufort, King of the Markets. (Legrange-Chancel: L'Annéc Littéraire, 1759.) This supposition is worthless, as the duke was slain by the Turks at the siege of Candia (1669). (4) An elder brother of Louis XIV., some say by the Duke of Buckingham, others by Cardinal Mazarin. (See Voltaire: Dictionnaire Philosophique [Anna], and Linguet: Bastile Dévoilec. (5) Abbé Soulavie asserts it was a twin brother of Louis XIV., Maréchal Richelieu. This tale forms the basis of Zschokke's German tragedy, and Fournier's drama. (6) Some maintain that it was Fouquet, the disgraced Minister of Finance to Louis XIV. (7) Some that it was the Arminian Patriarch, Avedik. (8) Some that it was the Duke of Monmouth; but he was executed on Tower Hill in 1685. (9) In the Western Morning News (Plymouth, October 21st, 1893) we are told that Le Commandant Bazeries has deciphered a letter in cipher written by Louvois, Minister of War, to Catinat (Lieutenant-General in command of the army at Piedmont), desiring him to arrest M. de Bulonde for raising the siege of Conti; and to send him to the citadel of Pignerol. "He was to be allowed to walk on the ramparts wearing a mask." Whatever the real name of this mysterious prisoner, he was interred in 1703 under the name of Marchiali, aged about forty-five. And the name is so registered in St. Paul's register, Paris; witnessed by M. de Rosarge (mayor of the Bastile) and M. Reilh (surgeon). "The mask was made of black velvet on steel springs." Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Crosswords: IRON MASK |
| Specialty definitions using "IRON MASK": Man in the Iron Mask. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Lady in the Iron Mask (1952) The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Iron mask, collar, leg shackles and spurs used to restrict slaves. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
the man in the iron mask | 136 |
lady in the iron mask | 69 |
iron mask | 14 |
man iron mask | 10 |
man in the iron mask picture | 5 |
man in the iron mask movie | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-k-m-n-o-r-s" | |
-1 letter: mikrons. | |
-2 letters: amnios, arsino, inarms, kamsin, manors, mikron, minors, norias, ramson, ransom, romans. | |
-3 letters: airns, amino, amins, amirs, amnio, amoks, arson, askoi, ikons, inarm, irons, kains, kaons, karns, kinas, kinos, kirns, knars, koans, korai, krona, mains, mairs, makos, manor, manos, marks, mason, mikra, minas, minks, minor, mirks, moans, moira, monas, monks, moras, morns. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-k-m-n-o-r-s" | |
+2 letters: antismoker, noisemaker. | |
+3 letters: antismokers, noisemakers, postmarking, workmanship. | |
+4 letters: embarkations, parkinsonism, workmanships. | |
+5 letters: metalworkings, parkinsonisms, sportsmanlike, thrombokinase. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)49 52 4F 4E 4D 41 53 4B |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01001001 01010010 01001111 01001110 00100000 01001101 01000001 01010011 01001011 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)I R O N   M A S K |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0049 0052 004F 004E 004D 0041 0053 004B |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)43524948247355345 |
| 1. Crosswords 2. Usage: Modern 3. Usage: Commercial 4. Images: Photo Album | 5. Expressions: Internet 6. Anagrams 7. Orthography 8. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
