The Man In The Iron Mask

The courageous musketeers—Athos, D'Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos—return to sword fighting in the final installment of the D'Artagnan Romances. When Aramis visits the Bastille, an infamous French prison, he meets a mysterious man who wears an iron mask and claims to be the King of France's secret twin brother. While France suffers under King Louis XIV's rule, Aramis initiates an elaborate plan to free the prisoner and overthrow the corrupt king with the masked man's help. Will the musketeers survive their most daring adventure yet, filled with nefarious politics, deceitful royals, and clashing loyalties? This is an unabridged English translation of French author Alexandre Dumas's swashbuckling historical novel, which was first published in serial form between 1847 and 1850.

A vivid, dramatic, and eye-opening historical narrative, The Man in the Iron Mask reveals the story behind the most enduring mystery of Louis XIV’s reign. The Man in the Iron Mask has all the hallmarks of a thrilling adventure story: a glamorous and all-powerful king, ambitious ministers, a cruel and despotic jailor, dark and sinister dungeons— and a secret prisoner. It is easy for forget that this story, made famous by Alexandre Dumas, is that of a real person, Eustache Danger, who spent more than thirty years in the prison system of Louis XIV’s France—never to be freed. This narrative brings to life the true story of this mysterious man and follows his journey through four prisons and across decades of time. It introduces the reader to those with whom he shared his imprisonment, those who had charge of him, and those who decided his tragic fate. The Man in the Iron Mask reveals one of the most enduring mysteries of Louis XIV’s reign; but it is, above all, a human story. Using contemporary documents, this book shows what life was really like for state prisoners in seventeenth-century France—and offers tantalising insight into why this mysterious man was arrested and why, several years later, his story would become one of France’s most intriguing legends that still sparks debate and controversy today.

One of France's best-selling writers at the time of the novel's composition, Dumas here combines what he considered to be life's essentials - `l'action et l'amour'. This historical romance is the climax of his epic of chivalry and valour that began with The Three Musketeers, and it is here that Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend d'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies. This edition provides background information and notes crucial to an understanding of the legend and the novel's setting. - ;One of France's best-selling writers at the time of the novel's composition, Dumas here combines what he considered to be life's essentials - `l'action et l'amour'. This historical romance is the climax of his epic of chivalry and valour that began with The Three Musketeers, and it is here that Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and their friend d'Artagnan, once invincible, meet their destinies. This edition provides background information and notes crucial to an understanding of the legend and the novel's setting. -

Published to coincide with the 300th anniversary of the death of the prisoner at the Bastille, this account of the mystery of "the man behind the iron mask" presents all the known facts of the prisoner's existence chronologically as they have been discovered.

Oxford historian Roger Macdonald has spent five years unravelling fact from fiction to uncover the true story of the Musketeers and their connection with the Man in the Iron Mask. It is a reality more extraordinary than any tale Dumas could devise. Honour and heroism, betrayal and intrigue, are set amidst the lust, jealousy and deadly poisons that made the Sun King's court a world of frenzied paranoia. The Musketeers ride again across the pages of real history in this superbly researched account, and in his exciting denouement Macdonald at last reveals the identity of the Man in the Iron Mask.

The truth behind the mystery of European history's most famous prisoner. It is time his story was retold for a new audience.

Set in medieval France, this story continues the tale of the three musketeers. Many years after their exploits, the musketeers are wellestablished in society. We see Aramis, who is a bishop now, meeting a prisoner. However, there is no confession to be heard. Aramis is at the root of a conspiracy that could change the course of French history. The fact that the prisoner is the twin brother of the King of France has sealed his fate and destined him to spend the rest of his life in prison. But Aramis has a different plan in mind. Being one of the few to know the prisoner’s identity, Aramis conspires to replace the King of France with his twin brother, with the idea that the prisoner will be a better ruler for France. How will this plan turn out? Will Aramis succeed? When the other musketeers find out about the plan what stand will they take? To find out, read this classic tale of love, politics and loyalty.

A story that moves beyond ordinary superhero slugfests to face the issues of creation and personal redemption, "Mask in the Iron Man" is an unforgettable chapter in the history of one of comicdom's best known characters. 128 color illustrations.

For the first time in English in over a century, a new translation of the forgotten sequel to Dumas’s The Three Musketeers, continuing the dramatic tale of Cardinal Richelieu and his implacable enemies. In 1844, Alexandre Dumas published The Three Musketeers, a novel so famous and still so popular today that it scarcely needs introduction. Shortly thereafter he wrote a sequel, Twenty Years After, that resumed the adventures of his swashbuckling heroes. Later, toward the end of his career, Dumas wrote The Red Sphinx, another direct sequel to The Three Musketeers that begins, not twenty years later, but a mere twenty days afterward. The Red Sphinx picks up right where the The Three Musketeers left off, continuing the stories of Cardinal Richelieu, Queen Anne, and King Louis XIII—and introducing a charming new hero, the Comte de Moret, a real historical figure from the period. A young cavalier newly arrived in Paris, Moret is an illegitimate son of the former king, and thus half-brother to King Louis. The French Court seethes with intrigue as king, queen, and cardinal all vie for power, and young Moret soon finds himself up to his handsome neck in conspiracy, danger—and passionate romance! Dumas wrote seventy-five chapters of The Red Sphinx, all for serial publication, but he never quite finished it, and so the novel languished for almost a century before its first book publication in France in 1946. While Dumas never completed the book, he had earlier written a separate novella, The Dove, that recounted the final adventures of Moret and Cardinal Richelieu. Now for the first time, in one cohesive narrative, The Red Sphinx and The Dove make a complete and satisfying storyline—a rip-roaring novel of historical adventure, heretofore unknown to English-language readers, by the great Alexandre Dumas, king of the swashbucklers.

The Men In The Iron Mask By Alexandre Dumas Who was the man in the iron mask? Why did he wear a mask? Why was he imprisoned and who imprisoned him? Nobody knows. His identity was a mystery when he lived and more than two and a half centuries later, he is still shrouded in mystery. Some people identify him with Duke of Mammoth, the illegitimate son of Charles II, and some with Moliere, the creator of the famous comedy "Tartuffe". But Dumas created this novel identifying the man in the iron mask as the twin brother of Louis XIV. The Men In The Iron Mask By Alexandre Dumas In the concluding installment of Alexandre Dumas's celebrated cycle of the Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan remains in the service of the corrupt King Louis XIV after the Three Musketeers have retired and gone their separate ways. Unbeknownst to D'Artagnan, Aramis, and Porthos plot to remove the inept king and place the king's twin brother on the throne of France. Meanwhile, a twenty-three-year-old prisoner known only as "Philippe" wastes away deep inside the Bastille. Forced to wear an iron mask, Phillippe has been imprisoned for eight years, has no knowledge of his true identity, and has not been told what crime he's committed. When the destinies of the king and Phillippe converge, the Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan find themselves caught between conflicting loyalties. The Men In The Iron Mask By Alexandre Dumas