The Valet's Tragedy, and Other StudiesLang, Andrew
History
The Valet's Tragedy, and Other Studies
Lang, Andrew
History; World history
By the beginning of March 1694, Pignerol had been bombarded by the
enemies of France; presently Louis XIV. had to cede it to Savoy. The
prisoners there must be removed. Mattioli, in Pignerol, at the end of
1693, had been in trouble. He and his valet had tried to smuggle out
letters written on the linings of their pockets. These were seized and
burned. On March 20, 1694, Barbezieux wrote to Laprade, now commanding
at Pignerol, that he must take his three prisoners, one by one, with all
secrecy, to Sainte-Marguerite. Laprade alone must give them their food
on the journey. The military officer of the escort was warned to ask
no questions. Already (February 26, 1694) Barbezieux had informed
Saint-Mars that these prisoners were coming. ‘They are of more
consequence, one of them at least, than the prisoners on the island, and
must be put in the safest places.’ The ‘one’ is doubtless Mattioli.
In 1681 Louvois had thought Dauger and La Riviere more important than
Mattioli, who, in March 1694, came from Pignerol to Sainte-Marguerite.
Now in April 1694 a prisoner died at the island, a prisoner who, like
Mattioli, HAD A VALET. We hear of no other prisoner on the island,
except Mattioli, who had a valet. A letter of Saint-Mars (January
6, 1696) proves that no prisoner THEN had a valet, for each prisoner
collected his own dirty plates and dishes, piled them up, and handed
them to the lieutenant.
M. Funck-Brentano argues that in this very letter (January 6, 1696)
Saint-Mars speaks of ‘les valets de messieurs les prisonniers.’ But in
that part of the letter Saint-Mars is not speaking of the actual state
of things at Sainte-Marguerite, but is giving reminiscences of Fouquet
and Lauzun, who, of course, at Pignerol, had valets, and had money, as
he shows. Dauger had no money. M. Funck-Brentano next argues that early
in 1694 one of the preacher prisoners, Melzac, died, and cites M. Jung
[‘La Verite sur le Masque de Fer,’ p. 91). This is odd, as M. Jung says
that Melzac, or Malzac, ‘DIED IN THE END OF 1692, OR EARLY IN 1693.’
Why, then, does M. Funck-Brentano cite M. Jung for the death of the
preacher early in 1694, when M. Jung (conjecturally) dates his decease
at least a year earlier?* It is not a mere conjecture, as, on March 3,
1693, Barbezieux begs Saint-Mars to mention his Protestant prisoners
under nicknames. There are three, and Malzac is no longer one of them.
Malzac, in 1692, suffered from a horrible disease, discreditable to one
of the godly, and in October 1692 had been allowed medical expenses.
Whether they included a valet or not, Malzac seems to have been
non-existent by March 1693. Had he possessed a valet, and had he died
in 1694, why should HIS valet have been ‘shut up in the vaulted prison’?
This was the fate of the valet of the prisoner who died in April 1694,
and was probably Mattioli.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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