For those of you who have only regard the Leonardo DiCaprio movie , the Man in the Iron Mask was an actual diachronic figure . He was a mysterious captive in the time of Louis XIV . Two centuries afterwards , a cryptoanalyst finally break his probable identity .
In 1698 , the Man in the Iron Mask had reach quite a reputation for himself ( some say herself ) when he had been in a prison in Savoy . In Paris , he was the matter of so much chin wagging that he became a legend for centuries to come . theorist tried to work out his identity . Some , most famously , Alexandre Dumas , made up an identity element , and spun a tale in which the Man in the Iron Mask was the secret twin of Louis XIV . Twins were a terror to orderly taking over , but no one could pop a prince of regal blood , so the second twin was masked and imprisoned .
For two century , the mystery remained . There were clues , but they were written in what ’s make out as The bully Cipher . This numerical computer code keep all the motor hotel communications secret . In 1890 , a French military cryptoanalyst nominate Etienne Bazeries decided to try his hand at The Great Cipher . There were about 600 dissimilar bit used in cipher subject matter , so the numbers could n’t mate up to letters of the alphabet . On the other hand , Bazeries realized , there are 676 ways of pairing up letters of the alphabet . The with child Cipher must use number as substitutes for dyad of letter — with a few for more common words , and a few left out because sealed letters are never pair up . By making guesswork at frequently - used pairs of letters , he got a few words , then used those decrypt numbers to suppose at yet more words , and find more numeral . finally , the codification was cracked .
Bazeries began knead his way through proportionateness from Louis XIV to his minister of war and found a letter about a certain Vivien de Bulonde . Bulonde was a military man , and was put in commission of an attack on the Italian border . As soon as he heard Austrian troops might be close in on his position , he turned tail and run , leaving his own wounded soldier behind . Louis order the minister to put him in the prison house at Savoy , but allow that he would be “ permitted to walk the battlements during the day with a mask . ”
So Louix XIV secret twin was in reality just a cowardly ship’s officer . realness might be more precise than fabrication , but it ’s far less juicy .
[ ViaThe Code Book ]
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