The first time this man is mentioned is in a letter Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine wrote to Sophia of Hanover in 1711. She tells that he had to wear a mask, all the time, but knows nothing about his identity. In a letter of 1698, one of the guardians of the Bastille mentions that an elderly prisoner was being brought to the Bastille, and that this prisoner had to wear a mask. The guardian of the prisoner is Bénigne Dauvergne de Saint-Mars. This person had written many letters to François Michel Le Tellier de Louvois, the minister of war at the time. There was heavy censorship at the time; about 90% of the letters were lost.