This project has been supported by the Gulbenkian philanthropic Foundation, the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and members
of the worldwide Armenian community. Reproductions of the genealogical documents [domar’s] are courtesy Photo Garo, Jerusalem.
© Copyright 2007 Arthur Hagopia
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Two years ago, a French researcher published a story on
"L'Arménien de la Bastille" which categorically confirms the
Ormanian chronicle of the imprisonment of an Armenian
clergyman in the Bastille, and enhances the link with the Man in
the Iron Mask.
In
the
research
conducted
by
Arlette
Lebigre,
and
published
January
2013,
talks
about
"
l'épopée
d'un
énigmatique
patriarche
arménien"
(the enigmatic epoch of an Armenian patriarch)" named Avediguian.
"Sa
captivité
en
France,
suite
à
la
bévue
d'un
ambassadeur,
met
en
péril
les relations du royaume de Louis XIV et de la Sublime Porte," she adds.
His
captivity
in
France
jeopardized
the
political
and
diplomatic
relatioship between France's "Sun King" and the Sublime Port (Sultan).
Her research only uncovered «Un prisonnier important.»
"La
lettre
de
cachet
n'en
dit
pas
plus.
Sans
nom,
sans
âge,
sans
domicile
ni
statut
social,
qui
est
le
petit
homme
corpulent
qui
entre
à
la
Bastille
le
18
décembre
1709?
Un
espion
(on
est
en
pleine
guerre
de
Succession
d'Espagne1)?
Un
propagandiste
d'idées
subversives?
Non.
Mais
l'antihéros
d'une
aventure
digne
d'un
roman
d'Alexandre
Dumas,
qui
mit
en
péril
pendant
plus
de
huit
ans
les
relations
de
la
France
et
de
l'Empire
ottoman.
Il
s'appelle
vraisemblablement
Avediguian,
«
francisé
» (!) en Avedick dans la volumineuse correspondance échangée. . ." Lebigre adds.
Documents
Lebigre
has
uncovered
reveal
precious
little
about
this
"corpulent"
man,
Avediguian,
who
was
thrown
into
the
Bastille
on
December
18,
1709.
He
could
have
been
neither
a
spy
nor
a
subversive,
she
asserts,
but
notes
that
the
misadventures
of
of
this
"antihero"
would
have
been
worthy
of
an
Alexandre
Dumas
novel,
like the Man in the Iron Mask.
The rest of the French article (payable) can be read here:
http://www.histoire.presse.fr/recherche/l-armenien-de-la-bastille-01-01-2013-51408
(July 4, 2015)