Armenian Jerusalem
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)