The royal crown of Lombardy, said to have been forged from a nail of the true cross. It was first used in 591 at the coronation of Agilulf, King of the Lombards, and is now the royal crown of Italy.
Iron Duke.
The sobriquet of the great Duke of Wellington.
Iron Emperor.
Nicholas I of Russia (1825-55) was so called.
Iron Hand, Götz of the.
The sobriquet of Götz von Berlichingen, the leader in the German Peasants’ War of 1525. His right hand, which he had lost in battle, was replaced by an artificial hand made of iron.
Iron Mask, The Man with the.
A mysterious personage whose face was always covered with an iron mask, who was confined in the Bastille and other State prisons in France during the reign of Louis XIV. Many theories have been advanced as to his identity. It has been contended that he was an elder brother, a twin brother, and a natural son of the king, Count Matthioli, minister of the Duke of Mantua, and M. de Marchiel, the head of a wide-spread conspiracy against Louis XIV, while many other solutions of the problem have been put forward.