FROM FICTION TO REAL LIFE: The Tomb of 17th Century French Military Leader D’Artagnan, Immortalized in Alexandre Dumas’ ‘The Three Musketeers’, May Have Been Found in Dutch Church

by Paul Serran

A resting place for a real hero immortalized in literature.

Even people like me, who love Alexandre Dumas’ serialized masterpiece ‘The Three Musketeers’, may not be aware that the young hero D’Artagnan was based on a real person, Charles de Batz de Castelmore.

Later known as Count D’Artagnan, Charles was a French military leader who served Louis XIV as captain of the Musketeers of the Guard.

He was immortalized in the books, but his real-life final resting place remained a mystery for centuries, since his death in 1673.

But now, this mystery may be over about the fate of the ‘fourth musketeer’.

The Telegraph reported:

“Hopes are high that DNA testing will confirm that the bones found in St Peter and Paul church in Wolder, near Maastricht, belong to Charles de Batz de Castelmore, the Earl of Artagnan or ‘D’Artagnan’.”

Such a result would be a twist worthy of the tales of derring-do, espionage, brotherhood and courtly intrigue that made the motto ‘All for one and one for all’ famous.”