The skeletal remains of the 17th-century French folk hero D’Artangnan—born: Charles de Batz de Castelmore—have perhaps been recovered after being buried under a church in the Netherlands for centuries. The floor of the church, St. Peter and Paul in Maastricht, suffered damage last month, and subsequent repair work revealed the remains.
D’Artagnan, a French soldier who served under Louis XIV, rose through the ranks to eventually became a captain of the Musketeers of the Guard, an elite branch of the French military. Fans of French literature, know D’Artagnan from Alexandre Dumas’s beloved 1844 adventure novel Les Trois Mousquetaires. (If you were a child in the ‘90s, the live action Disney movie The Three Musketeers, starring Chris O’Donnell as D’Artagnan, is likely the more immediate reference point.) In both instances—and many other creative retellings of the story over the years—a character named D’Artagnan leaves home and is befriended by Musketeers named Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who take D’Artagnan under their wing.
According to the Dutch news site L1, several objects uncovered along with the skeleton point to the possibility of it being the real D’Artangnan. A French coin minted in the late 17th century was found near the remains, as were fragments from a musket ball. (D’Artagnan was killed by a musket ball during the siege of Maastricht in 1673.)
The DNA sample was extracted from the skeleton’s teeth, and is being tested in a lab in Munich. It will be compared with DNA from known descendants of the musketeer. Wim Dijkman, a Dutch archaeologist who has been involved in the excavation, is trying to temper his excitement at the long-awaited discovery. “I’m still very careful, I’m a scientist,” he told L1. But, he went on, “I have been researching d’Artagnan’s tomb for 28 years. This could be the highlight of my career.”
