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The skeleton of a French nobleman whose life impressed Alexandre Dumas’ The Three Musketeers might have been discovered buried in a church within the Dutch metropolis of Maastricht, officers say.
Employees found a grave containing human stays beneath tiles after a part of the ground of St Peter and Paul Church subsided final month, triggering a problem to determine the skeleton by way of DNA testing.
The bones are suspected to be these of Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan – identified merely as d’Artagnan within the famed 1844 novel.
The true d’Artagnan, a spy and musketeer for France’s “Solar King”, King Louis XIV, was killed within the Siege of Maastricht in 1673 when he was struck within the throat by a musket ball.
The church, which stands close to the location the place the French military camped, had beforehand been recognized as a doable resting place for the soldier.
Transporting his physique again from Maastricht to Paris in the summertime warmth would have been troublesome.
Scientists have now retrieved DNA from a jawbone of the skeleton to check it and evaluate it with that of descendants of d’Artagnan.
“This has actually grow to be a top-level investigation, during which we wish to be completely sure – or as sure as doable – whether or not it’s the well-known musketeer, who was killed right here close to Maastricht,” stated archaeologist Wim Dijkman.
Deacon Jos Valke stated different clues discovered on the burial spot included a coin dated 1660 and a part of a lead bullet.
“He lay buried beneath the altar in consecrated floor,” he stated. “There was a French coin from that point within the grave. And the bullet that killed him was mendacity at chest degree, precisely as described within the historical past books. The indications are very robust.”
The fictional d’Artagnan, the hero of The Three Musketeers, was a hot-headed teenager who was a good friend of the unique three – and have become the fourth.
In display screen diversifications of Dumas’s story, d’Artagnan has been performed by actors together with Douglas Fairbanks and Michael York.
