Researchers Seek More Data To Determine If Bones Belong to ‘Three Musketeers’ Protagonist

Dutch authorities are calling for more research including DNA testing to determine whether a skeleton unearthed under a church in Maastricht this year is that of Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan, a real-life French soldier immortalized in fiction as the key character in “The Three Musketeers.”In a Dutch-language report made public Thursday, city officials said an initial study showed the bones to be those of a man with an estimated age between 44 and 66, which is consistent with them belonging to d’Artagnan, who was 62 when he died during a French-led siege of Maastricht in 1673.However the researchers said their study showed that the individual had consumed a fish-rich diet typical of a resident of eastern or southern Europe. “This contrasts with what would be expected from someone born in Gascony (southwestern France), where d’Artagnan was raised,” the report said.Efforts to pin down the exact age of the skeleton have so far been unsuccessful due to damage caused to the skeleton by an amateur archaeologist who first dug up the bones and at one point removed some of them from the site.“The bones match historical records but lack unique identifying traits,” said the city’s report, which stressed that the data uncovered so far neither confirms nor rules out the skeleton being that of d’Artagnan. “Clues justify further investigation. No definitive conclusions can be drawn yet.”The report said future plans “include finishing the grave’s archaeological profile. Researchers will conduct extra isotope tests. They will run ancient DNA (aDNA) tests. Historical sources will face deeper review.”The initial excavation of the skeleton was undertaken by a retired archaeologist named Wim Dijkman, who authorities say failed to secure proper permits or follow established procedures for his dig beneath the city’s St. Peter and Paul Church. By the time professionals took over the work on March 13, the authorities said, the skull appeared to have been damaged and some information had been “irretrievably lost.”D’Artagnan was a French nobleman and soldier who rose to become the effective commander of the Musketeers of the Guard under King Louis XIV. During his career he served as a secret agent and courier for the king and was entrusted with the arrest and detention of France’s corrupt superintendent of finances, Nicolas Fouquet.He died on June 25, 1673, from a musket ball wound to the throat during the Siege of Maastricht, a critical battle in the Franco-Dutch war that saw the city fall to French forces, though the Netherlands ultimately succeeded in defending its territory.In his series of novels featuring the musketeers, the author Alexandre Dumas based his hero on the real d’Artagnan but shifted the timeline to incorporate events that occurred while d’Artagnan was still a child. The other musketeers in the novels are also based on real persons but they are unlikely to have known or served with Dumas’ hero.

Researchers Seek More Data To Determine If Bones Belong to ‘Three Musketeers’ Protagonist

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