Archaeologist may have uncovered the remains of D’Artagnan, the famed French musketeer
By Jack Guy, CNN
(CNN) — An archaeologist has found remains he believes belong to the famed French musketeer D’Artagnan at a church in the Netherlands, potentially solving the mystery of the hero’s final resting place more than three centuries after he died.
The skeleton was found buried in a tomb in front of the altar at the St. Peter and Paul Church in the southern Dutch town of Maastricht, alongside a musket bullet and a small bronze coin minted in 1660, local independent archaeologist Wim Dijkman told CNN on Thursday.
This physical evidence matches historical records that report that D’Artagnan, whose full name was Charles de Batz de Castelmore, died after being shot in the throat by a musket ball during the French siege of Maastricht in 1673.
The siege was part of the Franco-Dutch War (1672-1678), a French war of conquest that aimed to seize control of the Spanish Netherlands. D’Artagnan was later immortalized in the 1844 novel “The Three Musketeers,” by French author Alexandre Dumas, and, in modern times, in films and TV series.
Dijkman, the former Maastricht city archaeologist, told CNN that he had been petitioning church officials to let him carry out excavations at the property since meeting French historian Odile Bordaz, a specialist in D’Artagnan, some 25 years ago.
Bordaz had long theorized that the body of the musketeer was probably buried near the French camp, rather than being taken back to France, so that King Louis XIV could personally attend the burial of his loyal servant.
When Dijkman met Bordaz and told her that he lived in Maastricht, she implored him to search for the musketeer’s remains, he told CNN, which he now believes he has done.
“I’m very confident,” said Dijkman, who is nonetheless awaiting the results of tests to evaluate DNA matches between the skeleton and two people who claim to be descendants of D’Artagnan, as well as a strontium isotope analysis that will reveal the region in which the person to whom the remains belong was born.
“I am a scientist. I’m an archaeologist. I want to be as sure as possible about this,” he said.
In addition, Jos Valke, deacon of the church, said a letter reporting D’Artagnan’s death stated that he had been laid to rest in consecrated ground.
“Well, under an altar –– it couldn’t be much holier than that,” Valke told Reuters.
“When you add it all up, then, it seems plausible to us. But of course nothing is certain yet,” he added.
The-CNN-Wire
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