History buffs may soon get an answer to a 350-year-old mystery: Where are the remains of the 17th-century French musketeer who helped inspire Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers? Archaeologists in the Dutch city of Maastricht say they've uncovered a skeleton beneath the floor of St. Peter and Paul Church, and a deacon says "the evidence is very strong" that it is the remains of Charles de Batz de Castelmore—better known as d'Artagnan.
The Telegraph calls D'Artagnan "the fourth musketeer" and reports Dumas' 1844 novel contains a "fictionalized D'Artagnan" along with the Three Musketeers, who "take on the Machiavellian Cardinal Richelieu and the seductive femme fatale Milady." As for the true D'Artagnan, he was a close aide to King Louis XIV and captain of the Musketeers of the Guard—the musket-armed elite royal bodyguard founded in 1622.
The AFP reports Deacon Jos Valke told local outlet L1 Nieuws the bones were found under the church's former altar location, a burial spot typically reserved for royals or other high-status figures. The BBC reports a French coin from 1660 was discovered nearby, and a bullet was found at chest level—matching historical accounts of how d'Artagnan died during the 1673 siege of Maastricht. The Telegraph adds that because of the summertime heat, it was decided D'Artagnan should be buried where he fell rather than returned to Paris; the French army's camp at the time was near the St. Peter and Paul church. DNA samples are being analyzed in Munich, and results should be ready in a few weeks.
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