How to spell d'artagnan. The real story of D'Artagnan: how the life of the legendary musketeer turned out. Biography and plot

Portrait of a Man BOURDON, Sébastien

In 2004, builders renovating a house in the Dutch city of Maastricht made a sensational discovery. In the garden near the wall of the building they found the remains of seven people. Police initially believed the burial was recent, but experts say the people lived around the 17th century. This is confirmed by several coins from the era found nearby.
Historians recalled that on June 25, 1673, battles took place in these parts - the French king Louis XIV sent a guard of musketeers to capture Maastricht. Its leader was none other than Lieutenant-Commander Charles de Batz de Castelmore, Count D'Artagnan. During one of the many assaults on Maastricht, D'Artagnan was killed - a musket bullet hit him in the head, his body was taken out from under enemy fire only the fifth time, and four daredevils who tried to do this died. From the memoirs of that time it is known that in the presence of two cousins ​​of the deceased, Pierre and Joseph de Montesquiou d'Artagnan, the body of the captain of the musketeers was buried at the foot of the walls of Maastricht. So, perhaps, in a mass grave among other French soldiers rested a real one, and not a fictitious one Alexandre Dumas is a historical figure.

Portrait of d'Artagnan from the frontispiece of Courtille's Memoirs...
All researchers of Dumas’s work agree that, of more than a dozen people who bore the surname D’Artagnan, the prototype of the famous character is de Castelmore. It was to him, a desperate brave man, that the King of France gave “special” assignments.
Around 1640 (and not at the end of the 1620s, like Dumas), the young man signed up for royal service in the guard under his mother's surname - de Montesquiou. Then it was customary to have a military nickname, and he came up with the pseudonym d’Artagnan - after the name of the lands that belonged to his mother. He became a musketeer only in 1644. Then d’Artagnan joined the retinue of Cardinal Mazarin.
His most famous act is the arrest in 1664 of Superintendent Nicolas Fouquet, described in The Vicomte de Bragelonne. After he distinguished himself so much in the Fouquet affair, d'Artagnan becomes the king's confidant. Louis XIV was very saddened by the death of such a servant and said that he was “almost the only man who managed to make people love himself without doing anything for them that would oblige them to do so,” and according to d’Aligny, the king wrote to the queen : “Madame, I have lost D’Artagnan, whom I trusted in the highest degree and who was suitable for any service.” Marshal d'Estrade, who served under D'Artagnan for many years, later said: "Better Frenchmen are hard to find." This can be said about the literary hero Dumas. However, the novelist largely deviated from the historical truth. He took D'Artagnan several decades ago, during the reign of Louis XIII.
And our hero was born in 1611 in Castelmore Castle in the province of the Lower Pyrenees in the south of France. Bertrand de Batz, the father of the future musketeer, although he was a nobleman, was, in fact, never distinguished by wealth. His house was never an abode of luxury and bears little resemblance to those grandiose castles of the Loire Valley.

The Chateau d'Arricau-Bordes estate, unremarkable in terms of size or comfort, is valued by realtors at $5.3 million.
Such a high price for the current economic situation is due to the fact that the estate belonged to the family of Charles de Batz, who bore the surname d'Artagnan on his mother's side.
The estate is currently owned by British financier Robert Shetler-Jones. The land plot has an area of ​​14 hectares, on which there are forests, grape plantations and steppe landscapes. Also on the territory of Chateau d'Arricau-Bordes there is its own wine production, which supplies the estate owners with up to 4.5 thousand bottles of wine per year.

Painting by Alfred Friedlander Royal Musketeers under Louis XIII
It must be said that at first the musketeers were not the elite at all. The company at its formation consisted of 100 ordinary musketeers, 1 captain, 2 lieutenants and 4 cornets. Until 1629, the company was subordinate to the captain-lieutenant of the light cavalry, then it gained independence. Its first commander was Captain de Montale. From October 3, 1634, the king himself was considered the captain of the company, and its actual commander bore the rank of captain-lieutenant; this position was taken by M. de Treville (Jean-Armand de Peyre, lord, from 1643 Count de Troisville, otherwise de Treville).

Jean-Armand du Peyret, Comte de Treville

De Treville was a Gascon, with the result that a significant part of the company soon consisted of the commander's fellow countrymen. The distinctive sign of the musketeers was a short azure cloak “a la Cossack” with silver braid and white crosses sewn onto it on the front, back and side blades; the cross, made of velvet, had golden royal lilies at the ends and scarlet trefoils at the crosses. The musketeers were assigned a gray horse (more precisely, white or dapple gray), which is why they received the nickname “gray musketeers.” A musketeer's equipment, in addition to a horse and a musket with a bipod, consisted of a sword, a broadsword (for mounted combat), a pair of pistols, a daga (a dagger for the left hand) and a buffalo leather belt with cartridges attached to it (natruski), a powder flask, a bag for bullets and wicks ; The “Musketeers of the King’s Military House” were ranked among the “Guards outside the Louvre,” that is, the King’s external guard; they were supposed to accompany the king on his exits and walks, riding on horseback in twos in front of the other guards; They also accompanied the king on campaigns in which he took part.

Ernest Meissonier. A Game of Picket. 1845
The “real” Athos was not even thirteen years old in 1628 (the time of action of “The Three Musketeers”); Porthos was 11 years old, and Aramis was less than ten. But Dumas wanted to pit his heroes against Buckingham, and he changed the flow of time.

Athos

His real name is Armand de Silleg d'Athos d'Auteville. (1615-1643). Armand de Silleg also served in a musketeer company. He was a poor Gascon nobleman who was the second cousin of Armand-Jean de Treville. Young Silleg arrived in Paris around 1638. However, he did not join the musketeer company immediately, approximately three years later, in 1641. He did not wear the famous cloak for long. In 1643 Athos was killed in a duel near the market of Pré-aux-Claires.
The estate with the castle de La Fère belonged to Queen Anne of Austria and played a rather important strategic role in France during the Wars of Religion. The troops of Henry III recaptured this fortress from the Protestants several times. However, the de La Fer family itself ceased to exist by the beginning of the 17th century. Among the Knights of the Order of the Holy Spirit, established in 1580, one can find the surname de La Fère, but this worthy nobleman died almost thirty years before the birth of Athos.

Porthos

Isaac de Portau was born in 1617 into the family of a wealthy landowner. Porthos’s grandfather, an inveterate Huguenot, was a cook at the court of Henry of Navarre during his stay in Béarn; according to other sources about him, grandfather Porthos was an ordinary arquebusier, but the musketeer’s father was a notary and a successful landowner. Porthos is one of the few musketeers who came not from Gascony, but from nearby Béarn. Isaac entered the musketeer company at about the same time as Armand de Salleg. Who knows, perhaps Athos and Porthos were actually close friends. However, Isaac also served only briefly under Treville. The company itself was disbanded in 1646. However, Porthos remained in Paris for some time. He retired in 1650, and went back to Béarn. There he received the position of chief of the arsenal of the Navarran fortress.
Isaac de Porto lived a long and, apparently, happy life in his native Bearn. He died in 1712 at the age of 95. There is information that the prototype of Porthos left behind seven children. According to other sources, he was not married and died alone.

Aramis

Aramis, or rather Henri d'Aramitz, was born in 1620. He belonged to the old Béarn family, which became famous during the religious wars of the 16th century. Aramis, like Athos, was a relative of de Treville (his cousin)! In 1641 he joined a musketeer company, but ten years later he was already living in his native land with his wife, the former Mademoiselle de Béarn-Bonasse, with whom he had three sons.He died in 1672, according to other sources in 1674. According to unconfirmed reports, for some time he was a secular abbot.

For Gacienne de Sandre de Courtille, the author of “Memoirs of M. d'Artagnan, Lieutenant-Commander of the First Company of the Royal Musketeers,” these were not three friends, but three brothers whom d’Artagnan meets in M. de Treville’s house. “We admit, names alien to our ears struck us, and it immediately occurred to us that these were just pseudonyms under which d'Artagnan hid names, perhaps famous, unless the bearers of these nicknames chose them themselves on the day when, on a whim, out of annoyance or poverty, they put on a simple musketeer’s cloak,” writes Dumas in the author’s preface to “The Three Musketeers.”

Review of the black musketeers in the Sablon Valley. Painting by Robert Paul Ponce Antoine, 1729

What did Dumas' heroes get from them? Only names. But Dumas came, picked up names on the street - and created a mythology out of nothing. Anticipating, we note, not only and not so much adventure literature, but comics (and especially Japanese “manga”), in which the properties of the heroes acquire the features of a modern myth. I want to play Dumas' heroes, despite the cruelty of Athos, the naivety of Porthos and the cunning of Aramis. They can, because they are gods, not people.

And here’s what else is interesting: as a result of this fiction, this pseudo-historical manipulation, the very real historical France of the early 17th century comes to life before us with its events, people, customs, color, even cuisine: France, which we would never have known and loved so much , being forced to read only archival documents and “Memoirs of Messire d'Artagnan” by Courtille.

Monument to d'Artagnan in Paris

Visiting a fairy tale

Your favorite childhood book comes to life in your memory and you can even hear D’Artagnan’s spurs ringing on the pavement
"...So, d'Artagnan entered Paris on foot, carrying his bundle under his arm, and wandered the streets until he managed to rent a room suitable for his meager means. This room was a kind of attic and was located on the Rue Gravediggers, near Luxembourg."

Mogilshikov Street (now Servandoni Street)

Memorial plaque on the corner house of Buck Street and embankment
“On this place stood the house in which the captain of the royal
Musketeers Mr. D'Artagnan"

Bak street, 1. Captain-Lieutenant d'Artagnan once lived here
In this photo, the plaque is visible in the lower right corner. And even further to the right, a few steps from d'Artagnan's home, in houses 13-17 on Bac Street, there were musketeer barracks, where most of them received housing at the expense of the treasury. By the way, it was when d'Artagnan was captain of the musketeers that this happened (1670 .). Alas, the barracks have not survived to this day and the current houses No. 13, 15 and 17 do not differ in anything special except their historical location.
"... Having made a deposit, d'Artagnan immediately moved to his room and spent the rest of the day busy with work: trimming his camisole and trousers with galloon, which the mother ripped from the almost completely new camisole of Mr. d'Artagnan the father and slowly gave to her son. Then He went to the embankment of Zhelezny Lom and let a new blade be attached to his sword."

Zhelezny Lom Embankment (now Kozhevennaya)

"... After that, he went to the Louvre and asked the first musketeer he met where Mr. de Treville's house was located. It turned out that this house was located on the Old Dovecote Street, that is, very close to the place where d'Artagnan settled - a circumstance , interpreted by him as an omen of success."

Street of the Old DovecoteReception of Monsieur de Treville
"...In addition to the morning reception with the king and the cardinal, more than two hundred such “morning receptions” took place in Paris, which received special attention. Among them, de Treville’s morning reception attracted the largest number of visitors. The courtyard of his mansion, located on Old Dovecote Street, resembled a camp already from six o'clock in the morning in summer and from eight o'clock in winter... About fifty or sixty musketeers, apparently replaced from time to time so that their number always remained impressive, constantly walked around the courtyard, armed to the teeth and ready for anything. "

De Treville could well have had a house like this

Desho Carmelite Monastery

The courtyard of the Desho monastery, the site of the failed duel between d'Artagnan and Athos
Its name comes from the word “dechausse” - barefoot, as the nuns took off their shoes upon entering. All that remains of the “barren wastelands” is the monastery courtyard, where the duel was supposed to take place, which marked the beginning of the friendship of the four musketeers. It is quite possible that the paving stones in the yard are still “the same”, four centuries ago

"The young woman and her companion noticed that they were being followed and quickened their pace. D'Artagnan almost ran ahead of them and then, turning back, collided with them at the moment when they passed the statue of the Samaritan woman, illuminated by a lantern that cast light for this entire part of the bridge."

Samaritan Tower with Samaritan Woman. Fragment of a painting from the Carnavalet Museum

New Bridge and Samaritan Department Store

“Athos lived on Rue Ferou, a stone's throw from Luxembourg. He occupied two small rooms, neatly decorated, which were rented to him by the mistress of the house, not yet old and still very beautiful, who in vain turned her tender gaze on him.

Rue Ferou towards Saint-Sulpice. Athos lived in one of the local courtyards

Rue Ferou, view towards Luxembourg

“Porthos occupied a large and seemingly luxurious apartment on Old Dovecote Street. Every time, walking with one of his friends past his windows, at one of which there was always a Mousqueton in ceremonial livery, Porthos raised his head and, pointing his hand upward, said: “This is my abode.” But it was never possible to catch him at home, he never invited anyone to go upstairs with him, and no one could imagine what real wealth lay behind this luxurious appearance.”

Home for Porthos

Having reached the end of the alley, D'Artagnan turned left. The house where Aramis lived was located between Rue Casset and Rue Servandoni.

Vaugirard, 25 - Aramis's address

Not far from this house, at the intersection of Vaugirard and Rennes streets, there is a hotel named after Aramis

Louvre today

Model of the Bastille in the Carnavalet Museum
Bastille... Here it is, the fear of contemporaries, which the revolution of 1789 turned into a pile of stones. They then paved the Place de la Concorde: trample, trample the hated remains...

On the site where the Bastille stood

"Red Duke"
The Richelieu statue takes pride of place among the 136 statues of French statesmen decorating the Hotel de Ville

Monument to Alexandre Dumas the Father near the Malesherbes metro station
A. Maurois (“The Three Dumas”) writes about the graphic artist, Gustave Doré, the author of the monument: “Gustave Doré was inspired by a dream Dumas the father once told to his son: “I dreamed that I was standing on the top of a rocky mountain, and every stone of it resembles one of my books." On top of a huge granite block - exactly the same as the one he saw in his dream - sits the bronze Dumas, smiling. A group settled down at his feet: a student, a worker, a young girl, forever frozen with books in their hands.”
They erected a monument on Place Malesherbes, where the writer’s last apartment was located, and now you can see it directly from the exit of the metro station of the same name (M° Malesherbes - the name in French for those who want to find the station on the map of the Paris metro).

Youth
D'Artagnan was born at Castelmore Castle near Lupillac in Gascony. His father was the son of a tradesman turned nobleman, Arnaud de Batz, who bought Castelmore Castle. Charles de Batz moved to Paris in the 1630s under the name of his mother from a prominent family, Françoise de Montesquiou d'Artagnan. He entered the company of the royal musketeers in 1632, thanks to the patronage of a family friend, the captain-lieutenant (actual commander) of the company of Monsieur de Treville (Jean-Armand du Peyret, Count of Troisville). As a musketeer, d'Artagnan managed to gain the patronage of the influential Cardinal Mazarin, the chief minister of France since 1643. In 1646, the musketeer company was disbanded, but d'Artagnan continued to serve his patron Mazarin.

Military career
D'Artagnan made a career as a courier for Cardinal Mazarin in the years after the First Fronde. Because of d'Artagnan's devoted service during this period, the cardinal and Louis XIV entrusted him with many secret and sensitive matters that required complete freedom of action. He followed Mazarin during his exile in 1651 due to the hostility of the aristocracy. In 1652, d'Artagnan was promoted to the rank of lieutenant of the French Guard, then to captain in 1655. In 1658, he became a second lieutenant (i.e., second-in-command) in the reconstituted company of the Royal Musketeers.

D'Artagnan was famous for his role in the arrest of Nicolas Fouquet. Fouquet was controller of Louis XIV's finances and sought to take Mazarin's place as advisor to the king. The impetus for this arrest was the grand reception given by Fouquet at his castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte in connection with the completion of its construction (1661). On September 4, 1661, in Nantes, the king summoned d'Artagnan to his place and gave him the order to arrest Fouquet. The amazed d'Artagnan demanded a written order, which was handed to him along with detailed instructions. The next day, d'Artagnan, having selected 40 of his musketeers, tried to arrest Fouquet as he left the royal council, but let him go (Fouquet got lost in the crowd of petitioners and managed to get into the carriage). Having rushed with the musketeers in pursuit, he overtook the carriage in the city square and made an arrest. Under his personal guard, Fouquet was taken to prison in Angers, from there to Vincennes Castle, and from there to the Bastille in 1663. Fouquet was guarded by musketeers under the personal leadership of d'Artagnan for 5 years - until the end of the trial that sentenced him to life imprisonment.

In 1667, d'Artagnan was promoted to captain-lieutenant of the musketeers, effectively commander of the first company, since the king was the nominal captain. Under his leadership, the company became an exemplary military unit, in which many young nobles not only from France, but also from abroad, sought to gain military experience. Another of d'Artagnan's appointments was as governor of Lille, which was won in battle by France in 1667. D'Artagnan was an unpopular governor, and sought to return to the army. He got lucky when Louis XIV fought the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War. D'Artagnan was killed on June 25, 1673, with a bullet to the head during the siege of Maastricht, during a fierce battle for one of the fortifications.

On July 12, 1931, a monument to d'Artagnan was unveiled in Paris. And not to the Gascon who actually existed, but to the character of the famous novels by Alexandre Dumas. The historical musketeer is immortalized too. True, not in France, but in Holland, at the site of his death in the city of Maastricht. In a word, the date of July 12 is an excellent occasion to talk about who the prototypes of the heroes of Dumas the Father were.

Athos

Athos, the eldest, wisest of experience and the most mysterious of the four heroes of the novel, was given the name by a man who lived only 28 years and died, like a true musketeer, with a sword in his hand.

Armand de Silleg d'Athos d'Autevielle (Dotubiel) was born in the commune of Atos-Aspis near the Spanish border. Ironically, the parents of the prototype of the high-born Comte de La Fère were not hereditary nobles. His father came from a merchant family that received the nobility, and his mother, although she was the cousin of the captain-lieutenant of the royal musketeers, Gascon de Treville, was the daughter of a bourgeois - a respected merchant and an elected juror. The real Athos served in the army from a young age, but happiness smiled on him only in 1641, when he was able to break into the ranks of the elite of the royal guard and become a private in a company of musketeers. Probably, family ties played an important role here: de Treville was, after all, the second cousin of the real Athos. However, whoever was included in the king’s personal guard was not taken even if he had a “shaggy Gascon paw”: the young man was known as a brave man, a good soldier and deservedly wore the musketeer’s cloak.

Veniamin Smekhov - Athos in the film "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers", 1978

On December 22, 1643, near the Parisian market of Pré-aux-Claires, a fatal battle for Athos took place between the royal musketeers and the cardinal’s guards, who were lying in wait for one of His Majesty’s best fighters, Charles d’Artagnan, who was heading somewhere on his own business. Some biographers of the famous musketeer generally believe that Richelieu’s people sent hired killers in their place. The experienced grunt d'Artagnan put up desperate resistance, but he would have had a hard time if Athos and his comrades had not been having fun at that time in one of the drinking establishments nearby. The musketeers, warned by the night watchman, an accidental witness to the brawl, furiously rushed to the rescue. Most of the attackers were killed or seriously wounded on the spot, while the rest fled. In this battle, Athos received a mortal wound. He was buried in the cemetery of the Parisian church of Saint-Sulpice, in the registration books of which there is a record of “the escort to the burial place and burial of the deceased Armand Athos Dotubiel, a musketeer of the royal guard.”

The prototype of Athos lived only 28 years and died as a true musketeer

There is a story according to which d’Artagnan once saved Athos’ life during one of the street fights, and Athos fully returned his debt of honor, giving his own for saving d’Artagnan.
It is believed that Alexandre Dumas endowed each of his musketeers with the traits of someone close to him. So, in Count de La Fère, contemporaries identified Dumas’s first co-author and mentor, the writer Adolf Leuven, who was truly a Swedish count by origin. Restrained and cold in communication, Leven, like Athos, was a reliable and devoted friend for Dumas, the teacher of his son. It should be added that the count was known in the circles of Parisian bohemia as a big drinker - another trait of the famous musketeer.

Porthos

The prototype of the good-natured glutton and naive strongman Porthos is the old warrior Isaac de Porto. He came from a family of Protestant nobles in Béarn. There is an opinion that his grandfather Abraham Porto, a supplier of poultry to the court of King Henry of Navarre, who earned the court title of “kitchen officer,” was a Jew who converted to Protestantism and fled to liberal Navarre from Catholic Portugal, where his brothers in faith and blood were subjected to severe persecution.

Born in 1617 on the Lanne estate in the valley of the Ver River, Isaac de Porto was the youngest of three sons in the family. Consequently, he had the least chance of counting on an inheritance, so a military career was the best option for Isaac. At the age of sixteen or seventeen, de Porto entered military service. In 1642, he appears in the register of ranks of the French Guard regiment of the King's Military House as a guardsman in the company of Captain Alexandre des Essarts, the same one in which d'Artagnan began his service in Dumas's novel.

The prototype of Porthos was a Protestant

But whether the real Porthos was a musketeer is a big question. However, the Guards of Des Essarts traditionally maintained friendly relations with the musketeers, and this unit was considered as a source of potential candidates for the king's close bodyguards.
Isaac de Porto fought a lot and bravely. As a result, the wounds he received in battle made themselves felt, and he was forced to leave the service and Paris. Returning to his homeland, Isaac de Porto, after 1650, held the garrison position of keeper of the guard's ammunition in the fortress of Navarrance and continued to serve France. Subsequently he also acted as secretary of the provincial states in Béarn.

General Thomas - Alexandre Dumas

Having lived a long and honest life, the real Porthos died at the beginning of the 18th century, leaving in his small homeland the modest memory of an honored veteran and good man. His tombstone in the Saint-Sacrément chapel of the Church of Saint Martin in Pau remains to this day.
In the image of Porthos, Alexandre Dumas brought out many of the traits of his father, a military general during the Napoleonic Wars, who became famous not only for his Herculean exploits, but also for his scrupulous attitude to matters of honor and cheerful disposition.

Aramis

The sophisticated dandy Aramis, who was equally interested in issues of theology and fashion, was written by Alexandre Dumas based on the real-life musketeer Henri d'Aramitz. A native of Béarn, he belonged to an old noble family that supported the Huguenots. His grandfather became famous during the religious wars in France, fighting bravely against the king and the Catholics, and was promoted to captain. However, Henri's father, Charles d'Aramitz, broke with the family's Protestant past, came to Paris, converted to Catholicism and enlisted in the company of the Royal Musketeers. So Henri, who was born around 1620 and grew up in the family of the king’s bodyguard, was ordered by God himself to become a musketeer. This character's piety is also not a fictional trait. Like many converts, Aramis's father was a devout Catholic and, after leaving the guard, chose the path of church service, becoming a secular abbot in the Béarn Abbey of Aramis. Young Henri was raised in the Catholic spirit, and, as far as is known, from a young age he was really interested in issues of theology and religious philosophy. However, with no less zeal he mastered fencing and horse riding, and by the age of twenty he was considered a master of the blade in his homeland.

Luke Evans - Aramis in the film "The Musketeers", 2011

In 1640 or 1641, the captain-lieutenant of the musketeers de Treville, who sought to staff his company with fellow Gascons and Béarnians, invited the young Henri d'Aramitz, who was his cousin, to serve. The prototype of Aramis served in the guard for about seven or eight years, after which he returned to his homeland, married demoiselle Jeanne de Béarn-Bonnas and became the father of three children. After the death of his father, he assumed the rank of secular abbot of the Abbey of Aramitz and held it for the rest of his life. Henri d'Aramitz died in 1674, surrounded by his loving family and many friends.

Dumas endowed the literary Aramis with some of the traits of his grandfather

Alexandre Dumas endowed the literary Aramis with some of the traits of his grandfather, an educated aristocrat, a famous fashionista and a woman lover. Unlike the impeccably noble Athos and the good-natured Porthos, Aramis appears in the series of novels about the magnificent four as a very contradictory character, no stranger to intrigue and deceit. Perhaps the writer was never able to forgive his grandfather for the illegitimate status of his father, the son of a dark-skinned Haitian slave Marie-Cesset Dumas.

D'Artagnan

As you know, the figure of the daring and courageous d’Artagnan, the youngest of the four, is quite reliable. Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore (later d'Artagnan) was born in 1611 at the castle of Castelmore in Gascony. The origin of the future musketeer in the era of the supremacy of noble titles was more than dubious: his grandfather was a tradesman who appropriated the nobility after his marriage to the aristocrat Françoise de Coussol. Considering that titles in the Kingdom of France were not passed down through the female line, we can say that Charles de Batz was a self-proclaimed nobleman, or was not one at all. Around 1630, the young man set off to conquer Paris, where he was accepted into service as a cadet in the regiment of the French Guard in the company of Captain des Essarts. In memory of his father’s military merits, King Louis XIII ordered the young guard to be called by the noble surname of his mother, Françoise de Montesquiou d’Artagnan, who came from an impoverished branch of an old count’s family. In 1632, his father’s military merits provided the cadet d’Artagnan with another service: his father’s comrade in arms, captain-lieutenant of the musketeers de Treville, contributed to the transfer of Charles to his company. D'Artagnan's entire subsequent military career was in one way or another connected with the king's bodyguards.

The true d'Artagnan, while undoubtedly a brave and efficient soldier, nevertheless possessed a number of less chivalrous talents, which allowed his star to shine brightly among his contemporaries. Despite participating in dozens of desperate street battles with the cardinal’s guards, he was by no means impeccably loyal to the king, but understood perfectly well whose side was strong. D'Artagnan was one of the few musketeers who managed to gain the patronage of the all-powerful Cardinal Mazarin. For many years, the Gascon performed the duties of a confidant and personal courier under the chief minister of France, successfully combining with them his service to the young king Louis XIV. The devotion of a savvy officer who was ready to do anything to carry out the will of his master and who knew how to keep his mouth shut was generously noted by the ranks: in 1655 d'Artagnan was promoted to captain of the French Guard, and in 1658 he became a second lieutenant (that is, deputy actual commander ) in a recreated company of the Royal Musketeers. Soon he began to call himself a count.

Coat of arms of d'Artagnan

In 1661, d'Artagnan gained rather scandalous fame for his unsightly role in the arrest of the Minister of Finance Nicolas Fouquet, whom the vengeful and capricious monarch was jealous of his luxury and wealth. Then the brave lieutenant of the musketeers with forty of his subordinates almost missed Fouquet and managed to capture him only after a desperate chase through the streets of Nantes. The musketeers of the 1st company for the first time became the subject of evil jokes and caustic ridicule of the ironic French.

In 1667, for his services in the battles against the Spaniards, Louis XIV appointed the newly promoted captain-lieutenant of his musketeers and the self-proclaimed Comte d'Artagnan as governor of Lille. The Gascon failed to find a common language with the freedom-loving townspeople, so he was incredibly glad when the Franco-Dutch War broke out in 1672 and he was allowed to leave his governorship. In the same year, d’Artagnan received from the hands of the king his last military rank - the rank of “field marshal” (major general).

Marshal d’Estrade about d’Artagnan: “It’s hard to find a better Frenchman”

On June 25, 1673, during the siege of Maastricht, during a fierce battle for one of the fortifications, in a reckless attack across open ground organized by the young Duke of Monmouth, d'Artagnan was killed by a musket bullet to the head. The Gascon's body was found stretched out on the bloody ground among the bodies of his dead soldiers. The French army sincerely mourned the death of the proven general. “It would be difficult to find a better Frenchman,” Marshal d’Estrade, who served under d’Artagnan for many years, later said. The king saw off his loyal subject with the words: “I have lost d’Artagnan, whom I trusted to the highest degree and who was suitable for any service.”
Count d'Artagnan was buried in the cemetery of the small church of Saints Peter and Paul near the city wall, which he so strived for in his last battle. Now there is a bronze monument there.

Monument to d'Artagnan in Maastricht

After d'Artagnan there remained a widow, Anna Charlotte Christina née de Chanlécy, a noble Charolais noblewoman, with whom he lived for 14 years, and two sons, both named Louis and who later made an excellent military career.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Castelmore Castle, where D'Artagnan was born, in the town of Lupiac, near the town of Osh

Charles de Batz Castelmore was born in 1611 at the castle of Castelmore near Lupillac in Gascony. His father was Bertrand de Batz, the son of the tradesman Pierre de Batz, who, after marrying Françoise de Coussol, assumed a noble title, whose father Arno Batz bought the Castelmore “castle” in the county of Fezensac, which previously belonged to the Puy family. This "domenjadur" (fr. domenjadur) - the manor house, which is a two-story stone structure, has still been preserved and is located on the border of the counties of Armagnac and Fezensac on a hill, between the valleys of the Douz and Zheliz rivers. Charles de Batz moved to Paris in the 1630s under the name of his mother, Françoise de Montesquiou d'Artagnan, descended from an impoverished branch of the noble family of Counts de Montesquiou, descendants of the ancient Counts of Fezensac. The modest estate of Artagnan itself (fr. Artagnan or Artaignan) near Vic-de-Bigorre in the 16th century passed to Montesquiou after the marriage of Paulon de Montesquiou, master of the horse of the Navarre King Henry d'Albret, to Jacquemette d'Estaing, Madame d'Artagnan. D'Artagnan himself always wrote his name with an "i", maintaining its archaic form and always signed his name with a lowercase letter. In the papers of the royal compilers of the genealogies d'Auzier and Cherin, a record was found that Louis XIII himself wished that the cadet of the guard Charles de Batz should bear the name d'Artagnan in memory of the services rendered to the king by his maternal grandfather, which equalized the Batz-Castelmores, who in all respects are incomparably lower than Montesquiou, with the Montesquiou-Fezensacs. Charles entered the company of the royal musketeers in 1632, thanks to the patronage of a family friend - the captain-lieutenant (actual commander) of the company of Monsieur de Treville (Jean-Armand du Peyret, Count of Troisville), also a Gascon. As a musketeer, d'Artagnan managed to gain the patronage of the influential Cardinal Mazarin, the chief minister of France since 1643. In 1646, the musketeer company was disbanded, but d'Artagnan continued to serve his patron Mazarin.

Military career

Presumably a portrait of d'Artagnan

D'Artagnan made a career as a courier for Cardinal Mazarin in the years after the First Fronde. Thanks to d'Artagnan's devoted service during this period, the cardinal and Louis XIV entrusted him with many secret and sensitive matters that required complete freedom of action. He followed Mazarin during his exile in 1651 due to the hostility of the aristocracy. In 1652, lieutenant of the French Guard, then to captain in 1655. In 1658, he became a second lieutenant (i.e., second-in-command) in the reconstituted company of the Royal Musketeers. This was a promotion as the Musketeers were much more prestigious than the French Guard. In fact, he took command of the company (under the nominal command of it by the Duke of Nevers, Mazarin's nephew, and the even more nominal command of the king).

D'Artagnan was famous for his role in the arrest of Nicolas Fouquet. Fouquet was the comptroller general (minister) of finances of Louis XIV and sought to take Mazarin's place as advisor to the king. The impetus for this arrest was the grand reception given by Fouquet at his castle of Vaux-le-Vicomte in connection with the completion of its construction (). The luxury of this reception was such that each guest received a horse as a gift. Perhaps Fouquet would have gotten away with this impudence if he had not placed the motto on his coat of arms: “What I have not yet achieved.” Seeing her, Louis was furious. On September 4, in Nantes, the king summoned d'Artagnan to his place and gave him the order to arrest Fouquet. The amazed d'Artagnan demanded a written order, which was handed to him along with detailed instructions. The next day, d'Artagnan, having selected 40 of his musketeers, tried to arrest Fouquet as he left the royal council, but let him go (Fouquet got lost in the crowd of petitioners and managed to get into the carriage). Having rushed with the musketeers in pursuit, he overtook the carriage in the city square in front of the Nantes Cathedral and made an arrest. Under his personal guard, Fouquet was taken to prison in Angers, from there to the Castle of Vincennes, and from there to the Bastille. Fouquet was guarded by musketeers under the personal leadership of d'Artagnan for 5 years - until the end of the trial, which sentenced him to life imprisonment.

After he distinguished himself so much in the Fouquet affair, d'Artagnan becomes the king's confidant. D’Artagnan began to use a coat of arms “divided into four fields: on the first and fourth silver field a black eagle with outstretched wings; on the second and third fields, on a red background, there is a silver castle with two towers on the sides, with a silver mantel, all empty fields are red.” Since 1665, in documents they begin to call him “Count d’Artagnan,” and in one agreement, d’Artagnan even calls himself “a holder of the royal orders,” which he could not be due to his artistic birth. A true Gascon - “a nobleman in case” could now afford this, since he was confident that the king would not object. In 1667, d'Artagnan was promoted to captain-lieutenant of the musketeers, effectively commander of the first company, since the king was the nominal captain. Under his leadership, the company became an exemplary military unit, in which many young nobles not only from France, but also from abroad sought to gain military experience. D'Artagnan's other appointment was as governor of Lille, which was won in battle in 1667. In the rank of governor, D'Artagnan failed to gain popularity, so he sought to return to the army. He succeeded when Louis XIV fought the Dutch Republic in the Franco-Dutch War. In 1672 he received the rank of “field marshal” (major general).

Death

D'Artagnan was shot in the head (according to Lord Alington) during the siege of Maastricht on June 25, 1673, during a fierce battle for one of the fortifications, in a reckless attack across open ground organized by the young Duke of Monmouth. The death of D'Artagnan was perceived as a great grief at court and in the army, where he was endlessly respected. According to Pelisson, Louis XIV was very saddened by the loss of such a servant and said that he was “almost the only man who managed to make people love himself without doing anything for them that would oblige them to do so,” and according to d'Aligny , the king wrote to the queen: “Madame, I have lost D’Artagnan, whom I trusted in the highest degree and who was fit for any service.” Marshal d'Estrade, who served under D'Artagnan for many years, later said: "Better Frenchmen are hard to find."

Despite his good reputation, the illegality of assigning him the title of count during his lifetime was not in doubt, and after d'Artagnan's death, his family's claims to nobility and titles were disputed in court, but Louis XIV, who knew how to be fair, ordered an end to any persecution and leave the family of his faithful old servant alone. After this battle, in the presence of Pierre and Joseph de Montesquiou d'Artagnan - two of his cousins, the body of the musketeer captain d'Artagnan was buried at the foot of the walls of Maastricht. For a long time, the exact burial place was unknown, but the French historian Odile Bordaz, after analyzing information from historical chronicles, states that the famous musketeer was buried in the small church of Saints Peter and Paul on the outskirts of the Dutch city of Maastricht (now the urban district of Wolder)

Family

Wife

D'Artagnan's wife was Anna Charlotte Christina de Chanlécy (? - December 31), daughter of Charles Boyer de Chanlécy, Baron de Sainte-Croix, descended from an ancient Charolais family. The family’s coat of arms depicted “an azure column dotted with silver drops on a golden background,” and had the motto “my name and essence are virtue.”

Children

Descendants

D'Artagnan's grandson Louis-Gabriel was born around 1710 in Sainte-Croix, and like his famous grandfather, he also became a musketeer, then captain of a dragoon regiment and assistant major of the gendarmerie. He, like his Gascon grandfather, was a brilliant officer with delusions of grandeur and called himself “Chevalier de Batz, Comte d’Artagnan, Marquis de Castelmore, Baron de Sainte-Croix and de Lupiac, owner of Espa, Aveyron, Meime and other places.” Such emphatically well-born nobility seemed suspicious and he was forced to explain the origin of these clearly fictitious titles. But he was lucky because papers were discovered where his grandfather was named “Sir Charles de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan, Baron of Sainte-Croix, Lieutenant-Commander of the Royal Musketeers,” which confirmed the status of the family and its coat of arms - on a red background, three silver towers on openwork field - was included in the armorial. His condition did not live up to his claims. Needing money, he sold Sainte-Croix in 1741 for 300 thousand livres, which he squandered. Soon he left military service and cheaply gave up the cradle of his ancestors, Castelmore, to a tax advisor. From then on he lived in the capital, where he married, on July 12, 1745, Baroness Constance Gabrielle de Moncel de Luray, Dame de Villemur. He lived out his last days in poverty in furnished rooms in Paris. He had a son, Louis Constantin de Batz, Comte de Castelmore, born in 1747. He was an assistant major in the foreign royal forces. In the army he was valued as very fond of his work. He became the last in the family of Charles Ogier d'Artagnan, although he no longer bore the name of his glorious great-grandfather.

In culture

Literature

The life of d'Artagnan, richly flavored with various kinds of fantastic episodes, formed the basis of the three-volume Memoirs of M. d'Artagnan, published in 1700. In fact, this text (like a number of other pseudo-memoirs) was composed by the writer Gasien de Courtille de Sandra; d’Artagnan himself did not write anything.

In the 19th century, when Alexander Dumas the father created his cycle about musketeers on the basis of this book (“The Three Musketeers” (), “Twenty Years Later”, “Vicomte de Bragelonne”), the fantastic nature of “d'Artagnan's memoirs” was already well known . In order to make his books more believable, in the preface to “The Three Musketeers” he added facts that supposedly proved the reality of the “memoirs”. Dumas included in his heroic biography of d’Artagnan a number of pre-existing semi-legendary plots of the 17th century that were not initially associated with him (the episode with the pendants of Anne of Austria, the attempt to save Charles I, the legend of the Iron Mask - allegedly the brother of Louis XIV, etc.)

From Dumas, d'Artagnan receives the baton of the Marshal of France before his death; in fact, he was a “field marshal” (according to the modern rank - major general). The marshal was from 1709 another Comte d'Artagnan, his cousin Pierre de Montesquiou d'Artagnan, governor of Arras, who later was the guardian of d'Artagnan's grandchildren. (The famous philosopher Charles de Montesquieu, in turn, has nothing to do with Marshal d’Artagnan).

French poet Edmond Rostand wrote the play Cyrano de Bergerac in 1897. After one of the play's famous scenes, in which Cyrano defeats Valver in a duel, ending the poem, d'Artagnan approaches Cyrano and congratulates him on his excellent fencing.

In Raphael Sabbatini's work "The Return of Scaramouche" one of the main characters is the Gascon Count Jean de Batz. Perhaps Sabbatini did not introduce this surname by chance, but in order to hint at the relationship between his brave character and the literary character Dumas.

Film and television

Many filmmakers were inspired by the novels of Alexandre Dumas. Among the actors who played d'Artagnan on screen:

• Aime Simon-Girard, in "The Three Musketeers" ()
• Douglas Fairbanks, in "The Three Musketeers"() And "Iron Mask" ()
• Walter Abel, in "The Three Musketeers" ()
• Warren William, in "The Man in the Iron Mask" ()
• Laurence Payne, in "The Three Musketeers"(TV series) ()
• Maximilian Schell, in "The Three Musketeers"(TV movie) ()
• Gerard Barré, in "The Three Musketeers" ()
• Jeremy Brett, in "The Three Musketeers"(TV series) ()
• Sancho Gracia, in "The Three Musketeers"(TV series) ()
• Michael York, in "The Three Musketeers: The Queen's Pendants" (), "The Four Musketeers: Milady's Revenge" (), "Return of the Musketeers"(), And "Mademoiselle Musketeer (Woman Musketeer)"(television miniseries) ()
• Louis Jordan, in "The Man in the Iron Mask"(TV movie) ()
• Mikhail Boyarsky, in "D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers"(), and "The Musketeers Twenty Years Later", "The Mystery of Queen Anne, or The Musketeers Thirty Years Later" And "Return of the Musketeers"( , And )
• Cornel Wild, in "The Fifth Musketeer" ()
• Chris O'Donnell, in "The Three Musketeers" ()
• Philippe Noiret, in "D'Artagnan's Daughters" ()
• Michael Dudikoff, "The Musketeers Forever" ()
• Gabriel Byrne, in "The Man in the Iron Mask" ()
• Justin Chambers, in "The Musketeer" ()

Monuments

• In Osh there is a monument to d'Artagnan, whom locals revere as a fellow countryman

Notes

Links

• Jean-Christian Petifis. True d'Artagnan.
• V. Erlikhman. D'Artagnan about three heads.
• LentaRu - Life and fiction. A French historian claims that she managed to find the grave of d'Artagnan's prototype

The story of D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers, which belongs to Peru, has become a classic of world literature. The exciting plot, the romance of the 17th century, the description of court intrigues and vivid images make the novel attractive to readers of any era. The main character of the work of the French writer was the Gascon D'Artagnan, who managed conquer readers with impudence and self-confidence. His daring and courage amaze the male audience as well. Teenagers are engrossed in the book, and mature people are not averse to touching its pages. But few people know that the images captured by Dumas were copied from real people.

History of creation

Historians have proven that the seemingly fictitious name of the main character belonged to Charles de Batz Castelmore, who lived in 1611-1673. Dumas was inspired by a book called "Memoirs of M. D'Artagnan, captain-lieutenant of the first company of the royal musketeers, containing many private and secret things that happened during the reign of Louis the Great." It was published in Holland at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and the writer drew motives for his work from the work. The text on which the novelist relied was created by Gatien de Courtille de Sandra. The author collected stories and plots for the book, relying on other people's stories.

Some readers are sure that the hero was Armenian. But the prototype of D’Artagnan turned out to be the nobleman Charles de Batz Castelmore. At the time of his birth, the family owned a large fortune, which Castelmore’s grandfather managed to amass and his father held in his hands. In 1608, the Castelmores were a wealthy and noble family of Gascony.

Having moved to Paris in the 1630s, Charles took his mother's surname - D'Artagnan. As the plot of Dumas' novel goes, the young man went to the capital, using the patronage of Captain-Lieutenant de Treville. There he ended up in a musketeer company and was blessed with the attention of Cardinal Mazarin , who had been the minister of France since 1643. Despite the rapid disbandment of the company, D'Artagnan remained faithful to the patron and continued to serve as a courier.

The cardinal's guard, who wins the hearts of beauties in the novel by Alexandre Dumas, in reality had a gentle disposition and was an exemplary family man.

Thanks to the musketeer, countless secret orders were transmitted. The envoy accompanied Mazarin into exile. In 1652, for his loyalty to his homeland, he received the rank of lieutenant in the French army. D'Artagnan's career developed rapidly. By 1658, he was deputy commander in the restored musketeer company. In 1667, he was already a company commander. At the same time, he was awarded the title of count. A few years later, Charles took the post of governor of Lille, but did not strive for political career, feeling at home only on the battlefield.

The reason for the death of Charles D'Artagnan lies in his return to the army. During the Franco-Dutch War, he took an active part in the enemy's attack. In one of the forays, the hero died from a musket bullet that hit the head. The respect of his fellow soldiers did not allow D'Artagnan to be buried on foreign land. He was taken to the location of the French troops and mourned by the whole country. After his death, the image of the hero became legendary; more than one short story was dedicated to him. The life story of the musketeer formed the basis of the work of Alexandre Dumas and was immortalized.

Biography and plot

The main character of the novel “The Three Musketeers” is the Gascon D'Artagnan. Seeking fame and fortune, he goes to Paris to join the regiment of musketeers. A savvy and charismatic character is distinguished by courage and courage. He is sharp-tongued and ready to stand up for himself, flaunting his youth .

In the capital of France, he finds himself in a fast-moving whirlpool of court intrigues, duels, scandals and adventures. Thanks to cunning and luck, the young man manages to get out of any situation. He is distinguished by nobility and straightforwardness, a tendency to achieve his goals. He himself and the Queen of France recognize the merits of the Gascon.

Constantly being in the center of events, the hero is looking for adventure and opportunities for exploits. The image of an adventurer is attractive, although next to his new friends he looks like an uncouth provincial.

Temperamental and hot-tempered, D'Artagnan meets new friends, challenging them to a duel. As a result of three fights scheduled for one day and hour, the hero makes friends: , and . Having entered the new team, the character accepts the established rules of the game.

The author does not elevate his hero above others. On the contrary, it makes him a simple, decent person with individual shortcomings and advantages. His girlfriend would be doomed to live in a volcano of passions, but the charming D'Artagnan plays with the sympathies of the beauties. The intrigues stop as soon as he meets Constance.

The plot of the novel intertwines several lines related to the hero’s love relationships and his duty to the fatherland, which is depicted in the form of the transfer of pendants for the queen. The motive of male friendship also appears, reinforced by the close camaraderie of the musketeers. Alexandre Dumas's novel is filled with collisions and details that emphasize the features of the images described.

Actors and roles

The novel "The Three Musketeers" provides rich material for interpretation. The book contains 120 film adaptations, including full-length films, mini-series and animated films. Most of the films were filmed abroad, and in one popular film she appeared in the image of Milady. In Russia, the famous 1978 film “D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers” was created, its continuation and variations on the theme in several versions.

In the hearts of the audience, the image of the boastful, perky and courageous D'Artagnan performed by . It is curious that the actor was not immediately approved for this role. The director had a plan for the selection of actors. Changes had to be made to it due to some circumstances. It was assumed that Mikhail Boyarsky will play the role of Count Rochefort.

But, one day being late for a rehearsal, the out of breath actor appeared before the director in an appearance that corresponded to the image of a musketeer in the director’s imagination. Boyarsky climbed onto the horse with difficulty, but in the frame he looked like a real Gascon. The role was prepared for, but it didn’t go to him. The director’s decision was also influenced by the fact that it was difficult for Abdulov to work with musical works written specifically for the film.

In the 1993 American film, he appeared as the main character. In The Musketeer, released in 2001, the role was played by Justin Chambers. And in the 2011 film “The Musketeers” he embodied D’Artagnan. In the 2013 Russian film he appeared in the image of a dashing musketeer. And only for Mikhail Boyarsky this role became symbolic.

It is curious that, in addition to D'Artagnan, other characters turned out to be reliable. Athos, Porthos and Aramis had prototypes. Armand de Selleck d'Athos d'Auteville from a merchant family that received a noble title became the prototype of Athos. Isaac de Porte, Porthos , was the son of a notary. D "Aramis, whose name remained unchanged, was an officer's son. The musketeers served in the company at different times and did not know each other. They were united by the literary idea of ​​Alexandre Dumas.

The Russian public invariably associates the image of D'Artagnan with Mikhail Boyarsky, who in his youth, like his hero, did not have to be brave. During filming, the actor put his life in danger. Thus, in the scene of a sword fight, a rapier hit the actor in the face and hit him in the mouth cavity, barely missing vital organs.

Goskino provided a modest budget for the filming of the Soviet film. Costume and prop designers had to use materials at hand to make the shots visually appealing. While filming in Odessa, Yungvald-Khilkevich independently built the queen’s pendants, buying bright jewelry at the local market. His authorship also belongs to the hilt of D'Artagnan's sword, made from a tin can.

Quotes

Whatever alternative variations the cinema offers, representatives of several generations will forever remember quotes from the Soviet film. Fans have repeatedly asked Boyarsky to repeat the famous phrases:

“Rag!”, “A thousand devils!”

The brave motto of the musketeers:

"One for all and all for one!" - the boys repeat in yard games.

The work of Georgy Yungvald-Khilkevich is filled with witticisms and humoresques that do not set your teeth on edge after numerous viewings.

“Provincial, but principled,” D’Artagnan describes himself to those who dare to make fun of his origin.

The proud and proud hero will not allow himself to be offended, and the catchphrase is repeated by guests of large cities. The favorite expression of embezzlers is the expression belonging to the main character of the novel:

"Avarice dries out the soul."

“The Three Musketeers” is an adventure novel, the main character of which cannot sit still when exciting events are happening around him. The author puts the words into D'Artagnan's mouth:

“I feel like a dusty statue, forgotten in a basement. Such a life, Porthos, can kill worse than a cannonball.”

This descriptive phrase expresses the essence of the character's personality and the character of the work.