One for all! How the real D'Artagnan lived, and what Dumas did. The real life story of D'Artagnan. In what city was D'Artagnan born?

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 circles 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 his small homeland humble memory of a distinguished 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 of the era Napoleonic Wars, who became famous not only for his Herculean feats, 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 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 Age of Supremacy noble titles was more than doubtful: his grandfather was a tradesman who assumed the nobility after marrying 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 subsequently made an excellent military career.

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 musketeer captain was buried at the foot of the walls of Maastricht. So, perhaps in mass grave among the other French soldiers lay a real, and not a historical character invented by Alexandre Dumas.

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 only person, 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 good for 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. Land plot has an area of ​​14 hectares, on which there are forested areas, 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 in his native Béarn for a long time and, apparently, happy life. 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, using 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 from as early as six o’clock in the morning in the summer and from eight o’clock in the 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 136 statues statesmen France 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 his mother's name from famous 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 by a bullet to the head during the siege of Maastricht, during fierce battle for one of the fortifications.

d'Artagnan on the pedestal of the monument to Dumas

I love reading historical accounts of famous events. Change artistic perception to something closer to historical truth. Although how it really was there... Maybe someone else doesn’t know this story, but I’ll keep it as a souvenir. Reading...

One fine day in 1630, the young Gascon reached the outskirts of Paris. The towers of Notre Dame appeared in the distance, and soon the entire capital opened up before him. The traveler stopped an old horse of an indeterminate color, put his hand on the hilt of his father's sword and looked around the city with an admiring glance. He felt that a new life was beginning. And for this reason I decided to take my mother’s surname - d’Artagnan.

Yes, the musketeer d'Artagnan actually lived. Was he really the hero of the “cloak and sword”? In Gascony, in the south of France, many people still bear the surname Batz and Debac. A simple typo is enough to turn Debats into the noble “de Batz”. This is what one rich merchant from Lupiac did. And then, in the middle of the 16th century, Arno de Batz also bought the Castelmore estate with a manor house, proudly called a castle, and added “de Castelmore” to his surname.

His grandson Bertrand was the first of this family to marry a true noblewoman - Francoise de Montesquiou from the house of d'Artagnan. So what if the “Château d’Artagnan” looked like a peasant farm? But the wife had a noble coat of arms, her relatives were noble military men and nobles! Bertrand and Françoise had seven children - four sons and three daughters. Around 1613, our hero was born - Charles de Batz (with the addition of de Castelmore d'Artagnan on special occasions). Charles probably did not study Latin and the catechism too diligently, preferring horse riding and fencing lessons. By the age of seventeen, the “Gascony University” was completed, and the chick fluttered out of the family nest.

Alleged portrait of d'Artagnan, painted by van der Meulen

Thousands of young Frenchmen from the provinces did this. At home they could not find service, fame and wealth, so they set off to conquer Paris. Some really grabbed luck by the tail and made a career. Others wandered idle along the narrow streets of Paris: “chest like a wheel, legs like compasses, a cloak over the shoulder, a hat to the eyebrows, a blade longer than a hungry day,” - this is how Théophile Gautier described these fellows, ready to draw their swords for a very modest fee. Thanks to letters of recommendation, Charles initially became a cadet in one of the guards companies. But which of the cadets did not dream of subsequently transferring to the company of “musketeers of the royal military house”, or, more simply, to become the king’s musketeer! Muskets - heavy matchlock guns - appeared among riflemen French army even in the previous century. The approach of the musketeers could always be recognized not only by their heavy tread, but also by their characteristic sound: they had cartridges with gunpowder hanging from their leather belts, and as they walked they rhythmically knocked against each other. Later, matchlock muskets were replaced by flintlock muskets, but still, reloading a musket was long and difficult - nine operations! Later, musketeer riflemen made up separate companies and shelves. But these were, so to speak, “just” musketeers.

Henry IV / Henry IV King of France./

And in 1600, King Henry IV created an elite company of “those” musketeers for his personal security. Only nobles served in it; in the palace they performed guard duty, and in battle they fought on horseback, following the sovereign. Their weapons consisted of a shortened rifled musket (it was attached to the saddle with the barrel up so that the bullet would not fall out of the barrel) and, of course, a sword. In special cases, depending on the nature of the task, the musket was replaced by a pair of pistols. But the real rise of the royal musketeers began under Louis XIII.

Rubens. Portrait of Louis XIII

In 1634, the sovereign himself led the company - of course, formally. The actual commander of the musketeers was Jean de Peyret, Comte de Troisville - that was actually the name of Captain de Treville from The Three Musketeers. We will also call him de Treville. Louis XIII highly valued the musketeers, and could entrust any task to their commander. One day the king, pointing to Treville, said: “Here is the man who will deliver me from the cardinal as soon as I want it.” We were talking about the all-powerful Cardinal Richelieu (this is how his surname sounds correctly, by the way, surprisingly eloquent: riche means “rich”, lieu - “place”). But we will henceforth call him as usual - Richelieu. At that time, the royal musketeers were perhaps the most elegant military unit in France. They wore blue capes with a gold border, sewn with crosses with royal lilies at the ends of white velvet, framed by golden flames. High turn-down collars were not only a fashionable decoration, but also protected the neck from chopping blows with a sword. By the way, wide-brimmed hats with lush feathers saved a lot of the ears and noses of their owners. Despite their elitism, the royal musketeers were not parquet shufflers: the company participated in almost all military campaigns, and the king’s musketeers earned the reputation of desperate brave men. Recruits took the place of the killed comrades. So, two or three years after arriving in Paris, Charles de Batz was enlisted in the company of the royal musketeers - he signed up for the musketeers under the name

d'Artagnan.
Portrait of d'Artagnan from the frontispiece of Courtille's Memoirs...

However, the “brilliance and poverty of the musketeers” were known to everyone. The musketeer salary was sorely lacking. Money - and a lot of it - was also necessary for career advancement. At that time, military and court positions in France were bought. The rank was assigned by the king, and the corresponding position, which brought real income, was purchased by the candidate from his predecessor. Well, just like they are now buying up profitable businesses. However, the king could not approve the candidate and appoint another; he could pay the required amount for the candidate from the treasury; he could finally bestow rank and position for special merit. But basically, chinoproduction was put, so to speak, on a commercial basis. Wealthy candidates who had served a certain period of time, distinguished themselves in several campaigns, bought a position - first standard bearer, then lieutenant and finally captain. For top positions and prices were prohibitive. Noble and wealthy gentlemen also met in the company of the royal musketeers. But most of the musketeers were a match for d'Artagnan. Take Athos, for example - his full name was Armand de Silleg d'Athos. He was the second cousin of Captain de Treville himself and therefore easily joined his company around 1641. But he did not carry the sword for long - he died from it in 1643.

Since Athos was seriously wounded not on the campaign, but in Paris, it is clear that this was a duel, or a skirmish between violent young men, or a settling of scores between opposing clans. Porthos was no richer - Isaac de Porto, who came from a Protestant family. He began his service in the guards company of des Essartes (Desessart in The Three Musketeers), fought, was wounded and was forced to retire. Returning to Gascony, he occupied the position of custodian of ammunition in one of the fortresses, which was usually entrusted to disabled people. Such was Aramis, or rather, Henri d’Aramitz, de Treville’s cousin and a distant relative of Athos. He served in a company of musketeers during the same years, then for an unknown reason he left the service and returned to his native land, thanks to which he lived a rather calm and long (for a musketeer) life: he got married, raised three sons and died peacefully on his estate around 1674, when he was in his early fifties. These fine gentlemen were d’Artagnan’s colleagues, and nothing more. François de Montlaisin, Marquis de Bemo, also a Gascon, became his close friend. His friends simply called him Bemo. D'Artagnan and Bemo were inseparable on guard duty and on campaigns, at merry parties and in dangerous situations. But in 1646, the fates of two friends changed dramatically. In 1642, Cardinal Richelieu died, and his trusted assistant, Cardinal Giulio Mazarin, became the first minister. The following year, King Louis XIII also died. The heir was still small, France was ruled by Queen Regent Anne of Austria, relying on Mazarin in everything.

Bouchard. Portrait of Cardinal Mazarin

Both cardinals appear in historical novels as real villains. Indeed, they had plenty of vices and shortcomings. But it is also true that Richelieu, with rare tenacity, created a united, strong France and absolute monarchy, moreover, in a weakened, continuously warring country with a weak king. Richelieu's political line was basically continued by Mazarin, but he had, perhaps, even more difficult - the grueling Thirty Years' War continued, royal power was practically absent. And they hated Mazarin more than their predecessor, because he was a “Varangian” and warmed up to many strangers. Mazarin really needed brave and faithful assistants. By this time, the musketeers d'Artagnan and Bemo had already been noticed, and not only by their immediate superiors. And one day Mazarin called them to an audience. The astute politician immediately noticed that these dashing fighters also had heads on their shoulders. And he invited them to his service for special assignments. So d’Artagnan and Bemo, remaining musketeers, entered the retinue of His Eminence’s nobles. Their duties were very varied, but always required secrecy and courage. They delivered secret dispatches, accompanied unreliable military leaders and reported on their actions, and monitored the movements of opponents. Life in constant travel, almost without rest, soon turned them into living relics. In addition, the musketeers' hopes for generous payment were not justified - Mazarin turned out to be stingy to the point of indecency. Yes, they haven’t won yet, but they haven’t lost like the other musketeers either - by decree of the king, their company was soon disbanded. The formal pretext was the “heavy burden of expenses” for maintaining the elite unit; in fact, Mazarin insisted on dissolution. The musketeers seemed to him to be too violent and uncontrollable, from which it was unknown what could be expected. The musketeers were seized with despondency, and no one imagined that a decade later the company would be reborn in even greater splendor. In the meantime, d'Artagnan and Bemo rushed around the country and thanked fate for having at least some income.

The news that d'Artagnan delivered was so important that his name began to appear either in the Gazette, the first periodical of France, or in the reports of senior commanders: “M. d'Artagnan, one of the nobles of His Eminence, arrived from Flanders and reported..." "Mr. d'Artagnan reports that there is information from Brussels about the accumulation of the enemy in Genilgau in the amount of about three thousand people who are preparing an attack on our border fortresses...” The First Minister was responsible in the state for everything, with There were no hunters to share responsibility, and curses came from everywhere. Sometimes the cardinal literally had to plug the hole, and he threw his trusted “nobles” into the thick of it. For example, Bemo himself led a detachment of His Eminence’s light cavalry into an attack in 1648, and in this battle an enemy bullet shattered his jaw. Meanwhile, general hatred of Mazarin resulted in a protest movement - the Fronde (translated as “sling”). An uprising began in the capital, supported in some provinces. Mazarin took the young Louis out of the city and began the siege of Paris. The Fronde needed leaders, commanders, well-known among the troops, and they immediately appeared - nobles, aristocrats, who in fact sought to redistribute the highest positions and privileges. The Democratic Fronde gave way to the “Fronde of Princes” (hence the expression “to front” - to protest, but without much risk). The main leader of the "Fronders" was the Prince of Condé.

Egmont. Portrait of the Prince of Condé

During this period, many of Mazarin's supporters went over to his opponents. But not d'Artagnan. By that time, the main qualities of his character were fully revealed - exceptional loyalty and unchanging nobility. Soon The Royal Family returned to Paris, but the cardinal remained in exile. D’Artagnan did not leave him now, only the musketeer’s orders became even more dangerous - he maintained Mazarin’s connection with Paris, delivered secret messages to the king and supporters, in particular, Abbot Basil Fouquet, one might say, the head of the cardinal’s administration. It is not difficult to imagine what would have happened to our Gascon if his mission had been revealed. After all, on the Pont Neuf in Paris, a satirical leaflet was posted “Tariff of rewards for the deliverer of Mazarin”: “The valet who strangles him between two feather beds - 100,000 ecus; the barber who cuts his throat with a razor - 75,000 ecus; to the pharmacist who, when giving him an enema, will poison the tip, - 20,000 ecus”... This is not the right time for gratitude, but it was then that Mazarin sent a letter to one of his loyal marshals: “Since the queen once allowed me to hope for the promotion of Artagnan to the rank of captain of the guard, I am sure that its location has not changed." At that time, there were no vacant positions; only a year later d’Artagnan became a lieutenant in one of the guards regiments. For about a year then he fought with the Fronde troops. The resistance forces melted away, Mazarin gradually regained power over the country. On February 2, 1653, the cardinal solemnly entered Paris. His cortege made its way with difficulty through the crowds of Parisians who greeted His Eminence with delight. These were the same French who had recently been ready to tear him to pieces. Lieutenant d'Artagnan stood modestly behind Mazarin.

The ultimate dream of every nobleman was an easy position at court. And there were enough such positions. Well, what responsibilities might a “captain-concierge of the royal enclosure” in the Tuileries Garden have, for example? He occupies a small 16th-century castle a stone's throw from the palace and receives his ten thousand livres a year: damn it! Such a vacancy had just opened up; it cost six thousand livres. It is unlikely that d’Artagnan was able to save such a sum, but it was possible to borrow against future income. It seemed that the great gentlemen should have disdained such an insignificant position, and yet the lieutenant found competitors. And what! Jean Baptiste Colbert, the cardinal's left hand (Fouquet was the right), wrote to his patron: "If Your Eminence would favorably grant me this position, I would be infinitely obliged."

Lefebvre. Portrait of Colbert

It was not easy to refuse Colbert, but Mazarin replied: “I have already applied for this position for d’Artagnan, who asked it from me.” Colbert, the future prime minister, first disliked d'Artagnan. By the way, Bemo also received a warm position - he was appointed commandant of the Bastille. The work is also not dusty, but, as mother history teaches, jailers sometimes change places with those they are guarding. So, the poor Gascon nobleman finally lived like a real lord. But d’Artagnan did not guard his enclosure for long. In 1654, the young monarch Louis XIV was crowned in Reims, and d’Artagnan was present at this grandiose ceremony. And soon after that, again into battle: the Prince of Condé went over to the side of the Spaniards and led their thirty thousand army. In one of the first battles of this campaign, d'Artagnan with several daredevils, without waiting for the main forces to arrive, attacked the enemy bastion and was slightly wounded. A year later, he already commanded a separate guards company, having not yet received the rank of captain. Damn money again: in order to buy back the captain’s patent, he had to sell his court position. To hell with her! By the way, d’Artagnan expressed himself this way, often not only orally, but also in writing.

His Eminence’s personal secretary informed d’Artagnan: “I read all your letters to the cardinal, however, not in their entirety, since phrases like “damn it” constantly slip through your lips, but this does not matter, since the essence is good.” Finally, in 1659, peace was concluded with Spain. And shortly before this, Louis XIV decided to revive the company of royal musketeers. The position of lieutenant was offered to d'Artagnan. His joy was darkened only by the fact that the nephew of Cardinal Philip Mancini, Duke of Nevers, a lazy, spoiled young man, was appointed commander, captain-lieutenant. One could only hope that he would not interfere in the affairs of the musketeers. And now d’Artagnan is forty-five (in the 17th century this is already a very middle-aged man), he has achieved a strong position, it’s time to start a family. Romantic hobbies and amorous adventures were left behind; mature people tried to marry noble and rich ladies. Most often, widows combined both of these virtues. D'Artagnan's chosen one was Anne-Charlotte-Christina de Shanlessis, from an ancient Gascon family, who owned the estates of her baron husband, who died in the war, and bought several more estates. In addition, she was pretty, although she “already bore traces of inescapable sadness on her face,” as a person who saw her portrait, which was later lost, wrote. However, widows have one more property: they are experienced and prudent. So Charlotte did nothing without consulting a lawyer. The marriage contract resembled a long treatise on property law: clause by clause, conditions were stipulated that would protect the widow from ruin if “Mr. future spouse" will turn out to be a spendthrift (as she looked into the water). But the formalities were settled, and on March 5, 1659, in the small hall of the Louvre, in the presence of important guests (only old Bemo was among the friends), the contract was signed. Such documents were drawn up “on behalf of the almighty monarch Louis Bourbon” and “the most illustrious and worthy Monsignor Jules Mazarin” - their handwritten signatures sealed this document. It was not often that the musketeer lieutenant had the opportunity to enjoy the warmth of the family hearth. He continued to live in the saddle - either at the head of his musketeers, or fulfilling the orders of the cardinal, and then the young king. The wife, naturally, grumbled, and d’Artagnan, after for long years humiliating poverty, spent money without counting. The couple soon had two sons of the same age.

Louis XIV married later that year. This marriage of the French king with the Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa promised a long and lasting peace. Cardinal Mazarin did his job and soon retired - to another world. The wedding celebrations were grandiose. Next to the king all the time were his musketeers, led by d’Artagnan. The Spanish minister, seeing the company in full splendor, exclaimed: “If the Lord had descended to earth, he would not have needed a better guard!” The king had known d'Artagnan for a long time and believed that he could be completely relied upon. Over time, the commander of the musketeers took the place next to the king-son, which Captain de Treville had previously occupied under his father. And at this time, two political heirs of Mazarin, two members of the Royal Council were digging under each other. The chief intendant of finance, Fouquet, was more powerful, but more careless. Colbert turned out to be more experienced, he won because he attacked. He opened the king's eyes to Fouquet's numerous abuses and his luxurious life, paid for from the state treasury.

Edward Lacretelle. Portrait of Nicolas Fouquet

On August 7, 1661, Fouquet organized a celebration in his palace and garden for the royal couple and the entire court. Performances were played one after another on several stages, including Moliere's troupe showing a new play, "The Annoyers." The feast was prepared by the magic cook Vatel. Fouquet clearly wanted to please the sovereign, but the opposite happened. Louis appreciated the art with which the holiday was organized, but was annoyed. His court was still modest; the king was in dire need of money. When leaving, he told the owner: “Wait for news from me.” Fouquet's arrest was a foregone conclusion. However, this was a very risky venture. Fouquet had huge connections and influence, he had a fortified military camp with a garrison in constant readiness, he commanded the entire fleet of France, he was finally the Viceroy of America! The overthrow of such a giant can be compared, perhaps, with the arrest of Beria in 1953. In such a matter, a military leader who is loyal and beloved by the soldiers is required. The king without hesitation entrusted the operation to d'Artagnan. The operation was prepared in such secrecy that the scribes who wrote the order were kept locked up until its completion. To lull Fouquet's vigilance, a royal hunt was scheduled for the day of the arrest. He did not suspect anything and even told his close associate: “Colbert lost, and tomorrow will be one of the happiest days of my life.” On September 5, 1661, Fouquet left the meeting of the Royal Council and sat on a stretcher.

At this time, d'Artagnan with fifteen musketeers surrounded the stretcher and presented Fouquet with the king's order. The arrested man took advantage of the momentary delay to convey the news of what had happened to his supporters. They decided to set fire to Fouquet's house to destroy evidence. But they were ahead of them, the house was sealed and taken under guard. Then d'Artagnan took Fouquet to the Castle of Vincennes, and a little later he took him to the Bastille. And everywhere he personally checked the reliability of the premises and security, and, if necessary, placed his musketeers there. The precautions were not unnecessary; once an angry crowd surrounded the carriage, and Fouquet was almost torn to pieces, but d’Artagnan ordered the musketeers in time to push back the townspeople with their horses. Finally, the prisoner was handed over to the Bastille into the care of his friend Bemo. D'Artagnan hoped to move away from this unpleasant matter, but that was not the case! The king ordered him to continue to stay with the prisoner. Only three years later, after the trial and the royal verdict, d’Artagnan delivered the convict to the castle of Pignerol for life imprisonment and completed his sad mission. It must be said that all this time he behaved with the arrested man in the most noble manner. For example, he was present at all of Fouquet’s meetings with lawyers, was aware of all the prisoner’s affairs, but not a single word went beyond the walls of the prison. A noble lady from among the friends of the defeated nobleman wrote about d’Artagnan: “Loyal to the king and humane in his dealings with those whom he has to keep in custody.” The king was pleased with the musketeer lieutenant. Even Fouquet's supporters respected him.

Only the new intendant of finance Colbert and his entourage harbored a grudge: they believed that d’Artagnan was too soft with the prisoner, and even suspected that he was helping Fouquet. D'Artagnan proved that he was a loyal servant to the king, and now he could show fatherly care for his musketeers. During the ten years of his reign, the number of musketeers increased from 120 to 330 people. The company became a completely independent unit with its own treasurer, priest, pharmacist, surgeon, saddler, gunsmith, and musicians. Under d’Artagnan, the company received its own banner and standard, on which the formidable motto of the musketeers was inscribed: “Quo ruit et lethum” - “Death attacks with him.” During hostilities, a company of royal musketeers was included in other military units, but one detachment always remained with the king, only this detachment always performed under the company’s banner. Finally, in 1661 they began to build a large barracks, the Musketeers' Hotel, and before that the musketeers lived in rented apartments. D’Artagnan was personally in charge of recruiting musketeers, knew each one well, and baptized the children of some of them. Young people from the provinces, just like him once, came to him with recommendations from noble families. The order established by the lieutenant was stricter than under de Treville. The lieutenant not only gave orders, distributed patents to lower positions, petitioned for the conferment of nobility and the appointment of pensions; he introduced special certificates of worthy and unworthy behavior in order to suppress cases of disobedience and provoking quarrels. All this made the company of the royal musketeers not only an elite, but also an exemplary unit. Gradually, the royal musketeers became a kind of officer academy - the best cadets from the nobles spent their first years of service here, and then were assigned to other guards regiments. Even in other European states, monarchs began to create musketeer companies for their protection and sent officers to study at the “D’Artagnan School.” When a king has a brilliant army, he just wants to throw it to death. In 1665, war broke out between England and the Netherlands. France was an ally of Holland and supported it with an expeditionary force. At the head of a detachment of musketeers, d’Artagnan also went north.

During the siege of the Loken fortress, the musketeers proved themselves not only to be brave men, but also toilers of war: they carried heavy fascines on themselves, filling up a deep ditch filled with water. The king was delighted: “I would not have expected less zeal from a company of senior musketeers.” Nobody met d'Artagnan in Paris. Shortly before the campaign, Madame d'Artagnan invited a notary, took away all the property belonging to her marriage contract, and with two children went to the family estate of Saint-Croix. Subsequently, d'Artagnan went there when necessary to settle some household matters. One must think without any pleasure. Over the years, Anne-Charlotte's practicality turned into stinginess, she became a litigator, suing either her late husband's brother or her cousin... And d'Artagnan happily returned to his family - the family of musketeers! Immediately after returning from the campaign, three-day maneuvers took place, during which the royal musketeers again showed themselves in full splendor. The king was so pleased that he granted d’Artagnan the first vacant position at court - “captain of small dogs for roe deer hunting.”

Portrait of Louis XIV

Only his court career somehow didn’t work out; d’Artagnan spent only three weeks fiddling with small dogs and resigned. Fortunately, the king was not offended, and d’Artagnan even won. The position of dog captain was abolished and replaced by two lieutenants. D'Artagnan sold them at retail and improved his affairs somewhat after his wife's escape. And the very next year, Philip Mancini, Duke of Nevers, finally officially resigned from the post of captain-lieutenant of the company of royal musketeers. Who else but d'Artagnan should have taken this place! Finally, D’Artagnan bought himself a beautiful house on the corner of Ferry Street and the Frog Swamp embankment, almost opposite the Louvre. Around this time he began to sign himself “Comte d’Artagnan.” When signing some documents, he also added “chevalier of royal orders,” with which he was never awarded. What can you do, irrepressible Gascon pride and passion for conferring titles were his hereditary weakness. D’Artagnan hoped that the king would not punish him strictly, but if something happened, he would intercede. During these years, a special commission checked how legally some gentlemen used their titles. And, by the way, she requested documents from a certain Mr. de Batz. So, d’Artagnan’s one statement that this was his relative was enough for the commission to fall behind. Meanwhile, the beautiful house of the captain of the musketeers was most often empty, and his maid was completely lazy. Her owner rarely lived in his Frog Swamp. In 1667 a new war began. Louis XIV demanded from Spain her vast possessions in Flanders under the pretext that they belonged to his wife, the former Spanish Infanta, and now the Queen of France.

Such a law was in force in the civil law of many European countries, but did not apply to interstate relations, so Spain naturally refused. But it is known that kings argue not in court, but on the battlefield. In this war, Captain d'Artagnan, with the rank of cavalry brigadier, for the first time commanded an army corps, consisting of his own company and two more regiments. The musketeers again fearlessly rushed forward. During the siege of Douai, they captured the ravelin under a hail of grapeshot and, without stopping, burst into the city with drawn swords. The king, who observed this picture, even sent them an order to “moderate their ardor” in order to take care of his favorites. The culmination of the entire campaign was the siege of Lille, the most powerful fortress in Flanders. The attacks of “Brigadier d’Artagnan,” as the reports said, “set the tone.” But on the day of the assault, only 60 people from his brigade entered the vanguard, and the brigadier himself was ordered to remain on command post. By evening his patience ran out, he rushed into the thick of the battle and fought until he received a slight concussion. Even the king did not condemn him for this unauthorized act. Frightened by the desperate onslaught, the townspeople of Lille themselves disarmed the garrison and surrendered to the mercy of the winner. By a strange coincidence, in 1772 d’Artagnan was appointed governor of this city and at the same time received the rank of major general (or brigadier general). The musketeer was flattered, however new service he didn't like it. Garrison officers are not at all like real warriors. D'Artagnan quarreled with the commandant and engineers, was tired of fending off slander, and answered them passionately and stupidly. He spoke with an ineradicable Gascon accent, but in his letter it was a continuous “damn it!” In a word, he breathed a sigh of relief when a replacement was found for him and he was able to return to his musketeers.

The best way to restore peace of mind for the old soldier - to smell gunpowder again. And so it happened. In 1773, the king, at the head of his army, set out to besiege the Dutch fortress. The assault detachment, which included the royal musketeers, was commanded by Major General of the Infantry de Montbron. On July 25, the musketeers completed the task assigned to them - they captured the enemy ravelin. But this was not enough for Montbron. He wanted to build additional fortifications to prevent the enemy from recapturing the ravelin. D’Artagnan objected: “If you send people now, the enemy will see them. You risk that many people will die for nothing.” Montbron was the senior in rank, he gave the order, and the redoubt was erected. But then the battle for the ravelin broke out. The tired French were overwhelmed and began to retreat. Seeing this, d’Artagnan did not wait for anyone’s order, gathered several dozen musketeers and grenadiers and rushed to help. A few minutes later the ravelin was taken. But many attackers were killed. The dead musketeers continued to clutch their bent swords, covered in blood to the hilt. Among them they found d'Artagnan with a bullet through his head. The musketeers, under heavy fire, carried their captain out from under fire. The whole company mourned. One officer wrote: “If people were dying of grief, I would already be dead.” Louis XIV was very sad about the death of d'Artagnan. He ordered a funeral service to be held for him in his camp chapel and did not invite anyone to it; he prayed in mournful solitude. Subsequently, the king recalled the captain of the musketeers: “He was the only person who managed to make people love himself without doing anything for them that would oblige them to do so.” D'Artagnan was buried on the battlefield near Maastricht. Someone’s words spoken over his grave were passed down from mouth to mouth: “D’Artagnan and glory rested together.”

If d'Artagnan lived in the Middle Ages, he would be called "a knight without fear or reproach." Perhaps he would have become the hero of an epic, like the English Lancelot or the French Roland. But he lived in the “era of Guttenberg” - printing press and the emerging professional literature and was therefore doomed to become the hero of a novel. The first to try to do this was Gacien Courtille de Sandre. This nobleman began military service shortly before the death of d’Artagnan. But soon peace was concluded, the army was disbanded, and Kurtil was left without service and livelihood. Out of necessity or out of spiritual inclination, he became a writer. He wrote political pamphlets, unreliable historical and biographical books with a scandalous flavor. In the end, for some harsh publications, Courtille was arrested and imprisoned in the Bastille for six years. The commandant of the Bastille was still old Bemo, a friend of d'Artagnan. Kurtil hated his chief jailer and subsequently wrote quite angrily about him.

It is not surprising that at his instigation, Alexandre Dumas portrayed the commandant of the Bastille in the story of the “iron mask” as stupid and cowardly. In 1699, Courtille was released, and the following year his book “Memoirs of Messire d’Artagnan, captain-lieutenant of the first company of the king’s musketeers, containing many personal and secret things that happened during the reign of Louis the Great,” was published. These invented “Memoirs” contained little historicity, and the hero appeared to the reader not as a warrior, but exclusively as a secret agent. Intrigues, duels, betrayals, kidnappings, escapes while dressing up as women and, of course, love affairs - all this was presented in a rather ponderous style. Nevertheless, the book was a success. Then Courtille once again found himself in prison for a long time and died in 1712, a few months after his release. D'Artagnan's Memoirs briefly outlived the author and was forgotten for more than a century. Until the book was discovered by Alexandre Dumas. In the preface to The Three Musketeers, Dumas wrote: “About a year ago, while studying in the Royal Library... I accidentally came across the Memoirs of M. d'Artagnan...” But then he switches to the plural: “Since then we knew no peace, trying to find in the writings of that time at least some trace of these extraordinary names...” This is not Dumas’ mistake, but an involuntary slip of the tongue. Behind it was Dumas's co-author, Auguste Macquet, a self-taught historian and mediocre writer who supplied the patron with plots, scripts and draft texts of some novels and plays. Among Dumas's co-authors (there are about a dozen identified names alone), Macke was the most capable. In addition to The Three Musketeers, he participated in the creation of other Dumas masterpieces, including Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Queen Margot and The Count of Monte Cristo.

It was Macquet who brought Dumas a loose and boring essay about d’Artagnan and told him about the old book by Courtille de Sandre. Dumas became interested in this topic and wanted to read “Memoirs of d’Artagnan” himself. In the library form there is a note about the issue of this most valuable book to him, but there is no mark about its return. The classic simply “played” it. The story of The Three Musketeers is a novel in itself. In 1858, 14 years after the novel's first publication, Macke sued Dumas, claiming that he was the author, not the co-author, of The Three Musketeers. The act is difficult to explain, because an agreement was concluded between Dumas and Macke, the author paid the co-author well, Dumas even allowed Macquet to release a dramatization of “The Three Musketeers” under his own name. Trial caused a lot of noise, and Dumas’s earlier accusations of exploiting “literary blacks” surfaced. (By the way, this expression arose specifically in relation to Dumas’s co-authors, because he himself was the grandson of a black slave.)

Finally, Macke presented his version of the chapter “Execution” to the court, but this “evidence” became fatal for him. The judges were convinced that Macke's text could not be compared with Dumas's brilliant prose.

“It’s as true as fiction and as incredible as life itself.”(Gascon saying)

D'Artagnan in books, films and monuments

From the light pen of the classic of French literature Alexandre Dumas, D’Artagnan has remained for three centuries one of the most famous heroes of books and films (all of them were filmed in different countries no less than 35), a beloved character and role model for hundreds of millions of people around the world, primarily, of course, schoolchildren. But in fact, Dumas was not his first literary “father.”

The very first three-volume “Memoirs of M. d’Artagnan” were published back in 1700 and in them, of course, the truth was also intricately intertwined with outright fantasy. Despite the name - “memoirs” - the musketeer himself could not write them due to illiteracy; the writer was the French writer Gasien de Courtille de Sandra. It was this book that fell into the hands of Dumas, who further “improved” the story of d’Artagnan in his series of books about the musketeers of the 17th century.

To make his books more vivid, Dumas included in the heroic biographies of d'Artagnan and his friends a number of pre-existing semi-legendary plots of the 17th century, which in reality were not connected with him (the episode with the pendants of Anne of Austria, the attempt to save Charles I, the legend of the Iron Mask - allegedly brother of Louis XIV, etc.). From Dumas, d'Artagnan receives the baton of Marshal of France before his death, but in reality he only rose to the rank of “field marshal” (analogous to major general). Since 1709, the marshal was another d’Artagnan, a cousin of the prototype of our beloved hero on his mother’s side.

In addition to Dumas, the French poet Edmond Rostand, the modern Russian writer Alexander Bushkov and other authors wrote their works about d’Artagnan. The musketeer, who in reality died on the battlefields in 1672, continues to live a “virtual” life. Such glory to everyone!

*Extremist and terrorist organizations banned in the Russian Federation: Jehovah's Witnesses, National Bolshevik Party, Right Sector, Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), Islamic State (IS, ISIS, Daesh), Jabhat Fatah al-Sham", "Jabhat al-Nusra", "Al-Qaeda", "UNA-UNSO", "Taliban", "Majlis of the Crimean Tatar People", "Misanthropic Division", "Brotherhood" of Korchinsky, "Trident named after. Stepan Bandera", "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN)

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