D'Artagnan

Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan (c. 1611–1673) served Louis XIV as captain of musketeers and died at the siege of Maastricht in the Franco-Dutch War. A fictionalized account of his life by Gatien de Sandras formed the basis for the d'Artagnan Romances of Alexandre Dumas.

D'Artagnan was born in Lupiac (Gers). His father was the head of Henry IV's personal guard and had been killed attempting to save the life of the king. D'Artagnan wanted to follow in his father's footsteps as well as his brother's footsteps who were all connected to the Musketeers at one time or another; therefore, he sought a commission in the Musketeers. Due to the fact that he had never served any military service he was at first denied; however, Madame de Treville, a close friend of his family, used her influence to secure him a place in the Royal Guard, which he commanded, later in life.

D'Artagnan had an illustrious career in espionage for Cardinal Mazarin, the king's personal advisor, in the years after the first Fronde. Due to d'Artagnan's faithful service during this period, Louis entrusted him with many secret and delicate situations that required complete discretion.

D'Artagnan is famous for his connection with the arrest of Nicolas Fouquet. Fouquet was Louis XIV's finance commissioner and aspired to take the place of Mazarin as the King's advisor. Fouquet was also a lover of grand architecture and had a huge home built which he called Chateau of Vaux-le-Vicomte. The greatest architects and artisans from around the world collaborated on his home. When it was finished, Fouquet had the most extravagant party ever held, with Vatel as the master steward for the event. The party was so extravagant that every guest was given a horse. Even though the party was a huge success the king became jealous and felt upstaged by the grandeur of the home and event. He suspected that such magnificence could only be explained through Fouquet pilfering the royal treasury. He immediately had D'Artagnan arrest Fouquet and guard him for four years until Fouquet was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment and removed from D'Artagnan's care.

Others include a governorship of Lille, which was won in battle by France in 1667. D'Artagnan was an unpopular governor, and longed to return to battle. He found his chance when Louis XIV went to war with the United Provinces of the Netherlands and their allies in the Franco-Dutch War. After being recalled to service, d'Artagnan was subsequently killed in battle on June 25 1673 when a musket ball tore into his throat at Maastricht.

In fiction

D'Artagnan's life was used as the basis for Gatien Courtilz de Sandras (1644–1712)'s novel Les mémoires de Mr d'Artagnan.

Alexandre Dumas in turn used de Sandras' novel as the main source for his three d'Artagnan Romances (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Louise de la Valliere and The Man in the Iron Mask), which cover the d'Artagnan's career from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death at Maastricht. Although Dumas knew that de Sandras' version was heavily fictionalized, in the preface to The Three Musketeers he affected to believe that the memoirs were real, in order to make his novel more believable.

Another Comte d'Artagnan, Pierre de Montesquiou (1645–1725), contributed the idea that Dumas' d'Artagnan should become a Marshal of France.

Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle mentions the historical figure in passing.

In film and television

Actors who have played D'Artagnan on screen include:

• Aimé Simon-Girard, in Les trois mousquetaires (1921)
• Walter Abel, in The Three Musketeers (1935)
• Gene Kelly, in The Three Musketeers (1948)
• Maximilian Schell, in The Three Musketeers (TV movie) (1960)
• Michael York, in The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), The Return of the Musketeers (1989), and La Femme Musketeer (TV miniseries) (2003)
• Louis Jourdan, in The Man in the Iron Mask (TV Movie) (1977)
• Cornel Wilde, in The Fifth Musketeer (1979)
• Chris O'Donnell, in The Three Musketeers (1993)
• Gabriel Byrne, in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)fr:Charles de Batz de Castelmore, comte d'Artagnan

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