D'Artagnan

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The statue of d'Artagnan in Auch

The statue of d'Artagnan outside of Cintas Center at Xavier University (Cincinnati)

Statue of d'Artagnan in Maastricht

Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan (c. 1611 – 25 June 1673) served Louis XIII 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.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 In fiction
4 In film, music, and television
5 Trivia
6 External links

[edit] Early life

D'Artagnan was born in Lupiac. 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 brothers', 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 no military service, he was at first denied; however, Monsieur de Tréville (Jean-Armand du Peyrer, Count of Troisvilles), a close friend of D'Artagnan's family, used his influence to secure D'Artagnan a place in the Royal Guard, which he commanded, later in life.

[edit] Career

D'Artagnan had an illustrious career in espionage for Cardinal Mazarin, the king's personal advisor and France's chief minister, 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 François 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.

Another of d'Artagnan's assignments was the 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 Dutch Republic 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 the Siege of Maastricht.

[edit] In fiction

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

Alexandre Dumas in turn used de Sandras' novel as the main source for his d'Artagnan Romances (The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne), which cover d'Artagnan's career from his humble beginnings in Gascony to his death at Maastricht. Although Dumas knew that de Sandras' version was heavily fictionalised, 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.

French poet Edmond Rostand wrote the play Cyrano de Bergerac in 1897. After one of the play's famous scenes, in which Cyrano defeats Valvert in a duel while completing a poem, d'Artagnan approaches Cyrano and congratulates him on his fine swordsmanship.

Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle mentions the historical figure in passing, when a character recounts looting his corpse.

[edit] In film, music, and television

Many moviemakers have been inspired by Alexandre Dumas' novel. Actors who have played d'Artagnan on screen include:

Aimé Simon-Girard, in Les trois mousquetaires (1921)
Douglas Fairbanks, in The Three Musketeers (1921), and The Iron Mask (1929)
Walter Abel, in The Three Musketeers (1935)
Don Ameche, in The Three Musketeers(1939)
Gene Kelly, in The Three Musketeers (1948)
Laurence Payne, in The Three Musketeers (TV serial) (1954)
Maximilian Schell, in The Three Musketeers (TV movie) (1960)
Jeremy Brett, in The Three Musketeers (TV serial) (1966)
Sancho Gracia, Los Tres Mosqueteros (TV Series) (1971)
Michael York, in The Three Musketeers (1973), The Four Musketeers (1974), The Return of the Musketeers (1989), and La Femme Musketeer (TV miniseries) (2003)
Mikhail Boyarsky, in d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) and its sequels (1992, 1993)
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)
Philippe Noiret, in "D'Artagnan's Daughter" (1994)
Gabriel Byrne, in The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)
Justin Chambers, in The Musketeer (2001)
Citizen Cope released their second CD, The Clarence Greenwood Recordings, on September 14, 2004. The eighth track, entitled "D'Artagnan's Theme" seems to compare d'Artagnan's life to that of the singer, including the words,"D'artagnan, good old d'Artagnan, you ain't got a thing on me".

[edit] Trivia

In the Netherlands, a students association is named after this hero: TSV D'Artagnan.
The official athletic mascot of Xavier University of Cincinnati, USA, a school whose athletic teams are known as "Musketeers", is a costumed student called D'Artagnan.
In the 20th arrondissement of Paris there is a youth hostel called 'Le d'Artagnan'.