Lost remains of French musketeer d'Artagnan may have been found in Dutch church
The Straits Times
AMSTERDAM, March 25 - The skeleton of famed French musketeer Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan may have been found in front of a church altar in the Dutch city of Maastricht, church officials and an archaeologist said on Wednesday. Read more at straitstimes.com.
AMSTERDAM, March 25 - The skeleton of famed French musketeer Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan may have been found in front of a church altar in the Dutch city of Maastricht, church officials and an archaeologist said on Wednesday.
Workers discovered a grave containing human remains beneath tiles after part of the floor of St Peter and Paul Church subsided in February, triggering a race to identify the skeleton through DNA testing.
"This has truly become a top-level investigation, in which we want to be absolutely certain — or as certain as possible — whether it is the famous musketeer, who was killed here near Maastricht," archaeologist Wim Dijkman told Reuters.
The church had previously been identified as a possible resting place of the 17th-century soldier. The DNA retrieved from a jawbone is now being tested against that of descendants.
FELLED BY A MUSKET BALL
A fictionalized version of d'Artagnan was the hero of Alexandre Dumas' 1844 novel "The Three Musketeers," a hot-headed teenager who becomes the fourth musketeer. But d'Artagnan was a real historical figure.
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