"D'Artagnan's remains found." Topic

Article on the BBC.

link

After the "studies" are done, I hope they return his remains to their resting place.

That is interesting! I did not know the origins of the Three Musketeers. Thank you, FD, for posting this!

Very interesting. If the remains are found to be likely those of D'Artagnan, I wonder why they were not originally returned to France after the siege or at some point shortly thereafter? You would think that the French would want a hero to rest in French soil. Even assuming that Louis intended to permanently keep the city, once it was bargained away, you would think that they would want to take the remains of a "hero" back to France.

I admit to learning something new when reading about the 1673 siege by the French. I never thought that France and England were allies at any point during the time of the Sun King. This makes the movie "The Admiral" about Michiel de Ruyter more understandable to me. I did not have the benefit of English subtitles and could never figure out why one of the major battle scenes involved a French fleet when I thought that the battle involved the English. I think that it is time for me to go down the rabbit holes of the Anglo-Dutch and Franco-Dutch wars.

👍

But would he not want to be eventually buried along side Raquel Welsh? 🤔
Or on top of? 😉

Very cool, thanks for sharing!

35th, I would if I were him

Very good point!

If the remains are found to be likely those of D'Artagnan, I wonder why they were not originally returned to France after the siege or at some point shortly thereafter?

Historically, most people who died in wars were buried close to where they fell in battle. Having your body taken back to home for burial was not easy, due to logistical restraints (lots of "dead weight" to fit into your baggage) and issues of hygieny (unless the temperatures were below freezing).

Thus, it was often limited to select few. And even then it could require some macabre measures – in medieval times high ranking nobles who had died in battle sometimes had their bodies boiled to separate the bones, which were then sent home for burial, while presumably the softer tissue was buried locally.

Even as recently as WWII, lots of dead were buried in battlefields close to the areas where they fought, though in cases where the distances were short enough the bodies might be taken back home for burial.

The death of D'Artagnan is depicted in the first episode I believe of the BBC miniseries "The First Churchills". Good stuff! link

The thing appears more complicated…

Further analysis is required to determine whether the skeleton discovered in Maastricht belongs to the famous musketeer d'Artagnan, who died in 1673. Illegal excavations have so far hampered the investigation

Following illegal excavations conducted by a sloppy archaeologist who placed human remains in a shopping bag, it will be at least another six months before we know whether a skeleton discovered in the Netherlands is that of D'Artagnan.

After months of speculation, Maastricht City Hall announced on Thursday, July 2, that it had hit a snag, with initial analysis results providing "both clues and new questions."
The story behind this skeleton is worthy of a novel: an archaeologist named Wim Dijkman conducted unauthorized excavations without taking proper precautions, thereby ruining some of the findings. "He is a former colleague who was the first to carry out excavations. Well, 'excavations' isn't quite the right word; they weren't archaeological excavations," Gilbert Soeters, an archaeologist for the city of Maastricht, said at a press conference.

The city subsequently took over by conducting "emergency excavations" but acknowledged that the investigation had suffered due to the errors made. "We would have liked to know exactly where certain remains—stored in a small box inside a shopping bag—came from; that would have considerably simplified the puzzle we are facing," Soeters noted.

Wim Dijkman is currently facing legal action. Despite several attempts, AFP was unable to contact him. Because no archaeological documentation was created according to standard protocols prior to the emergency excavations, some of the archaeological context has been lost, the city of Maastricht states. It believes the loss of this information limits the ability to fully interpret the grave and the skeleton.

Too much fish

The skeleton's origin and the circumstances of the death therefore remain uncertain for the time being. "The skeleton's characteristics match what is historically known about D'Artagnan, but they are not precise enough to allow for a definitive identification. Further research is therefore required," authorities stated. For instance, analysis revealed that this individual ate an excessive amount of fish for a Gascon like D'Artagnan, who hailed from Lupiac (Gers). "Collagen analysis of the collected samples clearly showed that this person consumed a large amount of saltwater fish: fish accounted for between 27% and 30% of their regular diet," the city of Maastricht stated. "This proportion is exceptionally high and does not match the profile of a Gascon—someone who, moreover, spent much of his life in Paris and Lille," it added.

Authorities indicated that further archaeological, historical, and genetic analyses were required to determine whether the remains had once belonged to the famous musketeer. Until then, all possibilities remain open. "I'm holding out hope until the very last minute, but is it really realistic? I don't want to get carried away by an overly romanticized view," said Maastricht Mayor Wim