Many people across Europe were enraptured when the potential bones of Count d’Artagnan – the inspiration for the fourth musketeer in Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel “The Three Musketeers” – were unearthed in the Netherlands in March. But genetic testing to prove that the bones belong to d’Artagnan has run into several problems that could make it difficult to get a definitive answer.
The completed skeleton was found under the chapel floor of the St Peter and Paul’s Church in the Dutch village of Wolder. The church was “for centuries rumoured to be the final resting place” of the fourth musketeer, said The New York Times. The count, who was an aide to France’s Louis XIV, died in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673.
The skeleton does “match history”, said National Geographic. D’Artagnan was killed when a “musket ball struck him in the throat” and the grave “contained fragments of a musket ball near the skeleton’s chest”. But “genetic verification to prove whether the skeleton is that of d’Artagnan has run into bureaucratic troubles”. The “first samples collected from the skeleton were too degraded to be used” and the municipality of Maastricht, where the church is located, alleges that the “initial excavations were improper”.
Genetic testing could be difficult, too. D’Artagnan has living descendants, but “French nobility often had extramarital affairs”, so it’s “at least possible that they are not biologically related to the musketeer”, said The New York Times.
Even with all the obstacles, most scientists believe there’s a “decent chance” that it is d’Artagnan, said news site Ars Technica. “I have been researching d’Artagnan’s grave for 28 years,” Wim Dijkman, an archaeologist on the excavation, told the BBC. “This could be the highlight of my career.”
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