(tous pour un, un pour tous
D'Artagnan isn't one of the Three Musketeers, but they were his friends, Athos, Porthos and Aramis. That's the motto above, which was first put forth by D'Artagnan, in the famous story written by Alexandre Dumas.
 |
| Statue of D'Artagnan, a nod to the story, The Three Musketeers, by Dumas - WC |
Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d'Artagnan (c. 1611 - June 25, 1673) served Louis XIV* (see below) as captain of the Musketeers* of the Guard and died at the Siege of Maastricht. A fictionalized account of his life written by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras, formed the core of the d'Artagnan Romances, including The Three Musketeers, written by Alexandre Dumas.
D'Artagnan is portrayed as a hotheaded youth in the story, who quickly becomes friends with the Musketeers after trying to engage all three in single combat. His literary enemy is Cardinal Richelieu in the Dumas tale. Charles de Batz, whom the character d'Artagnan was based on, went to Paris in the 1630s and used the surname of his mother, Francoise de Montesquiou d'Artagnan.
D'Artagnan was famous for his part in the arrest of Nicolas Fouquet, Louis XIV's finance commissioner who wanted to be the King's advisor. His love of grand architecture caused his downfall when the magnificence of his palace (the Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte) made Louis feel upstaged and left him wondering whence the money came. . . shortly after, Fouquet was arrested. In 1667, d'Artagnan became captain-lieutenant of the Musketeers.
It's always interesting to know a little history behind the story.
* (See more about the Sun King and The Musketeers later in French Faves A to Z)
***
Do you know the story of Dumas' D'Artagnan? Did you like the film The Three Musketeers (in any of its reincarnations)?
Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by, and if you are part of the A to Z Challenge. I'll be sure to check your blog, and reciprocate. If you're not in the challenge, thanks for stopping by to visit! I try to reply to all comments.
***
The A to Z Blog Challenge is brainchild of Lee, at Tossing It Out. Please visit the A to Z blog site to find out more information and the participant list. There are also Twitter and Facebook presences if you want to check those!
***
Image Credit: D'Artagnan character
Statue des d'Artagnan, by von Gustave Doré, Bronze, 1883, Place du Général Catroux, Paris 17. Arrdt.
I, Jibi44, the copyright holder of this work, hereby publishes it under the following licenses:
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License
***
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Batz-Castelmore_d'Artagnan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Three_Musketeers
***
