Famous Original Four Musketeers

Very cool, that is more about Aramis than I'd been able to find...what was your source?

frustrating when that happens... anyway, thanks for sharing.

;D You've got it! That sure looks familiar!

I came across this at
www.clfc.org/articles/musketeers.htm

Musketeer History
In the year 1600, King Henry IV created an elite force to serve as his personal guard and armed them with muskets. They were disbanded in 1646, and later reformed in 1657. These 150 musketeers were known as "Gray Musketeers" because of the gray horses they all rode, until the king, on a whim, gave them all black stallions and changed their monicre to "Black Musketeers". They were again disbanded in 1776, again reembodied, and disbanded again for the final time in 1791. Some have asked why the Musketeers in Dumas' writings did not carry muskets (a logical question). The answer lies in the strict code of ethics and honor that these men lived by. The king's Musketeers were personal bodyguards, and were held to be the noblest and most renown fighters of their day, and for them to use a firearm instead of a blade would have been unthinkable, leaving the lesser ranks of Musketeers to kill their enemies from a distance.


Dumas' Characters
In The Three Musketeers, Dumas details the adventures of three musketeers -- Athos, Aramis and Porthos, and the aspiring musketeer, D'Artagnan. Incredibly, all of these characters were based on actual persons. Born in Gascony in 1615, the real D'Artagnan had four brothers and three sisters. One of D'Artagnan's brothers joined the Musketeers in 1633 but died shortly thereafter. Another of his brothers was an army captain that governed a district in the Pyrenees for forty years and died at the ripe old age of ninety-four, having outlived all his siblings. (This was quite a long life, especially in the 1600's!). The real D'Artagnan left for Paris in 1638, though Dumas had him arriving in the city of lights much earlier, 1625. Being that nearly all the residents of the Gascony region were dirt poor, it is also unlikely that he rode to Paris on his own horse. In D'Artagnan's first combat as a soldier he returned unscathed with a bullet hole in his hat and three more through his uniform. He was impetuous and a skillful swordsman, distinguishing himself during various sieges from 1640-1642. By some historical accounts, instead of challenging the musketeers to a duel at the Pre' aux Clercs, he instead had gone there with them to duel several of the Cardinal's guards. D'Artagnan once nursed back to health one of his defeated dueling rivals, a man by the name of Bernajoux, who later became his good friend. Later D'Artagnan was appointed command of the king's Grand Musketeers, the most coveted appointment in France. In spite of his military successes, his personal life was riddled with failure. His first (and last) marriage lasted only six years, his wife leaving him citing neglect (they had no children). After being made governor of Lille, D'Artagnan was shot through the throat and killed in 1673 at the siege of Maastricht, a few feet from Captain Churchill, Winston Churchill's great-great-great-grandfather.

Henri D'Aramitz (Aramis) was a squire and a lay priest, the nephew of M. de Tresvilles, the captain of the Musketeers. Armand de Sillegue, Lord of Athos, (Athos) was killed in a duel before D'Artagnan ever joined the Musketeers. Isaac de Portau (Porthos) arrived in Paris only a year before D'Artagnan and was initially turned down by the Musketeers, but was later accepted (1643) after he had proved himself within regiment. Cardinal Richelieu was the de facto ruler of France from 1624 on. Richelieu's older brother had been killed in a duel, and he worked steadily to try to enforce laws forbidding dueling for many years. Milady, Duchesse de Winter was actually the Countess of Carlisle, who was, in fact, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu. (She stole two diamond studs from the Duke of Buckingham!)

Conclusion
Without Dumas' tale of the Musketeers, this small group of military men would have doubtless faded into history. Knowing more about the real lives of these colorful characters serves to deepen many people's love for Dumas' writings, while making us long for days of adventure and comradery long past.



but interestingly enough I found this also www.freewebs.com/gasconadventurer/17thcenturybiographies.htm

D'Artagnan: Charles de Batz-Castlemore, sieur d'Artagnan, was born in Tarbes around 1615. He joined Richelieu's Guards in 1635 and then the musketeers in 1644. During the years 1646-1657, when the musketeers were disbanded in actual history, Mazarin used him as a courier. He was appointed second-in-command to the absentee Captain-Lieutenant of the musketeers (a nephew of Mazarin's who had no interest in the work) in 1657, when the company was reformed. Although he only held the rank of Lieutenant, he was the actual commander of the troops. He married in 1659, had two sons, and separated from his wife in 1665. It was indeed the real D'Artagnan who, in 1661, arrested Fouquet, though not nearly as dramatically as Dumas's depiction, and escorted him first to Angers, and later, after the former minister's trial, to Pignerol. He became Captain- Lieutenant of the musketeers in 1667, in other words, the commander of the musketeers, as the rank of Captain-General was reserved for the king himself. During Louis's invasion of the Dutch Republic, he was briefly governor of Lille in 1672. He was killed at the siege of Maastricht in March of 1673. From his few surviving documents, he appears to have been rather an unimaginative soldier with a great respect for authority. He never lost his Gascon accent, which is detectable even in his letters. His spelling was atrocious even by the standards of the time. Dumas bases his character largely on his own imagination and from another fictional work from 1700 entitled The Memoirs of M. d'Artagnan by Courtilz de Sandras, from which he got the basis for the first few chapters of The Three Musketeers. Dumas never, however, read beyond the first volume of Sandras's work, and vastly altered the material he did read, making it uniquely his own. The character of Milady also comes from Sandras's writings, wherein D'Artagnan encounters a mysterious English noblewoman known only as Miledi

Aramis: His real name was Henri d'Aramitz. Like his fictional counterpart, he was a churchman; and, like D'Artagnan, he was a Gascon (a Bernais). He joined the musketeers in 1640, married in 1654, had four children, and died around 1674. He was a nephew to M. de Treville, captain of the musketeers. He was never, so far as history can tell, involved with the Jesuits. A German named Nickel was Vicar-General from 1652-1664 and from 1664-1681 an Italian named Jean-Paul Oliva headed the order.

Athos was, in real life, Armand de Sillegue d'Athos d'Auteville. He was born around 1615, joined the Musketeers at the age of twenty-five in the late 1630's or early 1640's, and died in Paris from a duel in 1643. His name was found listed amongst the fallen duellists in a monastery where such acts were recorded. He could really have been a nobleman, just like Dumas' Athos was. But unlike Dumas made him, he was really a Gascon like D'Artagnan was. He was also a cousin to M. de Treville, captain of the musketeers from 1634-1642. Dumas claimed, in the preface to The Three Musketeers, that his story was nothing more than the memoirs of the Comte de la Fere, who (this mysterious comte) becomes Athos in the course of the story. These memoirs, presumably, were the same memoirs Athos is seen working on during the course of The Vicomte de Bragelonne.

Unfortunatetly this source had nothing on Porthos. From reports he may have actually been a Beagle and a companion of one Jonathan Archer. <g>

Jim

I have just aquired all four volumes of "The years in between: Adventures of D'artagnan and Cyrano de Bergerac by Paul Feval and M. Lassez! Who werew contemporaries of dumas: their stories were to fall between 3 musketeers and 20 years after and 'supposedly' were recorded bu Athos lackie Grimaud. Aramis and D'artagnan play an active roll in the adventure both Athos and Porthos are only mentioned. For more information check out this link!

www.swashbucklingpress.com/paulfevalsecond.htm

While I know Vig mentioned Dumas finding a book in the library that inspired him to write the Musketeer stories, I believe this is very interesting:

I got really excited while I was reading my Bible last night and came across what could honestly be the original inspiration for the Three Musketeers! Seriously! If you have one (a Bible that is) check out 1 Chronicles 11:15-21 (and a tad more goes through 25 and in other places).

I've read this before, but never noticed the similarities to the Three Musketeers until last night. Basically, there are three "Mighty Men" of King David who risk their lives for a off-handed wish made by their king. They overhear it and decide on their own to do this hair-brained feat, without being asked. It and other feats (not mentioned there, but obviously their skill in fighting) bring them fame above the other 30 Mighty Men (the special task force of men loyal to King David).

Then, another guy who fought even more amazingly became as famous as the three and the commander over the three. He was doubly honored over them, but was not considered a part of the three.

Could the 30 Mighty Men be the Musketeers?

Could the 3 honored men be Aramis, Porthos and Athos?

Could the famous, doubly honored one who became the commander of the three be d'Artagnan?

I love the connection!

Hence all the different interpretations of the Bible. But that's a discussion for another forum entirely.

Really cool information.

I was particularly intrigued by the time difference between the info Jean cited, and the info given in the original books...off by something like 25 years.

And, D'Herbelay...Aramis' title in the books, was that an invention of Dumas'?