223
pages, Tempus Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-0752435039
The Four Musketeers:
The True Story of D'Artagnan, Porthos, Aramis & Athos is just that, tracing as it does
the life of D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers. The first chapter relates the
true story of Charles de Batz-Castelmore, sieur d'Artagnan, who served as a
musketeer from the 1630s until his death in June 1673. It talks about where he
was raised in Gascony and how so many members of the king's musketeers came
from Gascony because the leader of the musketeers was, in fact, M. de Treville,
or more accurately Troisvilles, a Gascon himself, just like in the novel.
Charles serves as a loyal supporter of the crown, supporting Troisvilles until
he was able to transfer his loyalty to Cardinal Mazarin in the 1640s. From
Mazarin, Charles learns to support the king, Louis XIV. He serves the Sun King
by arresting the finance minister Nicolas Foucquet and guarding him during his
two-and-a-half year trial before transporting to his imprisonment in Pignerol.
Charles serves the king as a soldier, chief lieutenant of his musketeers until
his death during the siege of Maastricht in 1673. The whole story is here in
English rather than French as most of his biographies have been.
The
next chapter relays what we know from historical evidence about Athos, Porthos,
and Aramis. It turns out we know very little about Armand de Sillegue d'Athos
d'Autevielle who died mysteriously in 1642 at the age of 20 or so. The authors
speculate that he may have died in a duel or from a criminal assault in a
highly dangerous Paris. Isaac de Porthau came from a wealthy family and
returned to his family's home. Henri d'Aramitz came from a family that could
trace its nobility back several centuries. He too served and returned to his
family's estates.
The
next chapter discusses the history of the musketeers as a military organization
from its inception until its dissolution, while another chapter relates the
life of Gatien Courtilz de Sandras, the writer who wrote the so-called memoirs
of D'Artagnan 27 years after the latter's death. He included the names Athos,
Porthos, and Aramis as well as a mention of an Englishwoman he called Miledi in
these phony memoirs. Perhaps Sandras picked up these names from his conversations
with two former companions of D'Artagnan's, Besmaux and Saint-Mars. The latter
two were governors of the Bastille where Sandras was imprisoned during 1693-99.
Alexandre
Dumas’ life is also related in a subsequent chapter along with a discussion of
how he used researchers and collaborators to help draw up his story. Dumas used
the memoirs of D'Artagnan among other documents and memoirs to put together the
tales in the novel. It turns out most of the story is true in the sense that
the events happened to someone, just not D'Artagnan or his friends.
The
book closes with a survey of sequels by other authors as well as plays and
movies that continue the legend of the musketeers. The book also has
black-and-white and color photos of places, paintings, engravings, and items
relevant to the text. It is highly readable but the authors could have taken
some care proofreading the text, particularly dates in the life of D'Artagnan, i.e.,
1566 instead of 1656, ninety years makes a difference.
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