{"id":50098,"date":"2026-04-02T12:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=50098"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:00:22","slug":"archaeologists-may-have-uncovered-the-tomb-of-legendary-dartagnan-from-the-three-musketeers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2026\/04\/archaeologists-may-have-uncovered-the-tomb-of-legendary-dartagnan-from-the-three-musketeers.html","title":{"rendered":"Archaeologists May Have Uncovered the Tomb of Legendary D\u2019Artagnan From &#8216;The Three Musketeers&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_50104\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-50104\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/04\/Skeleton-Found_credit-Left-Adobe-Stock-Right-Stichting-6213-HL.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-50104\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2026\/04\/Skeleton-Found_credit-Left-Adobe-Stock-Right-Stichting-6213-HL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-50104\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Left: Adobe Stock | Right: Stichting 6213 HL<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Archaeologists have announced the discovery of an ancient tomb that may be connected to one of the most recognizable French literary works in the world. The discovery was made at St. Peter and Paul Church in Maastricht, Netherlands, where a section of the floor had begun to sink in. French historian Odile Bordaz had theorized for years that the church was the burial site of a French musketeer named Charles de Batz de Castelmore, who was known by his mother\u2019s maiden name, d&#8217;Artagnan. d&#8217;Artagnan is said to have inspired the character of d\u2019Artagnan in the famous book, <em>The Three Musketeers<\/em>, written by French author Alexandre Dumas. Although he is not one of the titular \u201cthree musketeers\u201d of the book, d\u2019Artagnan has become one of the most recognized characters in one of Dumas\u2019s most enduring works, which has been adapted into numerous films and television shows.<\/p>\n<p>According to records, the real d\u2019Artagnan was born around 1611 in France and served as a musketeer under King Louis XIV, known as the \u201cSun King.\u201d He eventually became captain of the Musketeers of the Guard. He was killed in 1673 during the Siege of Maastricht. It was said that he was buried beneath \u201cconsecrated ground,\u201d leading Bordaz to believe that d\u2019Artagnan had been buried in Maastricht rather than face the impracticality of bearing his body all the way back to France for burial. Bordaz shared her theory with archaeologist Wim Dijkman, who had been petitioning the church for decades to permit an excavation. With the caving in floor, church deacon Jos Valke saw an opportunity to undergo the long sought-after excavation and contacted Dijkman. After some digging, human remains were discovered.<\/p>\n<p>Volke described the moment the first bone was found. \u201cWe became quite silent when we found the first bone,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cm2rew2dgzzo\">he told CNN<\/a>. \u201cHe was buried on sacred ground below where the altar was; we found the bullet that put an end to his life and we found a coin from 1660 in his grave, and it was from the bishop who attended Mass for the Roi Soleil.\u201d The skull was shattered, but the rest of the remains including the neck and vertebrae were perfectly intact. Volke feels very confident that the remains are in fact d\u2019Artagnan. \u201cThere was a French coin from that time in the grave, and the bullet that killed him lay at chest level,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/netherlands-possible-dartagnan-remains\">he said<\/a>. \u201cExactly as described in the history books. The evidence is very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The archaeologists are awaiting DNA results from supposed descendants of d\u2019Artagnan for verification. Meanwhile, Dijkman remains cautiously optimistic. \u201cI&#8217;m a scientist, but my expectations are high,\u201d he said. \u201cI&#8217;ve already been researching d&#8217;Artagnan&#8217;s grave for 28 years. This could be the highlight of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Archaeologists have announced the discovery of an ancient tomb that may be connected to one of the most recognizable French literary works in the world. The discovery was made at St. Peter and Paul Church in Maastricht, Netherlands, where a section of the floor had begun to sink in. French historian Odile Bordaz had theorized&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":50104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-television"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Archaeologists May Have Uncovered the Tomb of Legendary D\u2019Artagnan From &#039;The Three Musketeers&#039;<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Archaeologists uncover tomb in Netherlands that may belong to real-life d\u2019Artagnan, the famed musketeer who inspired &quot;The Three Musketeers.&quot;\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link 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