The famed musketeer d’Artagnan, immortalized by Dumas as ”the fourth musketeer” in the books, was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673. It has been unclear what happened to the body afterwards, however it has been believed that he was buried locally as the siege was still ongoing at the time of his death. Now renovations at the village church of Wolder in Maastricht has possibly given us the answer. The French army had a camp adjacent to Wolder, and it had been suggested as a possible burial location in the past. Now renovations of the church uncovered a tomb underneat the altar, in which the remains of an obviously very important person was disovered. Tentatively the identification has been made with d’Artagnan, based on remains of a musket ball in the chest cavity which matches accounts of d’Artagnan’s death, plus a French coin in the grave which suggests that it is a Frenchman buried there. The final verdict will have to wait for DNA matching with a known descendant to be completed, this is underway now and results are expected soon.
I think it’s always great when we can find the bodies of important historical figures such as him. Makes history more tangible in a way.