Restore Staff Unintentionally Stumble Upon Misplaced Stays of Legendary ‘Fourth Musketeer’

This week’s been a real treat for lovers of science and classical literature. On Monday, biologists captured the first evidence of real-life Moby-Dick behavior in sperm whales. And on Wednesday, archaeologists found what seems to be the famous “fourth musketeer” that inspired The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

Last month, Jos Valke, deacon at St. Peter and Paul Church in Maastricht, the Netherlands, contacted authorities to schedule repairs for some wobbly tiles, according to an L1 Nieuws report. Things took an eerie turn when workers found skeleton remains that no one (alive) was privy to.

“We became quite silent when we found the first bone,” Valke told the BBC. The deacon immediately contacted Wim Dijkman, a retired archaeologist in Maastricht. Upon closer inspection, Djikman realized that he wasn’t looking at just any skeleton—this was possibly Charles de Batz de Castelmore, the legendary musketeer known as d’Artagnan.

“The location of the grave indicates that it concerns an important person,” Valke told L1 Nieuws. “The skeleton lay on the spot where the altar used to stand, and only royal or other important figures were buried under an altar at that time.”

How did d’Artagnan end up here?

The Three Musketeers follows the adventures of d’Artagnan, a young man hoping to join the Musketeers, an elite military force serving the French monarchy. The real-life motif for d’Artagnan, Charles de Batz de Castelmore, also known as Count d’Artagnan, led a cohort of musketeers under Louis XIV until his death in 1673, during a battle between the French and Dutch in modern-day Maastricht.

The historical context led some researchers and history enthusiasts to believe that d’Artagnan was buried somewhere in Maastricht. Dijkman told CNN that, for roughly 25 years, he tried to convince church officials to let him excavate the church premises, but to no avail—until now.

“This has truly become a ⁠top-level investigation, in which we want to be absolutely certain—or as certain as ​possible—whether it is the famous musketeer, who was killed here near Maastricht,” Dijkman told JP.

Now we sit and wait

According to LBV Magazine, Djikman expressed that “the leak of the information has posed a dilemma” and that he “would have preferred to maintain confidentiality until conclusive evidence was available.”

When the media got hold of the news, Djikman was still waiting for results from a DNA analysis between the skeleton’s tooth and a descendant of Count d’Artagnan, which he had sent over to a German lab. But so far, the observational evidence appears promising. In addition to the distinguished burial site, the skeleton showed a rupture from a projectile at the chest level.

“He lay buried under the altar in consecrated ground,” Valke explained to The Guardian. “There was a French coin from that time in the grave. And the bullet that killed him was lying at chest level, exactly as described in the history books. The indications are very strong.”

“My expectations are high,” Dijkman said to L1 Nieuws. “So far nothing has been found that contradicts the idea that this is not him. But again: I am awaiting the DNA analysis.”