Damaged church floor may have revealed the grave of the fourth musketeer
Recent repairs to a centuries-old tile floor at a church in the Netherlands may have revealed the skeleton of the French Musketeer d’Artagnan.
Today, Charles de Batz de Castlemore, Count d'Artagnan, is best known as a character in *The Three Musketeers*, written by Alexandre Dumas and eventually played by both Gene Kelly [and future Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy][1]—but he was a real French military officer and spy. D’Artagnan died during a siege, and the whereabouts of his body have remained a mystery for more than 350 years. But an archaeologist in the Netherlands recently unearthed a skeleton from the floor of a 17th-century church that could actually be d’Artagnan.
## “It is only the dead who do not return”
The ground beneath the centuries-old Saints Peter and Paul Church subsided earlier this year, cracking a few of the blue tiles that pave the chapel’s floor. During repairs, church staff decided to have a look beneath the floor to see if there was any truth to the rumor that d’Artagnan—famous French Musketeer and inspiration for a series of swashbuckling novels—lay buried beneath their church. It turns out that there actually was a skeleton buried under the church floor, and there’s a decent chance it’s d’Artagnan himself.
[Read full article][2]
[Comments][3]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Musketeers_(2004_musical)
[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/
[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/#comments
This could be the skeleton of the real-life d'Artagnan.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/
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2026-03-26 15:46:55 UTC
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2026-03-26 15:46:55 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "Damaged church floor may have revealed the grave of the fourth musketeer\n\nRecent repairs to a centuries-old tile floor at a church in the Netherlands may have revealed the skeleton of the French Musketeer d’Artagnan.\n\nToday, Charles de Batz de Castlemore, Count d'Artagnan, is best known as a character in *The Three Musketeers*, written by Alexandre Dumas and eventually played by both Gene Kelly [and future Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy][1]—but he was a real French military officer and spy. D’Artagnan died during a siege, and the whereabouts of his body have remained a mystery for more than 350 years. But an archaeologist in the Netherlands recently unearthed a skeleton from the floor of a 17th-century church that could actually be d’Artagnan.\n\n## “It is only the dead who do not return”\n\nThe ground beneath the centuries-old Saints Peter and Paul Church subsided earlier this year, cracking a few of the blue tiles that pave the chapel’s floor. During repairs, church staff decided to have a look beneath the floor to see if there was any truth to the rumor that d’Artagnan—famous French Musketeer and inspiration for a series of swashbuckling novels—lay buried beneath their church. It turns out that there actually was a skeleton buried under the church floor, and there’s a decent chance it’s d’Artagnan himself.\n\n[Read full article][2]\n\n[Comments][3]\n\n[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Musketeers_(2004_musical)\n[2]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/\n[3]: https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/#comments\n\nThis could be the skeleton of the real-life d'Artagnan.\n\n\nhttps://arstechnica.com/science/2026/03/archaeologists-may-have-found-the-grave-of-the-legendary-fourth-musketeer/",
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