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d'Artagnan

I am d’Artagnan

by | Apr 4, 2016 | France

I am the real character that Dumas made famous.I was born in south-western France. I went to Paris in the 1630s, and found a way to enter into the Musketeers in 1632, perhaps thanks to the influence of his family’s friend, Monsieur de Tréville. While in the Musketeers, d’Artagnan sought the protection of the influential Cardinal Mazarin, France’s principal minister since 1643. In 1646, the Musketeers company was dissolved, but d’Artagnan continued to serve his protector Mazarin.
Statue of d’Artagnan on the Dumas monument in Paris.

 

 

My name is Charles Ogier de Batz de Castelmore, Comte d’Artagnan. Alexandre Dumas made me famous as the principle character in his serialized adventure stories – The Three Musketeers (set in 1625), Twenty Years After (set in 1648), The Vicomte de Bragelonne, Ten Years Later, Louise de la Vallière and The Man in the Iron Mask (these last 4 set between 1660 and 1673). Dumas was basically a playwright and understood the need for a compelling story set in a interesting backdrop. He used history as a backdrop introduced high adventure historical novels to the world. Before Dumas, historical works were more boring facts and figures. Dumas gave us imagined dialogue and adventure to weave real people into history.

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Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan

 In ‘The Three Musketeers’, Dumas uses this history to create a rollicking (those wise character) who befriends the three musketeers (Athos – whose actual name was Armand de Sillegue d’Athos d’Autevielle, Porthos and Aremis – whose real name was Henri d’Aramitz). D’Artagnan is not initially a Musketeer.  In this novel, we see played out the rivalry between King Louis XIII, the more powerful Cardinal Richelieu, Anne of Austria (Queen of France and disliked by king, cardinal and country), Duke of Buckingham (prime minister of England and Anne’s lover) – all real characters, and am I the hero of it all. A few other villains are thrown in to keep it all moving and humour added to relieve the tension. I dash all over the country-side thwarting the dastardly Cardinal’s plans. Dumas’ skill makes the plot of the story so interesting and exciting that you hardly notice the backdrop of history. Dumas was not an historian. For ‘The Three Musketeers’ and its sequels (that all star me) and ‘The Count of Monte Christo’, the historical background and the plot were drafted by Auguste Maquet. Dumas added dialogue, details and final chapters. (A bit like Gilbert and Sullivan.) Maquet took Dumas to court to try to get authorial recognition and a higher rate of payment for his work. He was successful in getting more money, but not a byline.In the early part of ‘Three Musketeers’ d’Artagnan is living in number 12 Rue des Fossoyeurs and Athos around the corner in Rue Ferou. These are parallel roads the run into the northern end of the Luxemourg gardens (that also featured as a ‘place for duels’). Rue des Fossoyeurs (grave digger’s street) was renamed to Rue Servandoni in 1806. Many of the streets in the neighbourhood get a mention as does the huge Saint-Sulpice church.

I, d’Artagnan, am without doubt the main character that makes his way though the thousands of pages of French history. The other three are my fellow Musketeers: Athos (who sticks closely to his creed of honour), Aremis (who is very cunning and crafty) and Pothos (a strong man, not the sharpest tool in the shed). But I, d’Artagnan, am the wise strategist.

In later books in the series, I have become Captain of the Musketeers. As captain, I would have had a great deal to do with occasions such as this below.
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The Reception for Prince Conde at Versailles

Picture held at Musée d’Orsay

Shield Shrimp

When it rains across Australia’s vast inland region, temporary pools crop up all over the arid ground, giving life to a strange desert crustacean known as the shield shrimp (Triops australiensis).

Named after the formidable carapace that shields its head and upper body, T. australiensis can grow up to 7.6 cm long, and it uses its long, segmented tail and mass of 60 or so legs to propel itself through shallow water.

It also breathes through these legs – its sub-class Branchiopoda means ‘gill-legged’ – and in the females these legs bear ovisacs for carrying their tiny eggs.

Several pix in the Photo Gallery and a movie.

Acacia peuce

A rare and endangered plant. The tree grows up to 15 to 18 metres (49 to 59 ft) high, with short horizontal branches and pendulous branchlets covered in needle-like phyllodes adapted for the arid dry climate. It has a distinctive habit more similar to a sheoak or a conifer.

Although speculated to have been widespread across central Australia during wetter climates 400,000 years ago, the population is now mostly restricted to three sites, separated by the encroaching Simpson Desert. In the Northern Territory, the species is restricted to the Mac Clark (Acacia peuce) Conservation Reserve which is surrounded by a pastoral lease, Andado Station. The other two sites are near Boulia and Birdsville in Queensland. The tree is found in open arid plains that usually receive less than 150 millimetres (5.9 in) of rain per annum. They grow on shallow sand aprons overlaying gibber or clay slopes and plains and between longitudinal dunes or on alluvial flats between ephemeral watercourses.

 

Owen Springs Reserve on Hugh River

Owen Springs was a station on the Hugh River. The Hugh River flows into the Finke (when it actually flows). Both cut through the Western MacDonnell Ranges. The image above shows Owen Springs Reserve as a dot at lower right. The river it is next to is the Hugh. Hermannsburg, our next town, is near middle left edge. Hermannsburg is almost on the Finke River. You can see both Hugh and Finke Rivers cutting through sections of MacDonnell Ranges.

Palm Valley

Palm Valley is within the Finke Gorge National Park southwest of Alice Springs. Palm Valley has a smallish population of Red Cabbage Palms (Livistona mariae). The nearest related species is 850 kilometres away in Katherine NT. The average rainfall for Palm Valley is just 200 mm per year. Small pockets of semi-permanent spring-fed pools allow the unique flora and fauna (desert fish, shield shrimps tadpoles and frogs) to survive.

It had been assumed that the cabbage palms were remnants of a prehistoric time when the climate supported tropical rainforest in what is now the arid inland of Australia. Genetic analysis published in 2012 determined that Livistona mariae at Palm Valley is actually the same species as Livistona rigida from samples collected near Katherine and Mount Isa, both around 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away. It is now thought that aboriginal people brought the palms to here from Mataranka.

Mound Springs

Mound Springs occur around the Western edge of the Great Artesian Basin and represent a natural discharge of Artesian water that was captured many hundreds of kilometers away from rain falling along the Great Dividing Range and New Guinea. This article provides details. Dalhousie is an excellent example of a mound spring.

Great Artesian Basin map Great Artesian Basin diagram