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I recently re-discovered "The three musketeers" which I loved in my teen age. Upon this re-discovery, I became strangely obsessed with anything related to the novel. I searched the web and I found some notes written by a Spanish well known book critic and antiquary. He seems to be an expert in Dumas' literature (in fact, he claims to have held in his hands the original manuscript of one of the chapters in the novel: "The wine from Anjou"). Anyhow, this man says that Charles de Batz-Castelmore, Count of Artagnan did exist, and he was (between 1667 and 1773) the Captain of one of the two musketeers Companies: the black Company. Although the life of the real Count of Artagnan ressembled Dumas' Artagnan life, he did not live in the time of Richelieu, but in the time of Mazarino. Apparently, the count of Artagnan was in fact, an active agent working for Mazarino. It is also claimed that like in the novel, the real count died in the siege of Mastritch when he was about to receive the marshall batton. I don't know if this was true or not, I merely quote people who seem to be more knowledgeable than me.

I'm not sure if Artagnan still exists as a place. Internet travel sites about Gascony, SW France, where D'Artagnan was from, don't seem to mention it as a current locale. However, Gascony does have a town named Condom, where presumably the birth rate is very low...

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Charles de Batz, however, was very much a real person. He was born in 1615 near Eauze, also in Gascony. Digging around on a good search engine should get you more information.

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Regards,

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Da.