When Alexandre Dumas wrote

When Alexandre Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers he also was a practising fencer and like many other French gentlemen of his generation he attended the schools for Canne de combat and Savate of Michel Casseux, Charles Lecour^[2] and Joseph Charlemont (who had been a regular fencing instructor in the French army). Sony VAIO VGN-AW91CYS Battery In the very first sentences of his preface, Alexandre Dumas indicated as his source Mémoires de Monsieur d'Artagnan, printed by Pierre Rouge in Amsterdam. It was in this book, he said, that d'Artagnan relates his first visit to M. de Tréville, captain of the Musketeers, where in the antechamber he met three young men with the names Athos, Porthos and Aramis. Sony VAIO VGN-AW91DS Battery This information struck the imagination of Dumas so much—he tells us—that he continued his investigation and finally encountered once more the names of the three musketeers in a manuscript with the title Mémoire de M. le comte de la Fère, etc.. Elated—so continues his yarn—he asked permission to reprint the manuscript. Permission granted: Sony VAIO VGN-AW91JS Battery "Well, it is the first part of this precious manuscript that we offer today to our readers, while giving it back its more convenient title and under the engagement to publish immediately the second part should this first part be successful. In the meantime, as the godfather is as good as a second father, Sony VAIO VGN-AW91YS Battery we invite the reader to address himself to us, and not to the Comte de La Fère, about his pleasure or boredom and slept. This being said, let's get on with our story." The book he referred to was Mémoires de M. d'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la première compagnie des Mousquetaires du RoiSony VAIO VGN-AW92CDS Battery (Memoirs of Mister d'Artagnan, Lieutenant Captain of the first company of the King's Musketeers) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (Cologne, 1700). The book was borrowed from the Marseillepublic library, and the card-index remains to this day; Dumas kept the book when he went back to Paris. Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CJS Battery Following Dumas's lead in his preface, Eugène d'Auriac (de la Bibliothèque Royale) in 1847 was able to write the biography of d'Artagnan: d'Artagnan, Capitaine-Lieutenant des Mousquetaires– Sa vie aventureuse– Ses duels– etc. based on Courtilz de Sandras. In 1625 d'Artagnan, a poor young nobleman, leaves his family in Gascony and travels to Paris, with the intention of joining the Musketeer of the Guard. Sony VAIO VGN-AW92CYS Battery However, en-route, at an inn in Meung-sur-Loire, d'Artagnan overhears an older man making jokes about his horse and, feeling insulted, demands to fight a duel with him. The older man's companions beat d'Artagnan unconscious with a pot and a metal tong which breaks his sword; his Letter of introduction to Monsieur de Tréville, Sony VAIO VGN-AW92DS Battery the commander of the Musketeers, is stolen. D'Artagnan resolves to avenge himself upon the man, who is later revealed to be the Comte de Rochefort, an agent of Cardinal Richelieu, who is in Meung to pass orders from the Cardinal to Milady de Winter, another of his agents. Sony VAIO VGN-AW92JS Battery In Paris, d'Artagnan visits de Tréville at the headquarters of the Musketeers, but the meeting is overshadowed by the loss of his letter and de Tréville refuses his application to join. From de Tréville's window, d'Artagnan sees Rochefort passing in the street below and rushes out of the building to confront him, Sony VAIO VGN-AW92YS Battery but in doing so he separately causes offense to three of the Musketeers, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, who each demand satisfaction; D'Artagnan must duel each of them in turn that afternoon. When d'Artagnan prepares himself for the first of the three duels, he realises that his counterparts are friends. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93FS Battery But just as he and Athos begin to fight, a number of Cardinal Richelieu's guards appear; they try to arrest the three musketeers and d'Artagnan for illegal dueling. Although outnumbered, the four men win the ensuing battle. In the course of events, d'Artagnan duels and seriously wounds Jussac, one of the Cardinal's officers and a renowned fighter. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93GS Battery After hearing about this event, King Louis XIII appoints d'Artagnan to des Essarts' company of guards and gives him 40 pistoles (currency).D'Artagnan hires a servant, Planchet, finds lodgings, and, by decree of the King, joins Monsieur des Essart's company of Guards, a less prestigious regiment in which he must serve for two years before being considered for the Musketeers. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93HS Battery Shortly after his landlord comes to see him to talk about his wife's kidnapping (she is released presently), he falls in love at first sight with his landlord's pretty young wife, Constance Bonacieux. She works for the Queen Consort of France, Anne of Austria, who is secretly conducting an affair with the Duke of Buckingham. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZFS Battery The Queen has just received a gift from her husband Louis XIII and trying to console her lover she gives him the diamonds as a keepsake. Cardinal Richelieu, who tries to start a war between France and England, wants to reveal that. Quickly he organises an event and talks the King into demanding that his wife wear the diamonds at this opportunity. Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZGS Battery Constance doesn't succeed in sending her cowardly husband, who has been manipulated by Richelieu, to London, but d'Artagnan and his friends decide to help. On their mission they are frequently attacked by the cardinal's henchmen and therefore only d'Artagnan and Planchet arrive in London (although Planchet does not accompany d'Artagnan to see Buckingham). Sony VAIO VGN-AW93ZHS Battery In the process of getting to England, d'Artagnan is compelled to assault and nearly kill the Comte de Wardes, a friend of the Cardinal's, cousin to de Rochefort, and Milady's lover. Although two of the diamonds have been stolen by Milady, the Duke of Buckingham is able to provide replacements while delaying the thief's return to Paris. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11EN Battery D'Artagnan is thus able to return a complete set of jewels to Queen Anne just in time to save her façade of honour and receives from her a beautiful ring as an expression of her gratitude. Shortly afterwards, d'Artagnan attends a tryst with Madame Bonacieux, but she does not open her door. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11MN Battery He notices signs of a struggle, and, asking about, discovers that de Rochefort and Monsieur Bonacieux, acting under the orders of the Cardinal, have assaulted and imprisoned her. D'Artagnan looks after his friends, who have just recovered from their injuries. He brings them back to Paris and meets Milady de Winter officially. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ11XN Battery He recognises her from Meung as one of the Cardinal's agents, but this does not deter him. D'Artagnan quickly develops a crush on the beautiful lady but learns from her handmaiden that she is in fact quite indifferent toward him. Later, though, after attending a tryst with her while pretending to be the Comte de Wardes (the lights are out), Sony VAIO VGN-BZ12VN Battery he also discovers a fleur-de-lis branded on Milady's shoulder, marking her as a felon. D'Artagnan eludes her attempt on his life and is ordered to the siege of La Rochelle. Milady fails continuously in killing d'Artagnan and he is informed that the Queen has managed to save Constance from the prison. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ12XN Battery In an inn the musketeers also overhear the Cardinal asking Milady to murder the Duke of Buckingham (who supports the Protestant rebels at La Rochelle). He even gives her a categorical pardon in written form, but Athos takes it from her. The next morning, Athos, in search of a quiet place to talk, makes a bet that he, d'Artagnan, Sony VAIO VGN-BZ31VT Battery Porthos and Aramis, and their servants, Grimaud, Planchet, Mosqueton, and Bazin, can hold the St. Gervais bastion (captured by des Essarts' company shortly beforehand) for an hour. They get away after an hour and a half, killing 22 Rochellese in total, and finding a way to warn Lord de Winter and the Duke of Buckingham. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ31XT Battery Milady is imprisoned on arrival in England but soon seduces her guard, Felton (a fictionalization of the real John Felton), and persuades him both to allow her escape and to kill Buckingham, which he does. On her return to France Milady hides in a convent, where she discovers Constance Bonacieux is also staying. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560 Battery The naive Constance clings to Milady, who sees a chance to get back at d'Artagnan who has crossed her plans with his friends more than once, and fatally poisons Constance before d'Artagnan can retrieve her. The Musketeers manage to find Milady before she can be rewarded and sheltered by Cardinal Richelieu. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560N24 Battery They come with an official executioner, put her to trial and sentence her to death. After her execution the four friends return to the siege of La Rochelle. They encounter the dodgy gentleman who has bothered d'Artagnan all the way. The Count of Rochefort arrests d'Artagnan and takes him straight to the Cardinal. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560N30 Battery When asked about Milady's fate, d'Artagnan can save himself by delivering the Cardinal's endorsement, which had been written for Milady and certifies that the deeds of the carrier are by all means approved by the Cardinal. This does not in and of itself protect him, as it only makes the Cardinal laugh. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P Battery However, impressed with d'Artagnan's cheek and boldness, and secretly glad to be rid of the treacherous Milady, the Cardinal tears it up and writes a new order, giving the bearer a promotion to a lieutenant in de Treville's company of guards. The Cardinal states that anyone can take the order, but to keep in mind it was intended for d'Artagnan. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P20 Battery He takes it to Athos, Porthos and Aramis in turn, but each refuses it, proclaiming d'Artagnan the more worthy man.The siege of La Rochelle ends in 1628, which also marks the end of the book. Aramis retires to a monastery, Porthos marries his wealthy mistress, and Athos serves in the Musketeers under D'Artagnan until 1631, when Athos retires to his mansion in the countryside. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P22 Battery Les Trois Mousquetaires was translated into three English versions by 1846. One of these, by William Barrow, is still in print and fairly faithful to the original, available in the Oxford World's Classics 1999 edition. To conform to 19th-century English standards, all of the explicit and many of the implicit references to sexuality were removed, Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P28 Battery adversely affecting the readability of several scenes, such as the scenes between d'Artagnan and Milady.The most recent and now standard English translation is by Richard Pevear (2006), who in his introduction notes that most of the modern translations available today are "textbook examples of bad translation practices" which "give their readers an extremely distorted notion of Dumas' writing." Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P30 Battery The Three Musketeers is a musical with a book by William Anthony McGuire, lyrics by Clifford Grey and P. G. Wodehouse, and music by Rudolf Friml. The original 1928 production ran on Broadway for 318 performances. A 1984 revival ran for 15 previews and 9 performances. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ560P34 Battery In 2003 a Dutch musical 3 Musketiers premiered, which went on to open in Germany (both the Dutch and German production starring Pia Douwes as Milady De Winter) and Hungary. Composer George Stiles, lyricist Paul Leigh and playwright Peter Raby have produced another version (under the title The 3 Musketeers, One Musical For All), Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561 Battery which opened at the American Musical Theatre of San José on 10 March 2001. There are a number of little known opera versions by composers Xyndas in 1855, Visetti in 1871, Dionesi in 1888, de Lara in 1921 and Benatzsky in 1929. The story was dramatized, simplified (among other changes, the character of Milady was omitted), Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561N20 Battery and recorded on four 12" 78rpm shellac Columbia records, with Errol Flynn as d'Artagnan, narrating how he became a musketeer, with opening, closing and bridging music provided by Carmen Dragon's orchestra, and sound effects. The three musketeers are incapacitated in a gun fight with Richelieu's men on side 4 and do not return until the final scene on side 8. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ561P20 Battery 1995 saw the release by publisher U.S. Gold of Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer by video game developers Clipper Software, a classic point-and-click adventure game.^[6] In 2005, Swedish developer Legendo Entertainment published the side-scrolling platform game The Three Musketeers for Windows XP andWindows Vista. Sony VAIO VGN-BZ562P Battery In July 2009, a version of the game was released for WiiWare in North America and Europe under the title The Three Musketeers: One for All!.^[7] In 2009, Canadian developer Dingo Games self-published The Three Musketeers: The Game for Windows and Mac OS X. It is the first game to be truly based on the novel (in that it closely follows the novel's story).^[8] Sony VAIO VGN-BZ563P Battery 2009 also saw the publication of the asymmetric team board game The Three Musketeers "The Queen's Pendants"(Настольная игра «Три мушкетера») from French designer Pascal Bernard^[9] by the Russian publisher Zvezda. In 1939, American author Tiffany Thayer published a book entitled Three Musketeers (Thayer, 1939). Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAFS Battery This is a re-telling of the story in Thayer's words, true to the original plot but told in a different order and with different points of view and emphasis from the original. For example, the book opens with the scene of Milady's youth and how she came to be branded, and more development of her early character, Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAHS Battery making her later scheming more believable and understandable. Thayer's treatment of sex and sexual politics is more explicit than typical English translations of the original, occasionally leading to consternation when this book found its way to library children's sections and school libraries. Sony VAIO VGN-BZAANS Battery The modern Chinese author Jin Yong is also said to have been influenced by his works. The Khaavren Romances by Steven Brust are fantasy novels heavily influenced by The Three Musketeers and its sequels—indeed they are almost a rewriting of the Dumas novels in a fantasy setting. Sony VAIO VGN-BZAAPS Battery Olivier d'Athos, Comte de la Fère is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père. In The Three Musketeers, he and the other two musketeers Porthos and Aramis are friends of the novel's protagonist,d'Artagnan. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/Q Battery He has a mysterious past connecting him with the villain of the novel, Milady de Winter. The oldest by some years, Athos is described as noble and handsome but also very secretive, drowning his secret sorrows in drink. He is very protective of d'Artagnan, the youngest, whom he treats as a son. Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/R Battery By the end of the novel, it is revealed that he is the Comte de la Fère, who was Milady's husband before she married theBaron de Winter. In the latter two novels, he is openly known as the Comte de la Fère and is the adopted father of the young hero, Raoul,vicomte de Bragelonne (and it is ultimately revealed that he is his biological father as well). Sony VAIO VGN-CS118E/W Battery In Twenty Years After it is left uncertain whether Athos is the father of Mordaunt (John Francis de Winter, son of Milady de Winter). Mordaunt attempts to avenge the death of his mother by killing those responsible. However, he himself dies while he and Athos struggle in the middle of the English Channel. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/P Battery Athos himself almost drowns in this struggle as well causing Aramis, Porthos, and D'Artagnan to lament his death for a few moments before he resurfaces. Athos' first name is never told. However, in Dumas' play "The Youth of the Musketeers," the young Milady, then named Charlotte, calls the then Vicomte de la Fère, Olivier, so one may assume that this is Athos' first name. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/Q Battery The fictional Athos is named after the historical musketeer Armand de Sillègue d'Athos d'Autevielle (1615-1644), though they don't actually have much in common apart from the name. His birthplace is the commune of Athos-Aspis in thePyrénées-Atlantiques department. Sony VAIO VGN-CS11S/W Battery The name also resembles Mount Athos, which is referred to in chapter 13 of The Three Musketeers in which a Bastille guard says, "But that is not a man's name; that is the name of a mountain." His title, Comte de la Fère, while invented, is tied to the domains of La Fère which were once owned by Anne of Austria, Sony VAIO VGN-CS11Z/R Battery Queen of France in these novels and in the historical period in which they are set. René d'Aramis de Vannes (born René d'Herblay) is a fictional character in the novels The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne by Alexandre Dumas, père. He and the other two musketeers Athos and Porthos are friends of the novels' protagonist, d'Artagnan. Sony VAIO VGN-CS120J/P Battery The fictional Aramis is loosely based on the historical musketeer Henri d'Aramitz.