I have often wondered just what parts of Dumas’s works follow history, and which parts were his fictional creations. Since no one else has put any such examination on-line, I have decided that I will attempt to do so. I am not a historian. I have a list of a number of books at our University library and will be going through them for references that agree or disagree with Dumas. I will reference where I am receiving his information, normally, by (author, page number), as in (Kleinman, 23). If an entire paragraph references many pages from a single chapter, I will refer to it as (author, Chapter number), as in (Kleinman, Chapter 5).
- Major Characters from the History of Dumas’s Musketeers
- Most of the major characters in the Musketeers—especially the historic personages—were real.
- Minor Characters from the History of Dumas’s Musketeers
- All of the minor characters who were part of the French government seem to be real.
images
- Anne of Austria
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Painted by Peter Paul Rubens. This is from the Norton Simon Foundation in Pasadena. Anne of Austria is here in her mid-twenties, and this is pretty much what she would have looked like during the period of The Three Musketeers. - Cardinal Richelieu
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Cardinal Richelieu between the time of the Three Musketeers and the Vicomte. - Chancellor Séguier
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This portrait by Le Brun shows the style of the less warlike nobles of the time. Painted in 1660, this shows Séguier ten years after the events in “Twenty Years After”, and right at the beginning of “Le Vicomte de Bragellone”. This painting specifically depicts Séguier riding in the train of Queen Maria Theresa during her entry to Paris. - Charles Stuart (Charles I of England)
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Van Dyck met King Charles I in 1632, where he was court painter. Around 1635 he painted this portrait. The portrait is currently held in the Louvre in France. - Duc de Beaufort
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Photograph Bibliothèque Nationale - King Louis XIII
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King Louis XIII, around the time of the Three Musketeers. Painted by the royal painter, Philippe de Champaigne. This is from the Prado in Madrid. - King Louis XIV
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Rigaud painted this portrait of Louis XIV in 1701, after the fictional events in “The Man in the Iron Mask”. Louis had originally commissioned this as a gift for the King of Spain, but Louis liked it so much he kept it and hung it in Versailles. - Nicolas Fouquet
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Photograph Bibliothèque Nationale - A Seaport at Sunset
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“A Seaport at Sunset”, by Claude Lorrain, does not depict a specific seaport. However, it was painted in 1639, which would have been ten years after the siege at Rochelle, and may show the kinds of things you could expect at a French seaport in that time. - Versailles
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Painting of a fête at Versailles.
- Other Items from the History of Dumas’s Musketeers
- The Musketeers and its sequels followed the history of France as well as the rumors and fears of French nobles.
- Bibliography for the History of Dumas’s Musketeers
- Some fascinating books about the period around when the Musketeers stories happen.
