Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (1644, Montargis – 8 May 1712,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

) was a French novelist, journalist, pamphleteer and memorialist. His abundant output includes short stories, gallant letters, tales of historical love affairs (''Les Intrigues amoureuses de la Cour de France'', 1684), historical and political works, biographies and semi-fictional "memoirs" (in the first person; his prefaces often indicate that the works were composed of papers found after the subject's death) of historical figures from the recent past (such as the Marquis de Montbrun and M. de Rochefort). His memoir-novels (''Mémoires de M.L.C.D.R.'', 1687; ''Mémoires de M. d'Artagnan'', 1700; ''Mémoires de M. de B.''; 1711) describe the social and political world of Richelieu and Mazarin with a picaresque realism (spies, kidnappings, and political machinations predominate) and they were important precursors to both French

picaresque novel The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for ' rogue' or 'rascal') is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish but appealing hero, usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corrup ...

s and literary realism in the 18th century. Courtilz de Sandras is best known today for his semi-fictionalized memoirs of the famous musketeer d'Artagnan which were published in 1700 (27 years after the death of d'Artagnan) and which served as the model for

Alexandre Dumas, père Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

's portrayal of d'Artagnan in ''

The Three Musketeers ''The Three Musketeers'' () is a French historical adventure novel written and published in 1844 by French author Alexandre Dumas. It is the first of the author's three d'Artagnan Romances. As with some of his other works, he wrote it in col ...

'' (Fr: ''Les trois mousquetaires''), '' Twenty Years After'' (Fr: ''Vingt ans après'') and '' The Vicomte de Bragelonne'' (Fr: ''Le Vicomte de Bragelonne ou Dix ans plus tard''). Courtilz de Sandras served in the army before becoming a writer. He was imprisoned several times in the

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

where Besmaux, the former companion of d’Artagnan, was warden, and it was most likely from this source that he learned the details of d'Artagnan's life.

References

*''Portions of this article are based on the equivalent article from the French Wikipedia, consulted in February 2006.'' * Dandrey, Patrick, ed. ''Dictionnaire des lettres françaises - Le XVIIe siècle.'' Paris: Fayard, 1996, pp. 344–346.

External links

* * 1644 births 1712 deaths People from Montargis 18th-century French journalists 17th-century French male writers 18th-century French male writers 17th-century French novelists 18th-century French novelists French male novelists French male non-fiction writers 18th-century French memoirists {{France-novelist-stub