Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras
Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras was a French novelist, journalist, pamphleteer and memorialist.
His abundant output includes short stories, gallant letters, tales of historical love affairs, historical and political works, biographies and semi-fictional "memoirs" of historical figures from the recent past. His memoir-novels describe the social and political world of Richelieu and Mazarin with a picaresque realism and they were important precursors to both French picaresque novels 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 and which served as the model for Alexandre Dumas, père's portrayal of d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After and The Vicomte de Bragelonne.
Courtilz de Sandras served in the army before becoming a writer. He was imprisoned several times in the Bastille 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.
