Text courtesy of Alexandros Models
Beyond imagination and epic tales portrayed by Alexandre Dumas' most famous novels, there was a character who, being the most well-documented, ended up as being the least fictional.
Mesieur de Tréville
Born in 1598 from the marriage of a middle-class father and a mother of noble origin, Jean-Armand en Orolon-Saint-Marie began his career in 1616, aged 17, when he joined the French Guards. Among other sieges, he took part in those of Caen , St Jean-d'Angély Clairac and during the siege of Montauban in 1621, he was introduced to king Louis XIII, who gave him royal protection.
Thanks to his brilliant contributions in the sieges of St Antoin and Montpelier in 1625, Jean-Armand was appointed as Horn Bearer in the Musketeers of the Guard, a military branch of the French Royal Household founded in 1622 when a company of light cavalry was furnished with muskets.
Between 1627 and 1628 Jean-Armand took part in the famous siege of La Rochelle , where he was wounded. Between 1630 and 1634 he continued proving his courage in war, particularly in the capture of Nancy (1634), for which he was awarded the appointment of Field Marshal and Captain-Lieutenant in the Musketeers of the Guard.
In 1637 he married Anne de Guillon des Essarts and broadenend his own dominions of Troisvilles adding the barony of Montory and the towns of Haux, Laguinge, Restoue and Athérey. After buying the lordship of Peyre, in St Sever, he changed his family name, of lowly origin, for an authentically noble one: Jean-Armand du Peyer, Mesieur of Troisvilles (or Tréville) and Peyer, baron on Montory.
In Spring 1640 a young man was introduced to Jean-Armand: Charles de Batz Castelmore, better known as D'Artagnan, who was seeking a place as a cadet in the French Guards.
For the following two years, Mesieur of Tréville took part in the sieges of Arras and the capture of Colliure and Perpignan . After that, he was inolved in the case Cinq-Mars and de Thou, a plot to kill the Prime Minister, Cardinal Richelieu; the Marquis of Cinq-Mars, Henri Coiffier de Ruzé d'Effiat (1620-1642) warned Tréville about the conspiration, whose ambiguous reaction was despising the assassination but making it clear that, if the King himself suggested to kill Richelieu, he would do it.
Richelieu eventually discovered the plot thanks to his spies and ordered the execution of the conspirators Cinq-Mars and François-Auguste the Thou (1607-1642), but was unable to execute Tréville too. However, the Cardinal, still fearing that Luis XIII was persuaded by the idea of getting rid of him violently, demanded the immediate exile of Tréville, whose loyalty to the king might have meant his execution, and the king acceded to Richelieu 's desire.
On 1 st September 1642 Tréville went into exile to the house of his brother-in-law, the Abbot of Montiérender, only to see Richelieu's death shortly after, on 4 th September. So Tréville was required again to serve the king of France and was restored to his former position in the Musketeers of the Guard. The regained joy though would last only for a short time: his Protector and Commander, King Luis XIII died on 14 th May 1643.
The Regent Queen, Ann of Austria, rewarded Tréville's loyal service setting up the region of Troisvilles as a county, but after that the deep dislike between him and the new Prime Minister, Cardinal Mazarin, triggered off the end of his career. This was the reason for which Tréville abandoned his position in 1646 and the Musketeers of the Guard were dissolved. Tréville rejected the compensations offered by Mazarin for sake of his dignity, even ignored for ten years several calls to put down the insurrection in La Fronde , as a passive resistance against Mazarin.
By the end of his life he accepted to be the Governor of the province of Foix . In 1667 he was appointed as General Lieutenant, an honorific title, and put down a rebellion in La Sole.
On 8 th May 1672, aged 73, Jean-Armand du Peyer died in his castle in Troisvilles.
After André Lassargue's text.