‘Now, gentlemen, it’s one for all and all for one. That’s our motto, and I think we should stick to it’

Dumas’s tale of swashbuckling and heroism follows the fortunes of d’Artagnan, a headstrong country boy who travels to Paris to join the Musketeers – the bodyguard of King Louis XIII. Here he falls in with Athos, Porthos and Aramis, and the four friends soon find themselves caught up in court politics and intrigue. Together they must outwit Cardinal Richelieu and his plot to gain influence over the King, and thwart the beautiful spy Milady’s scheme to disgrace the Queen. In The Three Musketeers, Dumas breathed fresh life into the genre of historical romance, creating a vividly realized cast of characters and a stirring dramatic narrative.

The introduction examines Dumas’s historical sources, the balance between fact and fiction, and the figures from history that formed the basis for the central characters of The Three Musketeers