The Three Musketeers: Meung, Paris and La Rochelle

On the first Monday of April 1625 the market town of Meung is in an uproar, and the crowd is hurrying to the hostelry of the Jolly Miller. The cause is a young Gascon, D'Artagnan, riding to Paris on a yellow Béarn pony whose looks turn the town against its rider. Here he meets the villainous Comte de Rochefort, a stranger who wants to know what the letter addressed to Tréville contains. It is the first knot in the whole plot. Meung lies on the north bank of the Loire, 15 km west of Orléans.

Location precision: The novel names the inn but no street; the pin marks the centre of Meung-sur-Loire.

Visitor guidance: Meung-sur-Loire is 15 km west of Orléans, on the north bank of the Loire.

The captain of the Musketeers receives at a hôtel on the Rue du Vieux-Colombier, and from early morning its courtyard looks like a camp, with fifty to sixty Musketeers on show. Porthos lives on the same street, in a large, sumptuous apartment: every time he passes with a friend he raises his head and hand and says, "That is my abode!" — yet he is never at home. The street takes its name from the dovecote of the abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés and is served by the Saint-Sulpice metro.

Location precision: The novel names the street but no house number; the pin marks the Rue du Vieux-Colombier itself.

Visitor guidance: The street is served by metro line 4 at Saint-Sulpice.

Having arrived in Paris only the day before, D'Artagnan hurries to the convent of the Carmes Déchaussés for a noon duel with Athos. It is a windowless building among barren fields, next to the Pré-aux-Clercs and a favourite spot for men with no time to lose. Hardly have the swords clashed when Jussac's Cardinal's Guards turn the corner of the convent. D'Artagnan joins the three Musketeers against them: "Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and D'Artagnan, forward!" The Carmelite church on the Rue de Vaugirard was consecrated in 1625, the year of the story.

Location precision: The novel puts the duel on open ground at the foot of the convent; the pin marks the convent church on the Rue de Vaugirard.

Mme Bonacieux brings the Duke of Buckingham into the Louvre by night. He wears the uniform of Tréville's Musketeers, who are conveniently on guard that night, while D'Artagnan follows twenty paces behind with orders to slay anyone who watches. They enter by the wicket of the Echelle, slip through a servants' door and climb a dark staircase. She locks the duke in a lamp-lit room: "Remain here, my Lord Duke; someone will come." The palace became the kings' main residence in 1546 and a museum in 1793.

Location precision: The novel names a gate of the old palace; the pin marks the Louvre as a whole.

Visitor guidance: The Louvre Palace is now the Louvre museum.

Lord de Winter gives D'Artagnan his sister's address: Number 6, Place Royale, then the fashionable quarter. Milady's hôtel is remarkably sumptuous, even though most of the English are leaving France because of the war. D'Artagnan paces the square six or seven times at night, watching the light in her window; in the end he sees the fleur-de-lis brand on her shoulder and she comes at him with a golden-hafted poniard. The square, built by Henry IV between 1605 and 1612, has house-fronts all built to the same design.

Location precision: The novel gives Milady a house at Number 6 that is Dumas's invention; the pin marks the square, today's Place des Vosges.

Visitor guidance: The Place Royale is now called the Place des Vosges.

The siege of 1627–1628 pits Louis XIII's royal forces against the Huguenots of La Rochelle. Athos bets Monsieur de Busigny that the four friends will breakfast in the bastion St. Gervais for an hour, whatever the enemy does; the stake is an unlimited dinner for eight. With twelve guns loaded and a hundred shots ready, they eat under the eyes of some five hundred onlookers who take them for heroes or madmen, and win. In reality the town held out until 28 October 1628, its population falling from 27,000 to 5,000.

Location precision: The novel's bastion cannot be placed on a modern map; the pin marks La Rochelle itself.

On the morning of 23 August 1628 Felton walks into Portsmouth about eight o'clock, drums beating in the streets and troops marching to embark. He gets into the Admiralty palace with "a pressing message from Lord de Winter" and drives into Buckingham the knife Milady had used on herself. Guards lead him to a terrace over the sea. History agrees on the date: the Duke was stabbed on 23 August 1628 at the Greyhound Inn, where he had gone to organise another campaign to aid La Rochelle. His real killer, John Felton, was an army officer.

Location precision: The novel sets the murder in the Admiralty palace while history names the Greyhound Inn; the pin marks Old Portsmouth, not either building.

It is near midnight when the moon rises behind the little town of Armentières. Two lackeys drag Milady, each holding an arm, with the executioner, Lord de Winter, D'Artagnan, Porthos and Aramis walking behind. The Lys shines "like a river of molten tin"; an old abandoned mill stands on the left. The executioner takes her across by boat while the others kneel on the right bank. Afterwards he lets the body fall into the river with a cry: "Let the justice of God be done!" Armentières lies on the Belgian border, on the Lys.

Location precision: The novel sets the execution on the banks of the Lys without naming the spot; the pin marks the town of Armentières.