In the aftermath of the partial destruction of Notre-Dame cathedral in the fire of 2019, an intriguing discovery was made in the form of two lead-lined sarcophagi 65 feet below the cathedral’s floor.
The decision was made to open the sarcophagi, and, perhaps not surprisingly, both contained skeletal remains. One of these was soon identified from the epitaph on the coffin as Canon Antoine de La Porte, a member of the clergy from the 17th century, but the other was difficult to assign, and remained described as a ‘unknown nobleman’.
After further investigations by University of Toulouse III/CNRS and Professor Eric Crubézy in a multidisciplinary approach, this person has now been identified. All the evidence points to it being the body of Joachim du Bellay, a celebrated French Renaissance poet born in Liré, western France in 1522.
The INRAP report discloses how this conclusion was reached:
“The anonymous individual died of chronic tuberculous meningitis in the 16th century in his fourth decade, an age that is rarely represented among the burials of important people in the cathedral. This unknown person, autopsied and embalmed, is intriguing because he lies in a specific area where, apart from Antoine de La Porte, no other intact tomb has been discovered. Research suggests that he may have reoccupied a tomb that had hosted two well-known people in their time, but without somewhat exceptional religious titles. Our attention was focused on Joachim du Bellay, a distinguished horseman and…
