An enduring mystery surrounding a body found buried beneath Notre Dame following the disastrous 2019 fire that destroyed the church may finally be put to rest, Le Monde and La Croix International reported.
The remains were found in 2022 encased in a lead sarcophagus, one of two exhumed from the cathedral by a team of roughly 50 researchers with the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) who have worked since 2019 to preserve the site.
After examining the remains, scientists believe they belong to famed Renaissance poet Joachim du Bellay, who died in 1560 at the age of 37. Du Bellay, founder of the literary group La Pléiade, was believed to have been buried near one of his relatives at a chapel in Notre Dame, but the precise location of his grave was never pinpointed.
Further examination from the Forensic Institute of the University Hospital of Toulouse found that the man had suffered from bone tuberculosis and chronic meningitis during his lifetime. Éric Crubézy, a professor of biological anthropology at Toulouse, believes that du Bellay hinted at both conditions in several of his poems.
“He matches all the criteria of the portrait,” Crubézy explained. “He is an accomplished horseman, suffers from both conditions mentioned in some of his poems, like in ‘The Complaint of the Despairing,’ where he describes ‘this storm that blurs [his] mind,’ and his family belonged to the royal court and the pope’s close entourage.”
However, INRAP’s archaeologist and excavation leader Christophe Besnier contests this assertion. “Certain elements do not support this hypothesis: isotope analysis of the teeth indicates that the individual lived in the Paris region or Rhône-Alpes until he was 10 years old. However, we know that Joachim du Bellay grew up in Anjou,” Besnier said.
The remains are set to undergo further testing to determine the exact age at which the man died, but experts warn any definitive answers will be elusive due to the lack of comparative DNA.
Only 10 percent of the floors beneath Notre Dame have been examined, leaving much opportunity for similarly impressive finds. However, those will have to wait. The legendary church is entering its final phases of renovation before finally reopening to the public on Dec. 8.
Source Agencies
