A centuries-old mystery involving a poet buried in Paris’s Notre Dame is closer to being solved thanks to an archaeological excavation at the world-famous cathedral, researchers said Tuesday.
The exact location of the tomb of French Renaissance poet Joachim de Belle has puzzled researchers for many years.
De Bellay, a member of the literary group La Pléiade, died in 1560 at the age of 37.
His family asked to be buried in the Saint-Crépin chapel of Notre Dame. But when the place was renovated in 1758, no trace of his remains was found.
The exact location of their remains was shrouded in mystery until 2022, when archaeologists scouring the site after a 2019 fire that destroyed much of Notre Dame found two tombs at the cathedral’s crossing.
Scientists working for the National Institute for Preventive Archaeology quickly identified one of them as Antoine de la Porte, a priest who died in the early 1700s.
But they could not immediately find out who was buried in the other one.
Using modern methods of analysis, researchers began to find clues about her possible identity. All clues were pointing to de Belle.
A deformity in his pelvic bone showed that he rode a lot of horseback.
Doctor and archaeologist Eric Kubrzy told reporters that de Belle “was a skilled rider, traveling from Paris to Rome on horseback.”
Furthermore, a saw cut into the skull and a broken sternum indicated that the body had been autopsied before being preserved – just like de Belle’s.
The final and most important clue were signs of a rare disease, bone tuberculosis, which caused chronic meningitis, which was consistent with the poet’s medical history.
French daily Le Monde described the mystery surrounding the missing body as “a cold case”, saying the latest discovery was the “most spectacular result” of the Notre Dame excavations launched after the devastating 2019 fire.
The archaeologists themselves preferred to be cautious.
“There are still some doubts,” said Christophe Besnier, one of the scientists in charge of the excavation site.
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