Which notorious duellist was also an author and play and playwright?

Savinien Cyrano de Bergerac. He was a gascon, as was D’ Artangnan the hero of The Three Musketeers. In fact, both swordsmen lived at the same time for D’ Artagnan really lived. He was a king’s Musketeer who became a Marshal of France. Cyrano de Bergerac was born in Perigord in Gascony, a south-west province of France in 1619. He was educated at the College Beauvais and later joined the King’s Guard. He divided his time between fighting duels and literature. He fought a great number of duels, most of them to avenge insults about his enormous nose.

His best known books are the Comic History of The States and Empires of the Moon, and the Comic History of the States and Empires of the Sun. Hints of these two books are seen in bookss written two centuries later by Jules Verne. De Bergerac also wrote successful plays.

His turbulent life came to an end in 1655, when he was only 36 years of age.