© Shire of Krakafjord 2011 Designed by Pat Weston, Webmaster All rights reserved. Interests: Rapier fighting; horseback riding; travelling & reading. Leona de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan    Leona de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan  was born August 22, 1615 in the castle of Castelmore in Lupiac, Gascony, France.  Her father, Bertrand de Batz, was the son of a newly ennobled merchant, Arnaud de Batz, who purchased the castle of Castelmore.  Her mother was the daughter of an illustrious family, Françoise de Montesquiou d'Artagnan.   Leo has four brothers and three sisters of whom she is especially close to her brother Charles.  He taught Leo the art of the rapier fighting.  Charles de Batz went to Paris in the 1630s, using the name of his mother - d'Artagnan.  He found a way to enter into the Musketeers in 1632. Leona followed him to Paris in 1635 disguised as a man. She took her nickname Leo as a name and became Leo d'Artagnan.  At that time she met one of the friends of her brother - Alan McGregor, who came from Scotland and was a Musketeer.  He was the only one who knew Leo's secret (beside her brother). Leona and Alan fell in love and got engaged in 1636. In the same year Charles d'Artagnan  sent Leo to the Shire of Krakafjord to learn the art of the rapier fighting from the famous masters there. At the end of her studies Charles has promised Leo to help her to join the Musketeers disguised as a man.