Career
Porthau served as the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas"s character "Porthos" in the d"Artagnan Romances. Born in Béarn to Isaac de Porthau de Camptort de Campagne de Castetbon (Secretary of the Parliament of Béarn) and Clémence de Brosser, as the eldest of four children: Jean, Jeanne, and Sarah. He had two sons: Arnaud and Jean.
Following his father"s death in 1654, he resigned from the Guard and took over as Secretary of the Parliament of Béarn.
He died of a stroke on July 13, 1712, and was buried in the Chapelle du Saint-Sacrement in the church of Saint Martin, Pau. According to an issue of Macmillan"s Magazine from 1899:
The Porthaus were an ancient family of Béarn, taking their name from one of the old porthaux or portes (small frontier towers resembling the peel-towers of the British Border) with which the French and Spanish Pyrénées were studded.
Clearly the Porthaus accepted this interpretation of their name, since the blazon of their arms (without tinctures, as the source is a seal) was: A lion rampant and in chief two towers crenellated, masoned and inflamed, one to the dexter and the other to the sinister. These arms were granted to the Porthaus on November 24, 1674.
lieutenant is unrecorded what, if anything, their arms were prior to this date.