Franz d’Epinay

Franz de Quesnel Baron d'Epinay - a fictional character from the novel by Alexandre Dumas Count Monte Christo. Friend of Alberta de Morcerfa, deceased husband of Valentino de Villefort. It is also in the novel by François Taillandier, Count of Monte Christo. Character description

Franz de Quesnel was the son of General Quesnel. He soon lost his parents. His mother died, leaving him in the world, and his father died in a duel with Noirtier de Villefort in 1815, leaving his son Louis XVIII given him the title Baron d'Epinay. As a young Franz he became friends with Albert de Morcerf, Alfons de Beauchamp, Lucjan Debray and Baron Raulem de Chateau-Renaud. Together with them in 1838 he went to Rome for a carnival. In order to survive the incredible adventure, he went to Monte Christo Island to hunt for a chamois, but was caught by the mysterious Sindbad Sailor Smugglers. They tied up their eyes and led them to the carefully guarded, luxuriant cave. There their leader entertained him with a feast of hashish. Franz was asleep, and Sindbad the Sailor left, leaving the news that he was asking for forgiveness because of urgent matters that he had to deal with. The smugglers took Franz to the mainland, where he began his last preparations for the carnival. A little later, Franz and his friends saw the opera house of Monte Cristo in the company of a beautiful Greek woman. Another time, while touring the amphitheater, he saw the same man enter into a coma with the famous Italian bandit Luigi Vampa. On the next day, the mysterious Earl of Monte Christo offered to Franz and his friends to use his carriage and balcony to watch public spectacles. D'Epinay recognized in the count of Sindbad the Sailor, the leader of the smugglers. Then he used this fact to convince the Count to help Albert de Morcerf, who fell into the hands of the Vampy bandits. Thanks to that, Albert regained his freedom without paying the ransom for himself. Soon after, Franz and his friends returned to Paris and began courting Vincent de Villefort. The girl, however, loved another - Maximilian Morrela, but her father, who had insisted on giving her daughter the Baron d'Epinay, did not accept her. On the day of the marriage contract, something changed the plans of the young Baron - Noirtier de Villefort (Granddad Valentine) revealed that he was killed in the duel of Franz. So he declared he could not marry his father's murder granddaughter and broke off his engagement. Later, Baron d'Epinay participated in the duel of Albert de Morcerf with Count Monte Christo.

In the novel, the Count of Monte Christo Franz and Alfons de Beauchamp discuss the Count of Monte Cristo, and they both wonder if he is a good or a bad man. Franz d'Epinay in the film

In the 8th installment of the Count of Monte Cristo in 1998, the figure of Franz d'Epinay was played by actor Stéphan Guérin-Tillié. Bibliography

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