Discovering D'Arensbourg

<p>In the early years of <strong>French Louisiana</strong> <strong>Charles d'Arensbourg</strong> was the first commander and judge of the <strong>German Coast</strong> the third oldest German settlement in the United States. His life in <strong>Europe</strong> has been told with scant details myths and imaginations in <strong>Louisiana folklore</strong> for two hundred years. Was he a nobleman? Did he fight in the <strong>Battle at Poltava</strong>? Did the King give him his sword? Was he a mercenary soldier? What was the political scandal at the <strong>Swedish-Pomeranian</strong> mint that impoverished his family? Even his name and birthplace caused controversy. Embark on a journey of discovery as research identifies the true life and family of this <strong>Louisiana pioneer </strong>using <strong>numismatics</strong> and the histories of <strong>seventeenth and eighteenth century Sweden and Germany </strong>to follow d'Arensbourg through poverty family tragedy the <strong>Great Northern War</strong> and finally his Atlantic crossing to the New World.</p>