UK Archivist Says He Has Uncovered the Real Life Quasimodo at Tate Archives

Is Quasimodo, Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame, not a fictional character but a real person? Adrien Glew, a British Archivist thinks he's unlocked the mystery to the real life Quasimodo.

The Tate Gallery in London sets the stage for Glew's work, and it is there where he thinks that he has uncovered the real life Quasimodo, who was a deaf bell ringer with a passion for Esmerelda, a Gypsy girl.

Through examining the hand-written biography of a British Sculptor named Henry Sibson, Glew came to know about a character nicknamed "le bossu" which translates to "the Hunchback."

In the 1820s Sibson was hired to renovate Notre Dame, and had a falling out with some other contractors. He then met up with another carver named Trajan. The following was said about Trajan "He was the most worthy, fatherly and amiable man as ever existed - he was the carver under the government sculptor whose name I forget as I had no intercourse with him. All that I know is that he was humpbacked and he did not like to mix with carvers."

Glew noted that Victor Hugo may have known some of these artisans, and it could have given him the inspiration for his novel, the Hunchback of Notre Dame. He said the following ""When I saw the references to the humpbacked sculptor at Notre Dame, and saw that the dates matched the time of Hugo's interest in the Cathedral, the hairs on the back of my neck rose and I thought I should look into it."

It's hard to believe that for over two centuries, people thought that the Hunchback of Notre Dame was an entirely fictional character - one that was made only in the mind of Victor Hugo. However, it appears as if that may not be the case. The character could have been based entirely on a person that Victor Hugo knew, and knew very well.

The discovery has excited historians and those who have a love of Victor Hugo's work. The publishing of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" was one of the works that made Hugo one of France's most accomplished writers of the era.

Not only has Hugo's work captivated generations of readers and scholars, it was also made into a Disney cartoon. There are many children out there who know about Victor Hugo's story - and that story could perhaps be the story of a hunchbacked carver who worked on the restoration of the Notre Dame cathedral.

Source:

Roya Nikkhah, Telegraph UK: Real-Life Quasimodo Uncovered in Tate Archives