TIL That The Count of Monte Cristo Was Based On The True Story Of A Shoemaker Who Was Framed, Imprisoned, Claimed A Treasure Hoard, Assumed Aristocracy And Then Took Vengeance: Pierre Picaud

François "Pierre" Picaud (French: [piko]) was a 19th-century shoemaker in Nîmes, France who may have been the basis for the character of Edmond Dantès in Alexandre Dumas, père's 1844 novel The Count of Monte Cristo.