Musketeers of the Guard

Uniforms of Musketeers of the Guard, 1660-1814

The Musketeers of the Guard (French: Mousquetaires de la garde) or King's Musketeers (Mousquetaires du roi); full name - Musketeers of the military household of the King of France (Mousquetaires de la maison militaire du roi de France) were a fighting company of the military branch of the Maison du Roi, the Royal Household of the French monarchy.

History

Flag of the 1st Company of the Musketeers of the Guard, 1715. Motto: Quo ruit et lethum - to fall, there is death

They were founded in 1622 when Louis XIII furnished a company of light cavalry (the carabins, created by Louis' father Henry IV) with muskets. The Musketeers fought in battle both on foot (infantry) and on horseback (cavalry). They formed the royal guard for the king while he was outside of the royal residences (within the royal residences, the king's guard was the Garde du corps and the Gardes suisses). The Musketeers of the Guard wore an early type of military uniform with a tabard (known as soubreveste), indicating that they "belonged" to the King, and an embroidered white cross denoting the fact that they were formed during the Huguenot rebellions in support of the Catholic cause.

Shortly after the Musketeers were established a second company was founded to report to Cardinal Richelieu. At the cardinal's death in 1642, the company passed to his successor Cardinal Mazarin, who disbanded his Musketeers in 1646. He revived the Musketeers in 1657 with a company of 150 men. At Mazarin's death in 1661, the cardinal's Musketeers passed to Louis XIV.

In 1664, the two companies were reorganized: one company took the name "Grey Musketeers" (mousquetaires gris) from the color of their matched horses, while the second were called "Black Musketeers" (mousquetaires noirs), mounted on black horses. At roughly the same time, the size of the Musketeer companies was doubled.

The Musketeers were among the most prestigious of the military companies of the Ancien Régime, and in principle membership in the companies was reserved for nobles. With the reforms of Michel le Tellier – which mandated a certain number of years of military service before nobles could attain the rank of officer – many nobles sought to do this service in the privileged Musketeer companies.

In 1776, the Musketeers were disbanded by Louis XVI for budgetary reasons. Reformed in 1789, they were disbanded again shortly afterward during the French Revolution. They were reformed on July 6, 1814, and definitively disbanded on January 1, 1816.

Notable Musketeers of the Guard

The following are some of the notable Musketeers:

Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan (The historical basis of Dumas's character d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers)
Henri d'Aramitz (The historical basis of Dumas's character Aramis in The Three Musketeers)
Armand d'Athos (The historical basis of Dumas's character Athos in The Three Musketeers)
Isaac de Porthau (The historical basis of Dumas's character Porthos in The Three Musketeers)
Jean-Armand du Peyrer de Troiville (The historical basis of Dumas's character Monsieur de Tréville in The Three Musketeers)
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette (later American Revolutionary War general)
Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon
Étienne de Boré, first Mayor of New Orleans

Musketeer of the Guard c. 1660
Musketeers c. 1660
The Musketeers, late 17th century
Musketeers in the storming of Valenciennes. March 17, 1677. A fragment of the picture.
Musketeers in the storming of Ghent, 1678. A fragment of the picture.
Review of Black Musketeers in the plain of Sablons. By Robert Paul Ponce Antoine, 1729
Musicians of the Musqueteers of the Guard in 1724. Oboeist of the 2nd company and drummer of the 1st company
Musqeteer of the Guard, 1724
Grey and black musketeers, 1745
1816, second company..
1816.

References

This article is based in part on the article Mousquetaire from the French Wikipedia, retrieved on September 9, 2006.

The Three Musketeers	The Three Musketeers (1916) Les Trois Mousquetaires (1921) The Three Musketeers (1921) The Three Musketeers (1932) The Three Musketeers (1933) The Three Musketeers (1935) The Three Musketeers (1939) The Three Musketeers (1946) The Three Musketeers (1948) The Three Musketeers (1953) The Three Musketeers (1961) The Three Musketeers (1969) The Three Musketeers (1973) The Four Musketeers (1974) d'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) The Three Musketeers (1993) The Musketeer (2001) The Three Musketeers (2011) 3 Musketeers (2011) The Three Musketeers (2013)

Twenty Years After	The Return of the Musketeers (1989) Musketeers Twenty Years After (1992)

The Vicomte of Bragelonne	The Iron Mask (1929) The Man in the Iron Mask (1939) Uthama Puthiran (1940) Lady in the Iron Mask (1952) Uthama Puthiran (1958) Le Masque de fer (1962) The Man in the Iron Mask (1977) The Fifth Musketeer (1979) The Secret of Queen Anne or Musketeers Thirty Years After (1993) The Man in the Iron Mask (1998)

Other sequels	At Sword's Point (1952) The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan (1962) Revenge of the Musketeers (1994) La Femme Musketeer (2004) The Return of the Musketeers, or The Treasures of Cardinal Mazarin (2009)

Animated	Tom and Jerry The Two Mouseketeers Touché, Pussy Cat! Tom and Chérie Royal Cat Nap The Three Musketeers (1973) The Man in the Iron Mask (1985) The Three Musketeers (1986) The Three Musketeers (1992) Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers (2004) Barbie and the Three Musketeers (2009)

Television

Games

Touché: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer
The Three Musketeers (1987 video game)
The Three Musketeers (2006 video game)
The Three Musketeers: One for All!

Musicals

The Three Musketeers (1928)
3 Musketiers

Other adaptations

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Musketeers of the Guard

History

Notable Musketeers of the Guard

See also

References

Further reading