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| Mousquetaires de la Garde, France - 17th century |
M = Musketeers
The Musketeers of the Guard, or Mousquetaires de la garde; or royal musketeers, were a fighting company of the military branch of the Maison du Roi; they were the Royal household guard for the king while he was outside of the royal residences.
The Musketeers were founded in 1622 when Louis XIII furnished a company of light cavalry with muskets. The carabins were created by Louis' father Henry IV. The Musketeers fought in battle as infantry and as cavalry (on horseback).
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| Uniforms of Musketeers of the Guard, 1660-1814 |
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 during the French Revolution. They were reformed again and finally were permanently disbanded on January 1, 1816.
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Musketeer of the Guard
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| Musketeer of the Guard, c. 1660 - illustration |
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Notable Musketeers of the Guard
The following are some of the notable Musketeers:
See also D = D'Artagnan in the A to Z Challenge for more Musketeer information- Charles de Batz-Castelmore d'Artagnan (The historical basis of Dumas's character d'Artagnan in The Three Musketeers)
- Armand d'Athos (The historical basis of Dumas's character Athos in The Three Musketeers)
- Henri d'Aramitz (The historical basis of Dumas's character Aramis in The Three Musketeers)
- Isaac de Porthau (The historical basis of Dumas's character Porthos in The Three Musketeers)
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References
Uniforms of Musketeers of the Guard, 1660-1814 (before 1887)
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
This applies to Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
Musketeer of the Guard, c. 1660 - illustration
PD-OLD; This image is in the public domain due to its age.
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Mousquetaires de la Garde. La fin du XVII siècle
This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.
This applies to Australia, the European Union and those countries with a copyright term of life of the author plus 70 years.
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