Musketeers of the Guard

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.

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.

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