Troupes de la Marine
The Troupes de la Marine The troupes of La Marine ( later reshaped as the Troupes de Marine), a body founded by Cardinal Richelieu in 1622 under the denomination of Compagnies Ordinaires de la Mer, were originally intended to form the garrisons of the ships of the King. It was in 1674 that Jean-Baptiste Colbert decides to make permanent colonial troops and give them the name of Compagnies Franches de la Marine.
They were dissolved in the 19th century to be re-formed under a new designation being the Troupes de Marine, dependent this time however on the Minister of War (Ministère de la Guerre), which means belonging to the French Army (Armée de terre).
The development of the European war marines in the 17th century trained the formation of soldiers assigned to the ships. The creation of regular (French: ) infantry units for service at sea was relatively late ( compared to the service at sea of the French Army) : prior, soldiers who served at sea were seconded from the French Army. The first regular specific troope for maritime service appeared in Spain since 1537 (compañías viejas del mar de Nápoles) assigned to the Galley, then in Portugal in 1610 and in France in 1622; the British Royal Marines were founded in 1664 ( under the designation of Foot Maritime Regiment).
In France, the first specific troupe was created in 1622 by Cardinal Richelieu, under the designation of « Compagnie Ordinaire de la Marine ». These companies were theoretically in numbers of 100, each with for a Captain with Lieutennt de Vaisseau and for a Lieutenant one Enseigne de vaisseau de 1re Classe. In 1626, Richelieu, named Grand-Master Chief and Surintendant of Navigation and Commerce (French: ) orders the merger of the remaining 100 companies to form the Régiment de La Marine, of which the Cardinal was the Mestre de camp. The regiment participated to the Siege of La Rochelle, however was partly destroyed during a later shipwreck.
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