The Musketeers are known to most people as the brave heroes of Dumas novels shrouded in a halo of romance. In fact, in the XVI-XVII centuries, the family of infantry troops was called musketeers, whose soldiers were armed with handguns - the musket. In addition, they also had a saber in their arsenal, a saber, often a sword.
In the sixteenth century in France, musketeers strengthened the light infantry companies of lancers, one per company. Subsequently, with the increasing role of firearms in hostilities, the number of soldiers armed with muskets increased significantly. During the religious Thirty Years' War in Europe, the number of musketeers was up to two-thirds of all infantry.
One of the first military units in Russia, which were armed with firearms, were archers - semi-regular troops of the territorial type.
The appearance of a company of royal musketeers
In 1622, at the court of King Louis XIII of France, the first company of royal musketeers was organized from parts of the guards cavalry. This branch of troops was an elite unit, which included people of noble blood only. The musketeers were armed in exactly the same way as ordinary infantrymen. It was these musketeers who later became the prototypes of the main characters of works of art and movies.
At its core, the royal musketeers played the role of the king's personal bodyguards. Initially, the company of the royal musketeers included 107 soldiers: 100 privates and 7 officers. Their number was constantly growing, and under Louis XIV there were already two companies, the total number of soldiers and officers was 500 people.
It is worth noting that this was the real military elite of the French army, the royal musketeers more than once heroically showed themselves on the battlefields and performed real feats. Behind them, the title of the most desperate unit was rightfully strengthened. Also desperate, bold and dangerous for the inhabitants, they behaved in civilian life, in between battles.
In Paris XVII, even the expression "musketeer manners" appeared, which was used to refer to boastful, rude and very dangerous people. In addition to the exploits in the war and “lawlessness” in peaceful life, the royal musketeers are also known for punitive expeditions aimed at suppressing various popular uprisings and planting Catholicism. Here they also fearlessly shot peaceful peasants and the bourgeois who took up arms.
Initially, a musket was understood to mean the heaviest type of hand weapon, intended mainly for hitting armored targets.
