"HELVETIORUM FIDEI AC VIRTUTI ("To the loyalty and bravery of the Swiss")" - Inscription on the Lion Monument
Everything can be bought, even loyalty. Imagine you are a French king and subsequently you are in the middle of a whirlwind of intrigues, conspiracies and schemes. You can't trust your fellow Frenchmen since potentially every Frenchman could be plotting against you. What can you do? Turn to somebody foreign, someone who is not stained by French intrigues and treachery. The Swiss had a long and reputable background in the field of mercenarism, dating back to the middle ages. The thing that made them the most famous and reliable mercenaries during the XVI and XVII centuries was their professionalism, loyalty and discipline.
To be continued...
Model[]
1780 period grenadier of the Swiss Guard from the book "Les Régiments suisses et grisons au service de la France, 1780"
The in game model of the Swiss Guard has two variations based on the uniforms worn by Gardes Suisses in different periods of the 18th century. One is their Seven Years' War period uniform and the other is the 1780s uniform and both variations have the 1780s bearskin. They are armed with the generic in game European flintlock musket model which in this case most likely depicts a Charleville musket.
Sources[]
- http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/A012672/Swiss-mercenaries
- http://miniaturasmilitaresalfonscanovas.blogspot.com/2011/07/uniformes-del-siglo-xviii-francia.html
- http://www.kronoskaf.com/syw/index.php?title=Gardes_Suisses
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Les_R%C3%A9giments_suisses_et_grisons_au_service_de_la_France,_BNF,_PETFOL-OA-467_f18.png
- http://soldatiniuniformistoriamilitare.blogspot.com/2014/09/france-maison-du-roi-gardes-suisses-ii.html