Editing Swiss Guards (section)

===Hundred Swiss (''Cent&nbsp;Suisses'')===
{{Main|Cent-Suisses}}

The Hundred Swiss were created in 1480 when [[Louis XI]] retained a Swiss company for his personal guard.<ref>Rene Chartrand: ''Louis XV's Army – Foreign Infantry'' p.3; {{ISBN|1-85532-623-X}}</ref>

By 1496 they comprised one hundred guardsmen and about twenty-seven officers and sergeants. Their main role was to protect the King in the palace as the ''garde du dedans du Louvre'' (the Louvre indoor guard), but in the earlier part of their history they also accompanied the King to war. In the [[Battle of Pavia]] (1525) the Hundred Swiss of [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] were slain before Francis was captured by the Spanish. The Hundred Swiss shared indoor guard duties with the King's Bodyguards (''[[Garde du Corps (France)|Garde du Corps]]''), who were French.<ref>{{cite book|first=Philip|last=Mansel|pages=2–9|title=Pillars of Monarchy. An Outline of the Political and Social History of Royal Guards 1400-1981|year=1984|publisher=Quartet Books |isbn=0-7043-2424-5}}</ref>

The Hundred Swiss were armed with [[halberd]]s, the blade of which carried the Royal arms in gold, as well as gold-hilted swords. Their ceremonial dress until 1789 comprised an elaborate 16th-century Swiss costume covered with braid and livery lace. A surviving example is on display in the [[Invalides|''Musée de l'Armée'']] in Paris. A less ornate dark blue and red uniform with [[bearskin]] headdress was worn for ordinary duties.<ref>{{cite book|first=Liliane et Fred |last=Funcken|page=17|title=L'Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats de la Guerre en Dentelle 1|year=1975|publisher=Casterman |isbn=2-203-14315-0}}</ref>

The ''Cent&nbsp;Suisses'' company was disbanded after [[Louis XVI]] left the [[Palace of Versailles]] in October 1789. It was refounded on 15 July 1814 with an establishment of 136 guardsmen and eight officers. In 1815, the Hundred Swiss accompanied [[Louis XVIII]] into exile in Belgium and returned with him to Paris following the [[Battle of Waterloo]]. The unit then resumed its traditional role as palace guards at the [[Tuileries]]. In 1817, it was replaced by a new guard company drawn from the French regiments of the Royal Guard.<ref>Liliane et Fred Funcken: "L'Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats de La Guerre en Dentelle"; {{ISBN|2-203-14315-0}}</ref>