{{Short description|Swiss mercenary group serving French kings}} {{Infobox military unit | unit_name = Cent-Suisses | image = Zentralbibliothek Solothurn - Cent Suisse 1779 - a0416.tif | image_size = | alt = | caption = Full dress uniform, 1779 | dates = 1471–1792<br>1814–1830 | allegiance = King of France | branch = ''Maison militaire du roi de France'' | type = Infantry | role = Royal guard, honor guard | size = 100 | motto = ''Ea est fiducia gentis'' ("Such is the loyalty of this nation") }}
The '''Cent-Suisses''' ({{IPA|fr|sɑ̃ sɥis|-|LL-Q150 (fra)-Lyokoï-cent-suisses.wav}}, ''Hundred Swiss'') were an elite infantry company of Swiss mercenaries that served the French kings from 1471 to 1792 and from 1814 to 1830.
==History==
The unit was created in 1471 by King Louis XI.<ref name=DB>{{cite book|author1=Charles Dezobry|author2=Théodore Bachelet|title=''Dictionnaire de biographie''|volume=1|year=1876|page=507}}</ref> Originally, the company was composed of a hundred men, all from Switzerland and armed with halberds, who were selected for their above-average height. As the weapons of the time evolved, notably with the appearance of firearms, its members were divided between pikemen and arquebusiers.<ref name=DB/>
When Swiss mercenaries learned that King Charles VIII was preparing an expedition against Naples, they rushed en masse to be recruited. By the end of 1494, thousands of them were in Rome to join the French Royal Army which would occupy Naples the following February. In 1495, the king's life was saved thanks to the actions of his Swiss infantrymen.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=Carnet de la Sabretache |issue=81|title=La maison du roi sous la Régence|author=J.F. Lyot|page=1}}</ref> Louis de Menthon was appointed the first commander of the Cent-Suisses in 1496.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rodolphe de Castella de Delley|title=''I. Les colonels généraux des suisses et grisons. II. Les Cent-Suisses de la garde du Roi (1481-1792) devenus gardes à pied ordinaires du corps du Roi (1814-1830)''|page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Michel Hanotaux|title=Fastes militaires, la compagnie des Cent-Suisses de la garde ordinaire du corps du roy}}</ref> The unit was part of the ''Maison militaire du roi de France'' (military household of the king of France).
[[File:CHE — ZH — Stadt Zürich — Altstadt — Museumstrasse 2 (Landesmuseum · Galauniform eines Offiziers der Hundertschweizer) Mattes 2022-07-29.jpg|thumb|Ceremonial uniform of the Cent-Suisses at the Swiss National Museum, Zürich]]
The Cent-Suisses were dissolved by the Legislative Assembly on 12 May 1792, during the French Revolution, and therefore survived (unlike the Swiss Guards) the storming of the Tuileries on 10 August 1792.<ref name=LoireMendella>{{cite journal|author1=Alexandre Loire|author2=Gabriele Mendella|title=La maison militaire du roi : prestige et valeur à la cour de Versailles|publisher=SOTECA|year=2016|journal=Magazine Château de Versailles de l'Ancien régime à nos jours|pages=92–93|isbn=978-2-37663-002-9|oclc=1014209903|url=https://www.soteca-editions.fr/la-maison-militaire-du-roi/}}</ref> Along with the rest of the royal household, it was first re-established in the spring of 1814, at the start of the First Bourbon Restoration, and again in 1815 under the Second Restoration.<ref name=LoireMendella/> After resuming its historic function as a ceremonial palace guard, now at the Tuileries, in 1817 detachments from the French regiments of the post-Restoration Royal Guard were transferred to the unit, and the Cent-Suisses company was renamed the ''Compagnie des gardes à pied ordinaires du corps du Roi''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Les Cent-Suisses garde rapprochée du Roy|author=Jean Hubert-Brierre|location=Paris|publisher=Mémoires d'hommes|year=2005|isbn=2843670217}}</ref><ref>Liliane et Fred Funcken: "L'Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats de La Guerre en Dentelle"; {{ISBN|2-203-14315-0}}</ref> It was finally disbanded during the July Revolution in 1830.<ref name=LoireMendella/>
The Cent-Suisses served as model for a military unit of the Duchy of Savoy (later Kingdom of Sardinia), which was created in 1579 and disbanded in 1798.<ref name=HDS>{{HDS|8623|Swiss Guards|author=Philippe Henry|date=29.06.2007}}</ref> Other similar units existed in Tuscany, Austria (1745), and Brandenburg (1696–1713).<ref name=HDS/> The Pontifical Swiss Guard, founded in 1506, belongs to this tradition.<ref name=HDS/>
==Organization==
The Cent-Suisses were commanded by a Swiss captain with two lieutenants, one Swiss and the other French, under his orders.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Diderot|first1=Denis|last2=d'Alembert|first2=Jean le Rond|title=Encyclopédie, ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, par une société de gens de lettres|date=1751–1772|publisher=Briasson, David l'aîné, Le Breton, and Durand|location=Paris}}</ref> Members of the unit had the right to be tried according to the laws of their country of origin, and the royal household therefore included a military court for the Cent-Suisses.<ref>[https://www.archives-nationales.culture.gouv.fr/siv/rechercheconsultation/consultation/pog/consultationPogN3.action?nopId=c614vuaid53-hwz2llon2q4p&pogId=FRAN_POG_02&search= Cent-Suisses de la Maison du roi].</ref>
==Gallery==
<gallery> File:Cent-Suisse, by Gustave David (cropped).JPG|Cent-Suisse during the reign of Louis XII, {{circa}} 1507 File:Zentralbibliothek Solothurn - CentSuisse sous le règne de Henri IV En 1600 - a0418.tif|Cent-Suisse during the reign of Henry IV, 1600 File:France, 1817 (NYPL b14896507-1632786).tiff|Cent-Suisse drummer during the Bourbon Restoration, 1814–1817 File:Cent suisses 1786.png|Court service uniform, 1786 File:Louis-Hercule-Timoléon de Cossé, duc de Brissac.jpg|Louis Hercule Timoléon de Cossé-Brissac as commander (''capitaine-colonel'') of the Cent-Suisses, {{circa}} 1770 File:Cent-Suisses parade sword-IMG 0723-black.jpg|Cent-Suisses parade sword at the Musée de l'Armée, Paris </gallery>
==See also== * Swiss mercenaries * Swiss Guards * French Guards Regiment * Gardes du Corps du Roi (France) * List of Royal French foreign regiments
==References==
{{reflist}}
Category:1471 establishments in Europe Category:1470s establishments in France Category:1792 disestablishments in France Category:1814 establishments in France Category:1830 disestablishments in France Category:Swiss mercenaries Category:Royal guards Category:Guards of honour Category:Military history of the ancien régime Category:Military units and formations of the early modern period Category:Military units and formations of the late modern period