Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

This term has been used for units of very different kinds. From the time of Charles VII of France, it denoted regular, paid cavalry troops, but later, heavy cavalry only. After the Revolution, it was synonymous with the force which had been called, under the ancien régime , the maréchaussée , and whose task was the maintenance of public order. It is in this last sense that the gendarmerie is discussed below. The system originated in France. Its beginning can be identified in the placing of men-at-arms ( gens d'armes ) at the disposal of the maréchaussée et connétablie de France . The appearance of a body exercising military style criminal jurisdiction (i.e. one which combined the work of the police and the judicial authorities) can be detected in 1356 under the control of the maréchaux de France and of the connétable . It was under Francis I that small units of archers (officers) of the maréchaussée were formed. They were dispersed in small cities and towns of the realm but they formed part, organizationally, of companies under the prévôt des maréchaux de la province . Numerous ordonnances (of 1555, 1570, 1573, 1618 and 1661) laid down the duties of the maréchaussée , which was responsible for safety on the public highways and in the lowlands. The courts set up by the prévôts des maréchaux passed rapid judgement on cas prévôtaux (which included brawls, murders, ... log in or subscribe to read full text