Gendarmes

(1) Personnel of the gendarmery.

(2) A type of heavy cavalry that appeared in France in the 13th century as a kind of knightly royal guard; from the mid-15th century, they were the crack units of the gentry heavy cavalry, who were celebrated for their striking force. With the spread of firearms and the appearance of the light cavalry, the functions of the heavy cavalry were taken over by the cuirassiers; in the 16th and 17th centuries the gendarmes lost their combat role. The small number of units of gendarmes that were retained in France (up to 1788) and Prussia (up to 1806) were used mainly as military police.