Why are musketeers called musketeers

Plus one element that is markedly more prevalent than in the book itself: gunfire. One of the odder things about Dumas' novel for the modern reader is its singular lack of muskets. They are named for their specialist training in the use of the musket mousquet , an early firearm originally developed in Spain at the end of the previous century under the name moschetto or 'sparrow-hawk'.

Muskets were long-barrelled guns, quite unlike the pistols shown in the trailer, and fired by a 'matchlock' mechanism of holding a match or burning cord to a small hole leading to the powder chamber. By the s they were not quite as cumbersome as the Spanish originals, which needed to have their barrels supported on a forked stick, but they were still pretty unwieldy devices.

Lots of sword-fighting, but no muskets in sight. One of the musketeers has nicknamed his manservant mousequeton , or 'little musket', and that is as near as we get to a gun until page of the Folio edition, when an actual mousqueton makes its first appearance.

A mousqueton is not quite a musket, though, and in any case it's not one of the musketeers who is holding it. We are now pages into the story, and starting to wonder if Dumas is playing a game with us. Why would we weight ourselves down with useless burdens? Their absence from the novel up to this point is simply for the historical reason that the heavy and dangerous weapons were appropriate for the battlefield, not for the duties and skirmishes of peace-time Paris.

Museum Replicas is the registered trademark and copyright of Museum Replicas Limited. Swords and Weapons Clothing Caps and Hats. Who Were the Musketeers? Little represents the glory, power, and strength of France better than the musketeers. Romanticized, idolized and immortalized by modern movies, books, and legends, the musketeer has taken on an almost mythological status in modern minds — and for good reason. Their prowess in battle, dashing style, dangerous lifestyle and romantic demeanor all seem to represent the perfect qualities of a man.

Women wanted them and men wanted to be them. You caught me. The question was about fiction, so I didn't want to get diverted into my limited understanding of France.

Consequently the French King commands only his household guards. All other troops are commanded by Nobles, Bishops, et. The King's power is limited because he has no troops. MarkCWallace, this is a question, not a "You're wrong" statement I would have thought that "Fusilier" meant a type of old musket where a fuse or wick was kept smoldering and the trigger mechanism caused it to ignite the powder in the barrel.

I thought a flintlock was a firearm where the piece of the firing mechanism holding an actual piece of flint struck against a piece of steel, thus causing the spark which ignited the "flash in the pan" which ignited the powder in the barrel.

Lawton Lawton 1 1 bronze badge. I'm a little confused about why this was migrated to history though. Yes, its historical fiction and not fantasy but history seems like the wrong place for this. DVK Sure they were. There are the real musketeers, and there are also the fictional musketeers, and those aren't the same thing.

This question is clearly about the fictional ones because its a link to an anime series based on Dumas's romances. Dumas caleled them that way because they were fictional characters set in a real Misketeers unit. DVK, Oh, I see. I got confused because I posted a link to the real military unit in my answer so I didn't think that was what you meant — Lawton. Show 2 more comments. Anixx Anixx Sorry, but no. The dominant battlefield unit in that time was the Tercio, with separate roles for musketeers and pikemen.

Musketeers didn't switch to cold weapons after the first volley, they used a rolling formation with the first rank firing then moving to the back to reload. However, your first paragraph is still useful.

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