Quote:
Originally Posted by BigDaddy
The Swiss Guard as in the Pope's army? That is the longest standing army still in existence, so, yes, not really mercenaries.
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Part of this is a shift in meaning of the term. The swiss mercenary companies wouldn't fight against the King of France and his armies, as a rule, because he was such a frequent user of swiss pike companies - indeed, some of them were in permanent french employ.
By the standards of the middle ages, anyone who fought for money was a mercenary. I assure you the swiss guard gets payed, and I assure you there is continuous history from the swiss mercenaries of the middle ages to the swiss guard in the vatican today. They are certainly derived from a mercenary company, and are arguably still technically mercenary. (What else would you call foreign nationals who perform military service for pay?)