Byzantine Pythium - hype/brainstorming thread

[Squirrelloid]

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.

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?)