Hanotaux, Michel Carabiniers du Roi 1693-1791

Volume 16 of the "Compagnie d'Elite" series. The Royal Carabiniers is a regiment that is truly unusual in terms of its recruitment, organisation, troop strength and use. This regiment does not recruit, but is "supplied" and replenished with recruits by the other cavalry regiments according to a system similar to that of the Grenadiers à cheval de la Garde company. It is organised (at least initially) into five brigades with ten squadrons of two companies each. Its strength, even if it varied according to need (war, peace), was in no way comparable to that of a regiment of the "Cavalerie légère françoise et étrangère", to which it belonged, from the same period. It is commanded by an "eminent person". It can be deployed either jointly or simultaneously in several (at least two) armies. Finally, it must be able to fight both on foot and on horseback, similar to the grenadiers à cheval or the dragoons (the latter are considered "infantry troops"). "The royal regiment of carabinieri", wrote R. P. Daniel in 1724, "was the finest cavalry regiment that existed in the French troops at the end of the last kingdom", and General Vanson (NF.AR. NOT in the Musée de l'Armée) emphasises that Royal des Carabiniers, despite its rank as light cavalry, corresponded to a real cavalry division of five regiments, i.e. about 4000 elite masters, grouped in 1693 in 100 companies whose cadre was appointed by the king (the posts were not for sale). In the king's mind, it was a regiment that comprised the elite of his cavalry and was commanded by the best of his officers. Even then, some authors spoke of grenadiers de la cavalerie (grenadiers of the cavalry).