Maréchaussée

The Maréchaussée were corps of soldiers in the armies of France initially put in charge of military policing and justice in the Middle Ages, and later extended to civilian responsibilities. They gradually coalesced into a police force with jurisdiction over the entire population on almost the entire territory of France. They retained powers of extraordinary justice (known as prévôtale) until the French Revolution. Reforms carried out in the 18th century created the first national police force. In 1791, the force was renamed the Gendarmerie nationale. It is now one of the two national police forces of France, along with the Police nationale. The term marshalcy is from the French maréchaussée, which is derived from Old French mareschaucie, meaning "the marshalcy." This derives from mairichauciée attested in 1287 meaning "royal household", and in 1465 as "the office of the marshal". One account in the history of a small town in western France reports how the terminology was undergoing a change there at the beginning of the century. At that time, one could refer indistiguishably either to the "archer of the provost" or "archer of the maréchaussée" for example, but by 1720 invariably the latter expression was used. With the Fall of the Roman Empire, officials in charge of police disappeared. With the rise of feudalism in France, policing powers formerly held by Roman officials were dispersed among a multitude of seigneurs. Lords of their fiefs, the seigneurs were all-powerful, including holding the power of justice over the peasants they controlled. The origins of the Maréchaussée are difficult to determine exactly, but occurred sometime during the Hundred Years War (1337–1453). Claims that the origins go back to 1190 under Philip II in the creation of companies of "sergents d'armes" during the Crusades are tenuous at best. Its development began in earnest in the 16th century, reaching its final form under key ordinances in the 1700s. During the Middle Ages and to a lesser extent until the end of the Ancien Régime, the functions of the police and the justice system were closely intertwined.