Swiss Guard. This famous body of Swiss soldiers grew out of a group of 250 Swiss who were picked to guard the pope in the late 1400’s. In 1506, Pope Julius II secured the position of the Swiss Guard by a treaty with the Swiss cantons of Zurich and Lucerne. According to the terms of the agreement, the cantons supplied 250 men to serve as a bodyguard for the pope from that time on.
As a result of the agreement, the pope has always had a body of the Swiss Guard around him at the Vatican. But through the years, the number of guards has been reduced and the type of service they provide has changed. Today, they are called the Pontifical Swiss Guard. Their uniform style is still essentially medieval.
Another body of Swiss soldiers, called Swiss Guards, or Switzers, was organized in 1616 to protect King Louis XIII of France. These soldiers served France for 175 years. On Aug. 10, 1792, during the French Revolution, most of the Swiss Guards were killed while defending the royal palace in Paris from attack by an angry mob. The memory of these Swiss Guards is preserved in the famous Lion of Lucerne, which is carved in the face of a rock in Lucerne, Switzerland. It bears the words, “To the Fidelity and Courage of the Helvetians.”
King Louis XVIII formed a second corps of Swiss Guards in 1815. They were defeated in the Revolution of 1830, and the corps disbanded.
