ABSTRACT
Louis XIV himself took nominal charge of all selection for the companies in 1664, and the captains, it is widely held, found themselves reduced to a largely ceremonial and court role. The most convincing evidence for the idea of a restriction of access to the officer ranks of the elite units comes from the Gardes Francaises. The idea of a progressive exclusion of the lesser nobility from the most prestigious and lucrative positions in the French armies was common currency in mid-eighteenth-century France. The elite units of the army consisted of the Maison du Roi, the Gendarmerie de France, the regiment des Gardes Francaises and the regiment du Roi infanterie. The elite cavalry and infantry forces outside the Maison militaire du Roi were also either in the grip of princes or of their captains or colonels, with little visible War Ministry control.
