"Aiguillette origin story: is this true?" Topic
7 Posts
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| 4th Cuirassier | 02 Feb 2023 3:52 p.m. PST |
‘The aiguillette, the name referring of course to the spike on the end of the rope, goes back to Napoleon. An officer, who behaved very badly during a battle, pleaded with Bonaparte to be given another chance. Napoleon agreed to reinstate him, but he made him wear a piece of braided rope on his right shoulder. The rope was a reminder. If the officer failed again the rope would no longer be on his shoulder, but around his neck.' I read this in a spy novel. I'd never heard it before. Is it true? |
 Herkybird  | 02 Feb 2023 4:41 p.m. PST |
Aiguillettes existed before Napoleon, so no! Apparently they were used in the 16th Century! |
| Frederick | 02 Feb 2023 7:27 p.m. PST |
Nope – the modern aiguillette originated as a derivative of the laces used to tie armour together; once armour fell out of use, aiguillettes assumed a decorative function; as the ever astute Herkybird noted, they were common in the 16th and 17th century; for example, the Austrian SYW Dragoon Regiment Jung Modena (which I was painting this afternoon) had a white aiguillette hanging from their right shoulder |
| Zippee | 03 Feb 2023 1:57 a.m. PST |
I had understood to be a decorative evolution from the habit of hanging the lit musket match from the shoulder belt. |
| Brechtel198 | 03 Feb 2023 1:44 p.m. PST |
It isn't true and it evolved into an element of uniform, such as for the French Imperial Guard Cavalry. |
| Robert le Diable | 07 Feb 2023 12:34 p.m. PST |
With regard to the question posed and the suggested origin, I have read, a long time ago, something with a similarity to that story. In this instance, it was apparently an outlaw, or band of outlaws, who would have been hanged if captured. He, or they, started to wear a miniature hangman's noose as a gesture of defiance. No doubt it would have been dangerous to have it around the neck, so they looped it around their arms. I think I recall a sentence such as, "He will hang us? Then let us make it easy for him!", which sounds even sillier than the tale itself. ""*[//]) |
| Robert le Diable | 07 Feb 2023 12:45 p.m. PST |
In the other thread with the same title, I see there's a version about a mutiny among Spanish Cavalry (information provided by RittervonBek). |
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