Two drummers of the mid to late 17th Century.
(courtesy British Museum)
I have been translating Gaya's Art of War from 1677 and in the course of checking details and facts I managed to gather some information on French drummer's calls, which I thought might be of interest. It is by no means a definitive list, I would be interested if anyone knows of others for France or, indeed, those of other nations.
The principal calls were:
“La diane” – “reveille” – beaten at dawn to wake the men.
“Aux champs” – “to arms” – ordered the men to dress and gather their equipment and was usually the first order of the day, sometimes known as “le première”, “the first”.
"L’assemblée” – “the assembly” – called the men together to an allotted place in order to form up.
“Le dernier” – “all present” – beaten when all the men had arrived to form up.
“La garde” – “the guard” – was the call to guard duty.
“La retraite” – “the retreat” – was to close up the town gates and stand down the guard or to cease fire and rally on the flag.
"L’ordre” – “the order” – confirmed an action.
"La générale” – “the general” – was a general alarm call for a large force.
“La marche” – “the march” – directed the men to form up ready to march off.
“La charge” or “la guerre” – “the charge” or “the war” – to prepare to fire.
“Aux champs” – “to arms” – ordered the men to dress and gather their equipment and was usually the first order of the day, sometimes known as “le première”, “the first”.
"L’assemblée” – “the assembly” – called the men together to an allotted place in order to form up.
“Le dernier” – “all present” – beaten when all the men had arrived to form up.
“La garde” – “the guard” – was the call to guard duty.
“La retraite” – “the retreat” – was to close up the town gates and stand down the guard or to cease fire and rally on the flag.
"L’ordre” – “the order” – confirmed an action.
"La générale” – “the general” – was a general alarm call for a large force.
“La marche” – “the march” – directed the men to form up ready to march off.
“La charge” or “la guerre” – “the charge” or “the war” – to prepare to fire.
In addition, there were:
"La prière” – “the prayer” – called the men to religious service.
"Le ban” – “the fanfare” – for issuing
official, municipal or royal decrees.
"La
chamade” – “the parley” – used when a fortress or defended position sought
to halt the fighting and seek terms of surrender, to which the opposition would
beat “La réponse aux chamades” – “the
response to the parley”.
“La fricassee” – “the fricassee”, which was a
rapid beating of the drum to signal the raising or lowering of the flag, or to
advance in battle or retire.
"Appeller” – “to call” – to summon soldiers
for a parade before a passing senior officer.
There were also particular
national marches – English, French, Swiss, for example – which were beaten for
identification purposes on the battlefield or on the march. The French, for
example, sounded “La caisse” – “the drum”, when there were French troops
in garrison in a fortress.
Really interesting read, just shows how important drummers were in this period.
ReplyDeleteGaya mentions as well that there was one or two per company, so that would be anywhere between sixteen and thirty-two per regiment (if the latter was at official strength), that on the march they were split into three groups - front, centre (with the pikes) and rear, or alternatively all at the front, twenty paces ahead of the regiment, with the drummers playing in shifts, each group being relieved every league (a bit over two miles/three kilometres). When deployed in line, the drummers split into two groups, one on each flank.
DeleteThanks for that Adrian, excellent information, must have been a very impressive sight on the march.
Delete