[1] Originally, the company was composed of a hundred men, all from Switzerland and armed with halberds, who were selected for their above-average height.

[1] When Swiss mercenaries learned that King Charles VIII was preparing an expedition against Naples, they rushed en masse to be recruited.

The Cent-Suisses were dissolved by the Legislative Assembly on 12 May 1792, during the French Revolution, and therefore survived (unlike the Swiss Guards) the storming of the Tuileries on 10 August 1792.

[5] After resuming its historic function as a ceremonial palace guard, now at the Tuileries, in 1817 detachments from the French regiments of the post-Restoration Royal Guard were transferred to the unit, and the Cent-Suisses company was renamed the Compagnie des gardes à pied ordinaires du corps du Roi.

[5] The Cent-Suisses served as model for a military unit of the Duchy of Savoy (later Kingdom of Sardinia), which was created in 1579 and disbanded in 1798.