Miquelet (militia)

[1] The name is a diminutive of Michael; it is claimed it comes from Miquel or Miquelot de Prats, a Catalan mercenary captain in the service of Cesare Borgia.

[1][2] The Miquelets were maintained at the parish level, not by the central or the provincial governments, and as they had to turn out for duty on sound of the village alarm-bell (someten) they are frequently called sometents.

Fray Junipero Serra's expedition to establish Catholic missions along the California coast was accompanied by detachments of Migueletes in 1769.

From there, the Company played a crucial role in the Spanish colonization of the Pacific Northwest, building Fort San Miguel, the first formal European settlement in British Columbia, from 1790 to 1792.

[4] Their homologous police forces in Álava and Navarre, called Miñones and Policía foral, managed to survive beyond the Spanish Civil War due to the siding of these provinces with the military uprising.

A reenactor dressed as a miquelet of the Regiment Vilar i Ferrer, War of the Spanish Succession
Reenactors performing as miquelets and a civilian during War of the Spanish Succession
Miquelet assaulting a French trench, played by a reenactor of Miquelets de Catalunya
Reenactor as a trabucaire of Miquelets de Badalona with a uniform inspired by the First Free Company of Volunteers of Catalonia