Its organization commenced in Almansa in 1634, its force fixed at fifteen companies with 90 harquebusiers, 40 musketeers, and 60 corslets and pikemen each.
One day they defended themselves successfully against an attack by Swedish Landsknechts ( pikemen with supporting infantry).
Amongst their then duties was that of guarding the Lord Mayor of London, a role taken over more recently by the Company of Pikemen and Musketeers of the Honourable Artillery Company.
In the Western world, swords of an equivalent size such as the Zweihänder may have been used to batter into formations of pikemen or to cut out the front legs of a galloping horse, although the historical accuracy of this information is also a matter of debate.