Imperial guard

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File:Lens - Inauguration du Louvre-Lens le 4 décembre 2012, la Galerie du Temps, n° 058.JPG
Praetorian guardsmen featured in a marble relief from the Arch of Claudius (51/52 AD)

An imperial guard or palace guard is a special group of troops (or a member thereof) of an empire, typically closely associated directly with the emperor and/or empress. Usually these troops embody a more elite status than other imperial forces, including the regular armed forces, and maintain special rights, privileges and traditions.

Because the head of state often wishes to be protected by the best soldiers available, their numbers and organisation may be expanded to carry out additional tasks. Napoleon's Imperial Guard is an example of this.

In heterogeneous polities reliant on a greater degree of coercion to maintain central authority the political reliability and loyalty of the guard is the most important factor in their recruitment. In such cases the ranks of the guard may be filled with on the one hand royal kinsman and clansman with a stake in the survival of the ruling family, and on the other with members socially and culturally divorced from the general population and therefore reliant on imperial patronage for their survival, for example the Varangian Guards (recruiting solely foreigners), and the Janissaries (Christian children taken as slaves from childhood, to serve the Muslim sultan).

In the post-colonial period, the term has been used colloquially and derisively to describe the staff of a person, usually a politician or corporate executive officer, that acts to prevent direct communication with the person.

List of imperial guards

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Africa

Americas

Asia

Chinese
  • The 8,000 Terracotta Warriors protecting the Emperor of China in the afterlife.
  • The Northern Army of the Han dynasty was the standing professional army branch of the Han Empire, garrisoned around the capital. Several units from this army would be given the honor of guarding the emperor in the capitol.
  • The Feathered Forest (imperial guards unit composed of primarily or entirely cavalry) [Elite Yulin] of the Army of the Han dynasty<ref name="Crespigny 1241">p. 1241 A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD) by Rafe de Crespigny</ref><ref>pp. 150, 225, 228 Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 AD by Rafe de Crespigny</ref>
  • The Rapid as Tigers (imperial guards unit) [Elite Huben] of the Army of the Han dynasty<ref name="Crespigny 1241"/><ref>pp. 150, 225 Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 AD by Rafe de Crespigny</ref>
  • Imperial Guards (Tang dynasty), formed initially as honour bodyguards of the emperor and garrison of the capital, and evolved to reflect the era's transition of reliance on professional soldiery over non-professional volunteers and conscripts.
  • Embroidered Uniform Guard, Ming Dynasty secret police organization founded by the Hongwu Emperor in 1368 to serve as his personal bodyguards.
  • Shìwèi, in the Qing dynasty of China
  • Imperial Guards Brigade of Manchu Banner soldiers, entrusted with guarding the person of the Emperor of China and the Forbidden City during the Qing dynasty
  • Imperial Guard of Manchukuo
Japanese
Iranian
Indian
Elsewhere

Europe

Austro-Hungarian
French
Roman and Byzantine
Elsewhere

Fiction

The term has been used in fiction:

See also

References

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