Hello there!
This is a simple thread. Renaming the Royal Knight to something like Gendarme or Chevalier (this could be the already translated name for french players though) so the first one is probably better.
But we already have Arbaletrier which is nice but Royal Knight sounds a bit strange. Gendarme would be more fancy for a unique unit of France and fit better with the Arbaletrier. Also I’m not talking about necessarily the historical implications but what sounds better.
What do you think?
Chevalier is just Horseman in French, which will already be a unit, and Gendarme is Man-at-Arms, which apparently will be an Infantry unit.
Chevalier Royal, or Royal Knight, is a good name for them, as it implies they are the personal Knights of the King, which would qualify them to be a special unit for the French.
Gendarme is heavy cavalry drawn from nobility. While men at arms doesn’t have to be.
no Man-at-Arms in french is Homme d’Armes.
and Gendarme (Gens d’Armes) is a form of french Man-at-Arms.
Gendarme is totally fitting. The model of the unit is 100% based on gendarmes, even the spear.
Gendarme literally means Man-at-Arms. Man-at-Arms is literally a military rank that the English copied from the French, like most other military ranks, some of which still exist today (Corporal, Sargeant, Major, Lieutenant, Admiral, Marshal; all French).
Man-at-Arms literally means a professional soldier on the retinue of a Lord or King, so essentially a Gendarme.
Gendarme does not mean Cavalryman, it was games thet conditioned people to believe this. It is the exact same position as Man-at-Arms, in History (Gent D’Armes = Man of/at Arms).
" The term gendarme (English: /ˈʒɒndɑːrm/) is derived from the medieval French expression gens d’armes , which translates to “men-at-arms” (literally, “armed people”).[1]"
what’s the point of being that semantic.
Man-at-arms was itinially the english term for a professional soldier used as an heavy armoured cavalryman.
“Though in English the term man-at-arms is a fairly straightforward rendering of the French homme d’armes” (from english oxford dictionnary)
In the game, it’s a random footman with a shield and a sword
Gendarme derived from gens d’armes, and was the french term to designate an heavy cavalryman of noble birth.
SO yes, french Gendarme was the equivalent of an english Man-at-arms : an heavy cavalryman. So it’s a right naming for the unit.
And again, the equipment and weapon of the 3D model, totally fit with a gendarme.
Royal Knight is a fantasy and terrible naming
No, the term comes from French.
Man-at-Arms starts showing up after the Norman Conquest, not before.
This is because the Normans had Gendarmes
The Wiki itself clarifies this.
No, not at all. The Gendarmes were professional soldiers, not necessarily noble born.
Also, the Man-at-Arms unit will straight up be called Gendarmes in the French language version. Which is the correct localized translation.
Actually Gendarme is derived from Gen d’armes which means Men at Arms which also could be translated as Hommes d’armes.
“A gendarme was a heavy cavalryman of noble birth, primarily serving in the French Army from the late Middle Age to the early Modern Period of European history.” Gendarmerie philosophy and history – EUROGENDFOR
AGAIN, you are mistmaching. It’s not because man-at-arms ethymology come from french → “hommes / gens d’armes”, than it don’t mean than man-at-arms was an english term for a professional cavalryman.
And normans didn’t have gendarmes when they invaded england. they used the term miles.
I don’'t even know where you find that, when Gendarme is known as a unit from fifteenth century and after
Gendarmes were INITIALLY noble born, it changed later. And no the correct translation of a man-at-arms is an hommes d’armes, in french, as it was in aoe II, and who care, the man-at-arms in aoe 4 is a footman anyway
And again, the design of the unit is not based on any famous form of royal knights, their equipment is the one of Gendarmes, as it was called by french it that period.
Then considering you can straight up train Royal Knights from Feudal Age onward, the Gendarme name would be anachronistic, as they are not a lategame unit.
That isn’t really all that important tbh, there will be anachronisms in the game, otherwise we’d have to have names changing throughout the game etc.
You have in AoE3, and I imagine you will have in AoE4 aswell.
yeah, like the rus’ / moscowite unit. Which iirc used a type of gun which is way too late for the time-frame of aoe 4, but which will probably receive an arquebuse instead.
The fact is than Royal Knight is a fantasy naming in all cases, than Man-at-Arms don’t translate into Gendarmes in french today, even if they had a similar role, and even if Man-at-Arms ethymology come from “Hommes/Gens d’armes” .Both are persued as different units, different equipments, different timing.
And the equipment, helmet, spear, feather, are the same than any images of gendarme you could easily find, which are the cliché of french knights.
We could pray for a most accurate design for them, to fit with the timing of their unlock, so “francis miles” ? (I think it’s the singular term, not the plural ? if a latinist know and can help) . And so a more realistic armor, helmet and spear of medieval france. But I guess than a lot of poeple would find that boring
Edit : Interestingly. In french, Hommes d’Armes meaning is way broader than Man-at-Arms initial meaning (which was equal to the meaning of gendarme), and encompass any professional soldiers (footman, hast, cavalrymen)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gendarme_(historical)
Historically, men-at-Arms actually means heavy cavalry who weren’t high-ranked as knights, and probably derived from the french equivalent. So Gendarme is a very fitting name for the unit.
Or Lancier, which means lancer in french, is also an good alternative to the current name.
I remember posting the exact same in Spirit of the Law’s video.
Bon les Gendarme que l’on trouve aujourd’hui correspondez à la Maréchaussée d’hier voici un extrait de Wikipédia " Héritière de la Maréchaussée la Gendarmerie est l’une des plus anciennes institutions françaises. De nombreux pays dans le monde ont adopté le principe d’une force de police à statut militaire directement inspirée par la française."
La Maréchaussées " Corps de militaires chargé de la police et de la justice aux armées depuis le Moyen Âge, qui est progressivement devenu une force de police compétente pour l’ensemble de la population sur la quasi-totalité du territoire français. Elle conserve des attributions de justice extraordinaire (dite « prévôtale ») jusqu’à la Révolution. En 1720, la Maréchaussée est symboliquement placée sous l’autorité administrative de la Gendarmerie de France, corps de cavalerie lourde assimilé à la maison militaire du roi qui est dissous le 1er avril 1788. En 1791, elle prend le nom de Gendarmerie nationale."
Un lien qui explique l’histoire de la Gendarmerie National.
Bonne lecture 
Gendarme should be final age lance wielding heavy cavalry. Usually they were heavy lancer.
…hm… the unit seems to be a mix of the equipments of french Gendarmes of the 16 century, and the equipment of french knights of the battle of Agincourt (1415)… And I am not sure than when we refer to Gendarme units, they should have a shield…
The differences for the ones which didn’t noticed, the armor of the horse of the gendarme, and the gendarme himself are way more armored. And obviously the heavy spear. It was the concept of that cavarly, being heavy armored
The french knight of Agincourt have a shield and a more classic spear. The horse is less armored.
diverse gendarmes at the bottom.
Agincourt french knight
From what I understand in AOE only the unique units have unique name right? The same unit in different nations dont have a name on their language in the game. I like consistency. Does someone know why war elephants called war elephants in the game and not something in their language? Same for every unique unit that has an english name. And same for AOE3 (and AOM) not only AOE4.
C’est très simple, les Développeurs de AOE (ainsi que les autres jeu) n’accorde de l’importance seulement et uniquement à l’anglais sous prétexte que c’est la langue international. Pour exemple des développeurs Français de jeu vidéo ne font eux même plus aucun efforts pour faire des interview en Français ou encore avoir des dialogue en Français (et je suis sur que cela s’applique aussi à des maisons d’édition dans d’autres pays) alors dans le cas d’AOE il préfère privilégier la compréhensions de la communauté anglophone plutôt que de privilégier l’authenticité exacte d’une unités (et par authenticité je parle de son nom dans la langue/l’origine de cette unité)
