The Musketeers were among the most popular of the military companies of the Anci en Rgime.

This popularity was due to the lower entrance requirements. The senior guard units were in effect closed to all but the most senior and wealthy of Fren ch nobles, so for the majority of French nobles (many of whom lived in genteel p overty), service in the Musketeers was the only way to join a mounted unit in th e Royal Household and perhaps catch the King's eye. Enlistment did however requi re both letters of recommendation and evidence that a recruit had the family mea ns to support the costs of service. These included the provision of horses, swor ds, clothing, a servant and equipment. Only the muskets and the distinctive blue cassock were provided by the monarch. In 1776, the Musketeers were disbanded by Louis XVI, for budgetary reasons. Foll owing the first Bourbon Restoration the Musketeers were reestablished on July 6, 1814 along with the other military units of the former Royal Household. These e xpensive aristocratic regiments proved ineffective when Napoleon returned from E lba, mostly dispersing though some accompanied Louis XVIII into brief exile. Fol lowing the second restoration of the Monarchy the Musketeers were finally disban ded on January 1, 1816. Decades later, starting in 1844, this group was the subject of the now-famous se rial publication The Three Musketeers, in the magazine Le Sicle between March and July 1844. The author, Alexandre Dumas, pre, based his work on the book Mmoires d e Monsieur d'Artagnan, capitaine lieutenant de la premire compagnie des Mousqueta ires du Roi (Memoirs of Mister d'Artagnan, Lieutenant Captain of the first compa ny of the King's Musketeers) by Gatien de Courtilz de Sandras (Cologne, 1700).