The Pope's famous striped uniforms were designed in 1914, not the Renaissance
The Vatican's Swiss Guard looks like a painting come to life, all red, blue and yellow stripes and plumed helmets. Yet that costume was worked out by a commander who studied 16th-century dress and rolled it out in 1914. The unit itself really is old, founded in 1506 and still guarding popes.
Popes had hired Swiss mercenaries since the 1470s, and the soldiers fought on many sides in the Italian Wars. Julius II, who knew the Swiss from his time as Bishop of Lausanne, asked the Swiss Diet for a permanent corps, financed with help from the Augsburg banking family, the Fuggers, who wanted to protect their investment in him. A first contingent of 150 men set off on foot in September 1505 and marched into Rome on 22 January 1506, now counted as the founding date.
Its defining moment came during the Sack of Rome on 6 May 1527. As imperial troops of Charles V stormed the city, 147 of the 189 guards died holding them off, while the remaining 42 escorted Clement VII along a raised passage to safety. New recruits are still sworn in on that anniversary. After the Italian Wars the unit shifted from combat to personal protection and ceremony, and it was disbanded and revived repeatedly, including during Napoleonic upheavals and in 1848.
By the late 19th century it had decayed into a parade troop of about 90 men, many Swiss in name only, born in Rome and speaking the local dialect. Jules Repond, commander from 1910 to 1921, insisted on genuine Swiss recruits and hard drill; the discipline provoked a week of open mutiny in July 1913. He also researched historical costume and designed the uniforms still worn, published his study in 1917, and saw them introduced by May 1914. Pius X, meanwhile, allowed firearms only if they did not work.
Security took priority after the attempt on John Paul II's life on 13 May 1981. Guards now train in counterterrorism, bomb disposal and close protection, carry modern weapons, and travel with the Pope in plain clothes. Recruits must be unmarried Swiss Catholic men aged 19 to 30, at least 174 cm tall, with Swiss military basic training. The corps was expanded to 135 men in October 2019, earning its nickname as the world's smallest army.
Source: Swiss Guard
