Today we are going to explore the world of the marksman and firearms during the seventeenth century. I have avoided the term ‘musketeer’ in the title of the podcast for an obvious reason – any time the term musketeer is used in relation to seventeenth century France many people will visualise the musketeers made famous by Alexandre Dumas, Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D’artagnan.  I think the term marksman is much more appropriate. The character in the novel La Garde Ecossaise which represents this skillset is Alasdair MacDonald, is a mischievous and wayward Highlander with a good heart. Many may assume that a Scottish Highlander is an odd choice as a character that would represent marksmanship within the guard, but as I will explain in later podcasts, marksmanship has a long history within Irish and Highlander warfare. For the moment, this episode will explore, through the characters of Meldrum and MacDonald, the operation and use of muskets. It will then explore the operation of both the matchlock and flintlock musket and finally, it will explore the use of firearms in the armies of King Louis XIV.