 This troop was for a long time known under the nickname of "gentilshommes au bec de corbin", because they carried a balanced ax on its handle by a bent tip.Each of these gentlemen was to maintain at his own expense two archers.By letters patent given at Rouen on June 10, 1475, the King exempted these gentlemen from the maintenance of the archers; he took them in his pay and formed a special company, which he entrusted to Jean Blosset, Lord of Plessis-Pate.