Richard had taken service under the King of France as early as 1492. Charles VIII. detecting in him even then that brilliant capacity which made him in after-life one of the foremost generals of his day, intrusted to him the command of 6000 _lansquenets_, at whose head he mastered the difficult but valuable art of maintaining discipline among a most unruly, but at the same time most serviceable host, and qualified himself for that peculiar kind of warfare in which he subsequently gathered splendid laurels. By this early favour Charles linked to his Court an officer who, as Gaillard says, became one of "_cette pleiade de grands Capitaines qui illustrèrent les règnes de Louis XII. et François I., et portèrent si haut l'honneur de nos armes--Bayard, la Palisse, la Trémouille, duc de Gueldres, Robert de la Marck_ [better known as Fleurange, "Le Jeune Aventureux"], _et la famille de Rohan_." Of all these famous captains--and, moreover, of Francis of Angoulême himself--Richard was a comrade-in-arms and familiar friend. And nobody seemed to be able to manage the wild and "_indociles_" mercenaries, who were ready to place themselves at the service of any sovereign who would pay them, like himself. Dreaded foes--and to the people scarcely less dreaded allies--were those "bandes noires" of Northern Germany, who, like the modern Prussians, bore on their banner the colours of black and white. Before Pampeluna--of gloomy memory--they mutinied even against Bayard, "striking"--according to the most approved notions of nineteenth-century trades-unionism--at the most critical juncture for the concession of double pay. Bayard and Suffolk between them, however, soon reduced them to obedience. Brantôme relates that it was said of the _lansquenets_ that after St. Peter had refused them entrance into heaven, their troubled souls could not even obtain admission into hell. The very devils were afraid of this wild company. With these rough warriors did Richard fight his battles, and fought them so well, that there was not one of the three French kings whom he served, who did not feel moved to reward his services with a substantial pension, in addition to his open thanks. Ever foremost in battle, Richard's company "receveyd," as John Stile reports to Henry VIII., "most hurte and los of men then any other of that party." And on that fateful day which cost Richard his life, and Francis I. "_tout fors l'honneur_," the king declared that, if all his troops had but done their duty like Richard's _lansquenets_, the victory would have been his. Francis was especially beholden to these rough soldiers, because, by winning for him the battle of Marignano, when his crown was still young and unsettled upon his head, they raised him to high prestige, and completely altered his position in Europe. "_Ce gros garçon gâtera tout_," Louis XII. had said--leaving 1800 livres of debts for the "_gros garçon_" to pay. The prediction proved wrong.