Then this probably is a French thing, or at least an older English thing. I remember vaguely the derivation of gendarmerie from the French equivalent of men-at-arms, but the English equivalent is treated peculiarly as well. There are times when the term appears to refer, like the French version, to a mounted cavalryman, and there are times when it does refer to a fully equipped feudal warrior. Although a man-at-arms is usually mounted in practice, I was not aware that this was a necessity (for instance, texts will refer variously to mounted and dismounted men-at-arms, although this may simply reflect their current status at that very moment). This may be a great more evident if I used the French terms.

However, my knowledge of the source comes from books written much later then the period in question, and therefore not necessarily adherent to the original intent. Of course, given that the whole "police" thing was added later, well, that just confuses it in all sets.

Yeah, I know that thing where if you're up for twenty-four hours feels fine - until you crash. Then you crash hard. Hopefully you have time to get some sleep when that happens.