1303–1311
The Catalan Company, 1303–1311
In 1303 Andronikos II hires the Catalan Company, several thousand mercenaries from the war in Sicily, and makes their leader Roger de Flor megas doux. In October 1303 they defeat the Turks of Karesi at Cape Artake near Kyzikos and winter there. In May 1304 they march by Germe to Philadelphia, which Yakub of Germiyan is besieging, defeat him at Aulax and enter the town.
The entry of Roger de Flor and the Catalan Company into Constantinople in 1303, painting by José Moreno Carbonero, 1888Wikimedia Commons, José Moreno Carbonero, Public domain (Entrada de Roger de Flor a Constantinoble, José Moreno Carbonero.jpg)
On 15 August 1304 the Company defeats a Turkish army at Kibistra, near the Cilician Gates, and then turns back. At the emperor’s request it crosses to Gallipoli for the winter. On 30 April 1305 Alans kill Roger de Flor at Michael IX’s court in Adrianople, and the Catalans at Gallipoli declare war on the empire. In July 1305 they rout Michael IX at Apros and plunder Thrace for two years.
Turks under Halil, who join the Company in 1305, and baptised Turks under Melik Ishak, who desert the Byzantines after Apros, fight on the Catalan side. When Gallipoli is exhausted in 1308 the Company moves west through Macedonia to Thessaly. On 15 March 1311 it destroys the army of Walter of Brienne, Duke of Athens, at Halmyros and takes over his duchy. Halil’s Turks return toward the Dardanelles with their booty, hold a fort in Thrace and raid the country until a Byzantine and Genoese force destroys them.
The plain of Almyros from the Othrys mountains, where the Catalans defeated Walter of Brienne in 1311Wikimedia Commons, Robin Rönnlund, CC BY-SA 4.0 (The plain Almyros.jpg)
Sources
- Ramon Muntaner, Crònica (1325–1328).
- Angeliki E. Laiou, Constantinople and the Latins: The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II, 1282–1328 (1972).
- Kenneth M. Setton, Catalan Domination of Athens, 1311–1388 (1948).
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