The Catalan Company

The Catalan Company

This is the story of how Turkish tribes first entered and then came to control western Anatolia and cross over into European Thrace and Macedonia. Ironically, this came about through the unwise use of Christian mercenaries.

At the beginning of the 14th century, the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II invited a large contingent of Catalan and Aragon mercenaries (the Catalan company of Almogavars), led by the turbulent pirate and soldier of fortune – Roger de Flor to help defend the Empire’s interests. The vicissitudes of this inevitably troublesome relationship led eventually to Turkish penetration of the Empire’s Southern and Eastern borders.

Roger de Flor was born in Brindizi from a German father – Richard von der Blume, who was the falconer of the Emperor Frederic II of Sicily and a mother who was the daughter of a prominent citizen of Brindizi. Roger later Latinised his name from the original Rutger von der Blume to Roger de Flor. After the death of his father, Roger, his mother and older brother were left destitute in Palermo and made their way to Brindizi. They were so hungry, that his mother fainted in front of a brothel. The kind-hearted prostitutes took them in, fed them and it was not long before his mother had joined them professionally. At the age of eight, Roger managed to enlist on a vessel of the Knight Templers, which had anchored in the port in Brindizi. 1

In time, he not only became one of the most prominent seamen of the time, but was also admitted as a brother in the Order of the Knights Templar. This meant that he was eventually given the command of their largest vessel. Roger became involved in saving many fugitives and much treasure after the battle, in which the Egyptians took Acre. 2 As he gave places on his ship only to women, who had brought their jewellery with them, by the time he returned to Cyprus, he was a rich man.Nevertheless, his behaviour did not meet the approval of the Grand Master of the Temple and he was expelled from the order. 1

The Grand Master of the Order of the Templars also confiscated whatever treasure and property of Roger’s he could find and tried to arrest him. Roger succeeded in escaping to Genoa, where he lost no time in buying and equipping a galley of his own and renouncing his allegiance to the Knights Templar. He soon found employment with Frederic II as Vice-Admiral of Sicily, which brought more honours and affluence. This position did not prevent him from becoming one of the most feared pirates in the Mediterranean. It was at this time that the Catalan Company was created under his command.

Roger’s position became redundant following a peace deal Frederic II signed with his brother King James II of Aragon at Caltabellotta and Roger and his brigands had to look for other patrons. When the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302 ended the war in southern Italy, the Almogavar army of mercenary soldiers, which were under the leadership of Roger de Flor, formed the Catalan Company.

Roger tried his luck with Andronicus II of Byzantium and was pleasantly surprised to realise that his services were much needed by him. He was hired by Andronicus II Paleologus to fight against the Turks. Both kings of Aragon and Sicily agreed with the idea of getting the mercenaries away from their lands, as since the peace had been reached, there was nothing for them to do. So, going to Byzantium was a viable alternative to having the Almogavar army remaining unemployed in their realms. 2

Roger arrived in Constantinople with his own fleet of 7 ships and the fleet of his allies, consisting of an 8,000 strong army of mercenaries, including the Catalans and the Almogavars. 11

He received the title of Grand Duke (equivalent to Lord High Admiral in the Byzantine hierarchy) as well as the hand of the Emperor’s sixteen years old niece Maria. 1, 2, 11 (Maria was in fact a Bulgarian Princess – the daughter of Ivan Asen III and Irene Paleologus, who was the Emperor Andronicus’s sister. Maria had at least 5 brothers and a sister, one of her brothers Andronicus Paleologus Asen (Asan), with a reputation of a capable general was appointed as a Governor of Byzantine Morea in Southern Greece, where he remained for at least six years. 4)

Soon the Catalans became too troublesome in Constantinople – a serious brawl erupted between the two sides on Roger and Maria’s wedding night and the Company was dispatched to Anatolia to fight the Turks. 19 Having won several battles against them, the Catalans gathered much booty, which they refused to share with the Greeks. The 500 Alan mercenaries, fighting shoulder to shoulder with the Catalans, discovered that they were receiving half the pay of the Catalans. This led to their desertion. The Greeks were getting more and more disaffected with their mercenaries. The arguments deteriorated into an actual battle between the two sides, which resulted in the Catalans taking over Gallipoli with the view of turning it into a state of their own. 1, 5

In spite of these developments, the Emperor sent the Catalan Company to fight the army of the Beylik of Karaman, who was besieging Philadelphia – an important Byzantine frontier outpost and a military base at the time. The army, under Roger’s overall command, consisted of 8,000 men altogether, out of which 1,000 were Greek soldiers, 6,000 – Italian/Catalans and 1,000 – Alans. 11 They marched 120 miles to reach the city and attacked at dawn on the following day. They carried the victory – the arrows of the Karaman soldiers proved very ineffective against the mail suits of the Catalans.

In the next two years,Roger de Flor and his Company continued to fight for the Empire against both the Ottoman and the Karaman armies.

Their treatment of the local population was notoriously bad, to the extent that having seen their fellows robbed and killed by the Catalan company, the citizens of Magnesia, supported by some Greek soldiers, killed and imprisoned a number of the Italians. Roger de Flor initially besieged the city, with the remaining soldiers, but realising the possibility of taking it was small, he offered to retreat, if they released his personal possessions and money. The citizens of Magnesia refused. Finally, he realised the siege was pointless and withdrew. 11

Roger’s army was recalled by the Emperor to help rebuff the attack of the Bulgarian king Theodore Svetoslav, who had taken the Byzantine ports on the Black Sea and was threatening the capital. Roger immediately marched his Company to Gallipoli. 1

Feeling threatened by the Catalan presence in the area, Theodore Svetoslav sent messengers to offer the hand of his sister Elena – the former wife of Chaka to one of the mercenaries’ leaders – Roquefort. It appears Roquefort accepted the proposal, but nothing else is known about the fate of this Bulgarian princess. 6

In 1306, Theodore Svetoslav took advantage of the disagreement between the Catalan Company and the leaders of the large group of Alan mercenaries, mentioned above. The Alans were very skilled soldiers and were used by both Tartar Khans and Byzantine emperors as an impact force. Svetoslav enticed the Alan mercenaries with their families (about 16,000 people altogether) to settle in Bulgaria and strengthen his army. 7, 8

Finally, the peace treaty between Bulgaria and Byzantium, signed originally by Michael VIII in 1261, was renewed by Svetoslav, and was to be “sealed” with the marriage of the Tsar with Theodora, the granddaughter of Emperor Andronicus II and daughter of Michael IXand the Armenian princes Rita-Mariain1308. 9

Early in 1305, Roger de Flor was given the title Caesar for his military achievements as well as the grant of the whole of Byzantine Anatolia for his personal estates, as well as 11,000 crowns in gold. 1, 5, 11

In March 1305, Roger decided to investigate the strength of Michael’s army. He presented himself to the co-emperor Michael IXth at his palace in Adrianople. He spent a week as Michael’s guest and was entertained lavishly, right up to the moment he was murdered. The killer was George Gircon, an Alan chieftain, whose own son had been killed by the Catalans earlier. This event took place on the 5th of April 1305. 1, 5, 11

The Catalans were furious – they put the population of Gallipoli, which they used as a base, to the sword. Some citizens were spared, so that they could be exchanged with the 150 soldiers, who had accompanied Roger to Adrianople. The Emperor sent troops to besiege Gallipoli, but it was too late. 11 The Catalans had asked their former enemies – the Turks to come and help them against the Greeks. Thrace was turned into a desert.

When the Catalans finally left for Thessaly, where they formed a state of their own – they had conquered the Duchy of Athens and Thebes. A very large number of Turkish troops were left in Macedonia and Thrace. Their looting and raids caused so much havoc, that the Greeks parlayed with their Leader Halil and promised them a safe passage back to Anatolia in order to secure their withdrawal. However, at the point of crossing the Bosporus, the Byzantines decided to confiscate all the booty from the Turks, which led to further trouble. Halil called further Turkish re-enforcements from Asia Minor. Their arrival led to a victory over the Greeks. It was only with the help of the Serbian troops that the Byzantine Emperor managed to effect the removal of the Turkish troops from his territory.

In conclusion, it is probably worth pointing out, that as we have seen from the above, it was the Catalans, who first invited the Turks into Europe and gave them a taste of things to come. The Ottomans, however, did not participate in any of those hostilities. 10

 

The Catalan Company – Sources

  1. Norwich John Julius: Byzantium: The Decline and Fall, Viking, London, 1995, Family trees, p 273 – 292, 293 – 305
  2. Miller William: The Latins in the Levant, a History of Frankish Greece (1204 – 1566), E.P. Dutton and Company, New York, 1908, p 212 – 214, 258 – 259
  3. Божилов Иван: Фамилията на Асеневци (1186 – 1460) Генеология и Просопография , Издателство на Българската Академия на Науките “Марин Дринов”, София, 1994, ст 149 – 178
  4. Fine John V.A.Jr.: The Late Medieval Balkans, Ann Arbour; The University of Michigan Press, 1996, p 300 – 327
  5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andronikos_II_Palaiologos
  6. Игнатов Веселин: Българските Царици – Владетелките на България VІІ – ХІV век, Милениум, София, 2008, ст 19 – 44
  7. Подбрани извори за Българската история: Българските Държави и Българите през Средновековието, Том Втори, Книга 14 от Библиотека Българска Вечност на Тангра ТанНакРа ИК, София, 2004; Автори и съставители: Георги Бакалов, Георги Владимиров, Диана Илиева, Ваня Мичева, Пламен Павлов, ст 175 – 227
  8. Curta Florin: Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages – 500 – 1250, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2006, p 147 – 389
  9. Панайотов Панайот: История на България; Българско Средновековие – Извори, Факти, Мнения, Абагар, Велико Търново, 1998, ст 423 – 537
  10. Kinross Lord: The Ottoman Centuries – The Rise and Fall of the Turkish Empire, Jonathan Cape, London, 1977, p 15 – 43
  11. Sale George, Psalmanazar George, Bower Archibald, Shelvocke George, Campbell John, Swinton John: An Universal History, from Earliest Account of Time. Compiled from Original Writers. By the Authors of the Ancient Part; Vol. XII; Printed by S Richardson, T. Osborne, C. Hatch, A Millar, John Rivington, S. Crowder, P. Davey and B. Law, T. Longman, and C Ware. LONDON, M.DCC.LIX. Part from the original library of the University of Michigan; Bought in Europe 1838 to 1839. (https://books.google.com/), Book XV, Volume XII – History of the Ottomans, Chapter 1, p 24 – 42

 

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