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The Catalan Company or the Great Catalan Company (; Societas exercitus catalanorum, Societas cathalanorum, or Magna Societas Catalanorum) was a company of Mercenary led by Roger de Flor in the early 14th century and hired by Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos to combat the increasing power of the Anatolian beyliks. It was formed by almogavar veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, who had remained unemployed after the signing in 1302 of the Peace of Caltabellotta between the Crown of Aragon and the French dynasty of the Angevins.
James II of Aragon and his brother Frederick III of Sicily saw the threat posed to civil order. While Frederick would have liked to retain some of them for the defence of Sicily, they could not, by custom, be forced to do so. Instead, many of the almogavars were recruited into a "company of companies", led by the mercenary Roger de Flor, to be paid in Byzantine service.
The organisation was referred to by the (hostile) Angevin and papal chancelleries as the Magna Societas exercitus Catalanorum, the Great Catalan military Company. The Sicilian chancellery referred to them as Francorum, "Frankish", as Western Europeans were called in Byzantium, However, the written letters produced by the Company were mainly in Catalan language.
After a brief stop at Monemvasia, the Company arrived at Constantinople in January 1303, where it was received by the Emperor and housed in the district of Blachernae. Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos arranged the wedding of Roger de Flor to his niece, the 15 year old princess Maria Asanina, daughter of the Tsar of Bulgaria Ivan Asen III and Irene Palaiologina. De Flor was named Megas Doux (Great Dux, i.e. Commander of the Imperial forces).
The arrival of the new mercenary contingent upset the balance of power that supported the Byzantine Empire. It especially irritated the Genoese, who saw the arrival of the Catalan Company as an intrusion by the House of Barcelona into the area of influence of the Republic of Genoa: the Eastern Mediterranean and the Byzantine Empire. Armed conflict was not long in breaking out, with 3,000 Genoese killed (including their leader Rosso del Finar) in what was called the in September 1303.
After this victory, Roger de Flor decided to postpone a planned march to the besieged town of Philadelphia and spent the winter on Cape Artake, a position that provided good defences and an easy means of supply. During this period temporarily left the company after a disagreement with Roger de Flor, putting himself in the service of the Duke of Athens. Roger de Flor, on the other hand, took advantage of the lull to travel with his wife to Constantinople with four galleys, claim payment from the Emperor and discuss with him the next campaign. Emperor Andronikos happily paid Roger de Flor and entrusted him with the liberation of Philadelphia.
On his return to Cyzicus, Roger de Flor found that his undisciplined troops had already spent twice or triple their pay and had been out plundering. Greek historians say that the region of Cyzicus was devastated by the looting of the almogavars, to the point that the sister of Andronikos had to go to the city to exhort Roger to move his troops immediately to Philadelphia.
Upon learning of the imminent arrival of the Great Company, Bey Yakup bin Ali Şir, head of the coalition of the Turkish troops from the emirates of Germiyan-oğhlu and Aydın-oğhlu, decided to lift the siege of Philadelphia and face the Company in a suitable location (Aulax) with his 8,000 cavalry and 12,000 infantry.
Roger de Flor took command of the Company cavalry, dividing it into three contingents (Alans, Catalans and Greeks), while Corbarán of Alet did the same with the infantry. The Catalans achieved a great victory over the Turks in what would come to be known as the , with only 500 Turkish infantry and 1,000 cavalrymen managing to escape alive. After this battle de Flor made a triumphant entrance into Philadelphia, being received by its magistrates and the bishop Teolepto.
Having already accomplished the principal mission entrusted to him by the emperor, Roger de Flor decided to consolidate the defence of Philadelphia by conquering the nearby fortresses which had fallen into the hands of the Turks. Thus, the almogavars marched north towards the fortress of Kula, forcing the Turks who were there to flee. The Greek garrison of Kula received Roger de Flor as a liberator, but he, not appreciating how a seemingly impregnable fortress could be allowed to fall into the hands of the Turks without a battle, beheaded the governor and condemned the commander to the gallows. The same harshness was applied when, days later, the almogavars took the fortification of Furnes, further north. Then, Roger de Flor returned with his troops to Philadelphia to claim payment for his successful campaign.
Inside Tire, Roger de Flor ordered his seneschal to prepare a detachment of 200 men on horseback and 2,000 almogavars. When the Turks approached the walls, the troops led by Corberán of Alet rushed out of the city and attacked the Turks, who in a short time suffered the loss of 700 men on horseback and even more infantrymen. In panic, the rest of the Turkish cavalry fled to the mountains chased by the almogávar cavalry. Corberán of Alet decided to continue the attack on the retreating Turks as they began to climb the mountains, ordering his cavalrymen to dismount and climb after them. In response, the Turks harassed the almogavars by throwing stones and firing arrows, one of which killed Corberán of Alet, striking his head at a moment when his helmet had been removed. The almogavar troops, shocked by the death of the seneschal of the company, interrupted their pursuit and retreated to Tire carrying the corpse of Corberán of Alet, thus allowing the surviving Turks to escape.
When the troops returned to Tire and informed Roger de Flor of the death of his seneschal, he ordered that Corberán of Alet be buried with all honors in the Church of San George, located two leagues from the city, and that his tomb be beautifully decorated. The Company remained stationed in Tire for eight more days.
There, he was received by Andronikos, who informed him that the company was on the island of Chios. Bernat then made for Chios, where he met the fleet captained by Ferran d'Aunés, and together they sailed to Ania (now Kuşadası). Once in Ania, they were received by Ramon Muntaner, who led Bernat to Ephesus, where he met Roger de Flor, who named Bernat the new seneschal of the company (replacing the late Corberán of Alet) and gave him his daughter (who had been engaged to Corberan) in marriage and provided him with 100 horses and money for his men.
Roger de Flor and Bernat de Rocafort then marched to Ania but not without first asking for further war contributions in Ephesus, again accompanied by numerous abuses and looting by the almogavars. After his departure, Roger de Flor entrusted the safety of Tire to the Aragonese Diego de Orós with 30 cavalry men and 100 infantrymen.
After the new victory, the captains decided to return to the eastern provinces and seek a great confrontation with the Turks in the hinterland of Anatolia since the limited number of soldiers of the Company did not allow a war of occupation.
As the cavalry advanced to reconnoitre the land, they discovered in a valley a large contingent of Turkish troops (20,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry), who were remnants of previous defeats and were regrouped and ready to ambush the company. Once discovered, the Turks descended to the plain and both armies prepared for a great battle, the , in the open field at Kibistra on August 15, 1304.
Despite the numerical disparity between the forces, Roger de Flor did not avoid a confrontation but put himself at the head of the cavalry. Bernat de Rocafort and Marulli did the same with the almogavars, who showed great spirit and celebrated the victory before even engaging in combat and uttering their famous war cry "Awake iron, awake!" while they hit the ground with the end of their spears. At last, the troops of the Company rushed to meet the Turkish troops, and the battle began. At first, the Turks asserted their numerical advantage, but even as the battle seemed to be swinging in favour of the Turks, the almogavars charged again and managed to breach and destroy their line. The battle continued until twilight before the remains of the Turkish army fled in disarray, chased by the almogavar cavalry almost until dawn. The almogavars spent the night with their weapons in hand and waited for a Turkish counterattack, which never occurred.
The following morning, Roger de Flor proceeded to survey the battlefield and was surprised by the magnitude of his victory. No fewer than 6,000 cavalry and 12,000 Turkish infantrymen had been killed in the battle. The almogavars then began to shout out their wish to continue the march through the Taurus mountains to Little Armenia in a surprise attack, and recover what the Byzantine Empire had lost over many centuries, but their captains judged the idea reckless.
However, the siege had to be lifted shortly afterwards by order of Andronikos, who requested the help of the company to defend the prince of Bulgaria (Roger's brother-in-law) from an uprising led by his own uncle. The historian Nicephorus Gregoras, however, claimed that the Emperor's request was a pretext to disguise the impossibility of the Company breaking the resistance of Magnesia. The 500 Alans who still remained on the side of the Company also deserted.
After the murder of Roger de Flor, the local Byzantine population rose up against the Catalans in Constantinople and killed many of them, including at the main barracks. Prince Michael ensured that as many as possible were killed before news reached the main force in Gallipoli. Some, however, escaped and carried the news of the massacre to Gallipoli after which the Catalans went on a spree of their own, killing all the local Byzantines. The devastation would last in the memory of the townspeople of the area for centuries, just as the monks of Mount Athos would prohibit the entrance of Catalan citizens until 2000.
D'Entença planned a raid against Constantinople, first taking and looting the island of Propóntide and then departing for Recrea with 5 galleys, leaving in Galipoli a garrison formed by 206 horsemen and 1,256 infantry, commanded by Ramon Muntaner (as captain of Gallipoli) and Bernat de Rocafort (as Seneschal). On the way back to Gallipoli, d'Entença's fleet ran into a larger fleet of 18 Genoese ships. D'Entança was welcomed aboard but then treacherously captured and taken to a Genoese stronghold in the area. He would later be released.
The small force left in Gallipoli nevertheless agreed to defend the site and their honour to the death and bored holes in the remaining ships to ensure there was no escape. On 21 June 1305, they sallied forth to meet the Byzantine Army and fought with such ferocity that they totally overwhelmed them and killed many thousands of the enemy for the loss of only a few men.
The Catalan forces lined up in front of the Byzantine army, which included a large contingent of Alans as well as many Turcopoles. Despite the Imperial Army's numerical superiority, the Alans withdrew after the first charge, and the Turcopoles deserted en bloc to the Catalans. The Catalans inflicted heavy losses, and even Prince Michael was injured and had to leave the field, followed by his army. The Catalans had won the day but slept with weapons in hand in case of a Byzantine counterattack.
When 60 Catalan prisoners in Adrianople heard of the victory, they resolved to break out but could only climb on the roof of a tower. The local population were eventually driven to set fire to the tower in which most of the Catalans perished. Those who jumped were set upon by the crowd.
The battle took place next day on a plain at the foot of the Mount Haemus where the Magasetas made a defensive wall of their wagons. Once again, the superior Catalan cavalry and infantry overwhelmed the enemy, killing their general Gregorio. Of the 9,000 fighting men of the Magasetas, only 300 survived. The women and children tried in vain to escape on tired horses.
After this period of internal struggle, Bernat de Rocafort offered the services of the company to Charles of Valois to strengthen his aspirations to the Byzantine Empire. In 1309, Thibault de Chepoy, the representative of Charles of Valois, ordered the arrest of Bernat de Rocafort and sent him to Naples, where he would starve to death the same year.
Both duchies remained in the hands of the Great Company as vassals of the Crown of Aragon until 1388–1390, when they were defeated by the Navarrese Company, commanded by Pedro de San Superano, Juan de Urtubia and the Florentine troops of Nerio I Acciaioli of Corinth. The descendants of the latter then controlled the duchies until 1456, when they were conquered by the Ottoman Empire. By then, the Catalan Company had ceased to exist.
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