View source for Catalan campaign in Asia Minor

{{expand Italian|topic=mil|Campagna catalana (Asia minore)|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|partof=
|conflict= Catalan Campaign in Asia Minor
|image=   Companyia catalan d'orient 1303-1304.svg
|caption=
|date=1303 to {{circa|1307}}
|place=[[Asia Minor]]<br />(modern-day [[Turkey]])
|strength1=10,900 in total (see "strength of forces")
|strength2=30,000 men, according to [[Ramon Muntaner]]
|casualties1=Only about 1,500 Catalans remained, according to [[Ramon Muntaner]]
|casualties2=18,000 supposedly lay dead, according to [[Ramon Muntaner]]
|result=Indecisive
|commander1={{flagicon|Byzantine Empire}} [[Andronicus II Palaeologus|Andronicus II]]<br>{{flagicon|Byzantine Empire}} [[Michael IX Palaeologus|Michael IX]]<br>[[Roger de Flor]] (before 1305)
|commander2=[[Roger de Flor]] {{Assassinated}} (1305)<br>Berenguer d'Entença
|combatant1={{flag|Byzantine Empire}}<br>[[Catalan Company]] (until 1305)<ref name="Gábor">{{cite book|last1=Ágoston|first1=Gábor|last2=Masters|first2=Bruce Alan|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2009|ISBN=9781438110257|page=232}}</ref>|
|combatant2=Various [[Anatolian Turkish Beyliks]]
----
[[Catalan Company]] (after 1305)<ref name="Gábor"/>}}
{{Campaignbox Catalan campaigns in the East}}
{{Campaignbox Byzantine-Ottoman Wars}}

In 1303, the [[Byzantine Emperor]] [[Andronicus II Palaeologus]] hired 6,500 [[Catalan Company|Catalan mercenaries]] under [[Roger de Flor]]<ref name="catalonia"/> to campaign against the Turks in the spring and summer of the same year. Their costly service came with success, driving back the Turks in parts of [[Asia Minor]].<ref name="Oxford">{{cite book|last=Rogers|first=Clifford|title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2010|ISBN=9780195334036|page=350}}</ref> At [[Alaşehir|Philadelphia]], 18,000 Turkish soldiers (possibly those of [[Aydinids]]) were left dead, the work of the Catalans.

However, the Byzantines got more than what they bargained for; the mercenaries were difficult to restrain and consequently much of the reconquered territory was laid to waste. When their leader Roger de Flor was assassinated in [[Gallipoli]] on 3 April 1305 by [[Michael IX Palaeologus]] followed by a massacre of 1,300 [[Catalan people|Catalans]],<ref name="catalonia"/> the mercenaries began a two-year pillage in revenge and crossed over to [[Thrace]] and [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] under the command of their new leader, Berenguer d'Entença,<ref name="Oxford"/> where further raiding occurred. As a result of this brutality, the Company was excommunicated by [[Pope Clement V]].<ref name="Oxford"/> Eventually the Catalan mercenaries claimed the [[Duchy of Athens]] for themselves in 1311 and would remain there until 1379,<ref name="Oxford"/> leaving behind a devastated Byzantium. After this, the Turks found much support amongst those who suffered and reoccupied land that had been lost.

Thus, the Catalans' campaign was a short-term Byzantine victory, but benefited the Turks in the long term.

==Strength of forces==
Initially the [[Catalan Company]], from Aragon, arrived in Constantinople in 1303 with 39 ships and 6,500 men, which consisted of 1,500 horsemen, 4,000 [[Almogavars]] and 1,000 footsoldiers, most of whom were [[Aragonese people|Aragonese]], [[Catalan people|Catalans]] and [[Valencian people|Valencians]] from the [[Crown of Aragon]].<ref name="catalonia">{{cite book |author=Allison Peers|title=Catalonia Infelix|publisher=Methuen|year=1937|pages=28–29}}</ref><ref name="Setton">{{cite book|last=Setton|first=Kenneth Meyer|title=A History of the Crusades: Fourteenth and fifteenth centuries|url=https://archive.org/details/historycrusadesv00sett_014|url-access=limited|publisher=Univ of Wisconsin Press|year=1975|ISBN=9780299066703|page=[https://archive.org/details/historycrusadesv00sett_014/page/n194 169]}}</ref> These forces were later reinforced by 300 horsemen and 1,000 Almogavars<ref name="La valencialidad de la epopeya almogávar a Bizancio">{{cite book|title=Enigmas y misterios de los almogávares|publisher=Guillermo Rocafort|pages=40–42}}</ref> and later, they were joined by 300 horsemen and Berenguer d'Entença.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kyriakidis|first=Savvas|title=Warfare in Late Byzantium, 1204-1453|url=https://archive.org/details/warfarelatebyzan00kyri|url-access=limited|publisher=BRILL|year=2011|ISBN=9789004206663|page=[https://archive.org/details/warfarelatebyzan00kyri/page/n144 124]}}</ref> After the murder of Roger de Flor the Byzantines killed so many of the Company that only 3,307 men remained.<ref name="Setton"/> These numbers were further reduced to 206 horseman and 1,256 after an encounter with [[Genoa|Genoese]] forces, according to [[Ramon Muntaner|Muntaner]].<ref name="Setton"/> Before leaving [[Gallipoli]] the company was joined by a Turkish force consisting of 800 horseman and 2,000 footsoldiers.<ref name="Setton"/>

[[Ramon Muntaner]] who was a soldier from Catalonia and chronicler, wrote that during a battle in 1304 the Company fought against nearly 30,000 [[Turkish people|Turks]] (10,000 cavalry and 20,000 infantry) of which 18,000 (6,000 cavalry and 12,000 infantry) supposedly lay dead.<ref name="catalan">{{cite book |author=Alfonso Lowe|title=The Catalan Vengeance|url=https://archive.org/details/catalanvengeance00lowe|url-access=registration|publisher=[[Routledge]]|year=1972|pages=[https://archive.org/details/catalanvengeance00lowe/page/n60 47]–48}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Great Catalan Company]]
* [[Ramon Muntaner]]
* [[Chronicle of Muntaner]]
* [[Chronology of bladed weapons|History of the sword]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
==Bibliography==
*Georg Ostrogorsky, Storia dell'Impero bizantino, Milano, Einaudi, 1968, {{ISBN|88-06-17362-6}}.
*John Julius Norwich, Bisanzio, Milano, Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 2000, {{ISBN|88-04-48185-4}}.
*Alain Ducellier, Michel Kapla, Bisanzio (IV-XV secolo), Milano, San Paolo, 2005, {{ISBN|88-215-5366-3}}.
*A History of the Crusades: Volume III — The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries, ed. Harry W. Hazard, University of Wisconsin Press: Madison, 1975.
*Setton, Kenneth M. Catalan Domination of Athens 1311–1380. Revised edition. Variorum: London, 1975.
*Jacques Heers, Chute et mort de Constantinople, 1204-1453, éditions Perrin {{ISBN|2-262-02098-1}}
*Donald M. Nicol, Les Derniers siècles de Byzance, 1261-1453, éditions Les Belles Lettres {{ISBN|2-251-38074-4}}

[[Category:1300s conflicts]]
[[Category:Anatolian beyliks]]
[[Category:1300s in the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Catalan Company]]
[[Category:1300s in the Middle East]]
[[Category:1303 in Asia]]
[[Category:1307 in Asia]]
[[Category:Campaigns of the Byzantine Empire]]
[[Category:Rebellions against the Byzantine Empire]]