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Catalan Campaign in Asia Minor | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
![]() Catalan Company until 1305)[1] |
Various Anatolian Turkish Beyliks Catalan Company (after 1305)[1] | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
![]() ![]() Roger de Flor (before 1305) |
Roger de Flor X (1305) Berenguer d'Entença | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
10,900 in total (see "strength of forces") | 30,000 men, according to Ramon Muntaner | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Only about 1,500 Catalans remained, according to Ramon Muntaner | 18,000 supposedly lay dead, according to Ramon Muntaner |
In 1303, the Byzantine Emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus hired 6,500 Catalan mercenaries under Roger de Flor[2] 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.[3] At 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 Catalans,[2] the mercenaries began a two-year pillage in revenge and crossed over to Thrace and Macedonia under the command of their new leader, Berenguer d'Entença,[3] where further raiding occurred. As a result of this brutality, the Company was excommunicated by Pope Clement V.[3] Eventually the Catalan mercenaries claimed the Duchy of Athens for themselves in 1311 and would remain there until 1379,[3] 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.
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