The Catalan Company or the Great Catalan Company was a company of mercenaries led by Roger de Flor in the early 14th century and hired by Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos to combat the incr
Manuscript of the Crònica of Ramon Muntaner
Peter III the Great with his almogavars in the Battle of the Col de Panissars. Bartomeu Ribó Térriz (1866)
Roger de Flor is received by the Byzantine emperor. Entrance of Roger de Flor in Constantinople (1888). Work of José Moreno Carbonero (Palace of the Senate, Madrid).
Seal of the Grand Catalan Company, c. 1305
The War of the Sicilian Vespers, also shortened to the War of the Vespers, was a conflict waged by several medieval European kingdoms over control of Sicily from 1282 to 1302. The war, which started w
Catalan Company
…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…
A scene of the Sicilian Vesper by Francesco Hayez
Peter III of Aragon disembarks at Trapani, a miniature from the Nuova Cronica of chronicler Giovanni Villani
14th century fresco depicting the French siege of Girona in 1285
Pope Boniface VIII, elected in 1295, was heavily involved in ending fighting between Aragon and Angevin Naples. His diplomatic efforts were focused on enforcing the temporal power of the church and with securing the papal right to hold Sicily as a vassal state.