Almogavars
Encyclopedia
Crown of Aragon
The Crown of Aragon Corona d'Aragón Corona d'Aragó Corona Aragonum controlling a large portion of the present-day eastern Spain and southeastern France, as well as some of the major islands and mainland possessions stretching across the Mediterranean as far as Greece...
, well-known during the Christian Reconquista
Reconquista
The Reconquista was a period of almost 800 years in the Middle Ages during which several Christian kingdoms succeeded in retaking the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula broadly known as Al-Andalus...
(reconquest) of the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
. They were much employed as mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Latin Greece and the Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
during the 13th and 14th centuries.
History
The Almogavars came mainly from the mountain regions of AragonAragon
Aragon is a modern autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. Located in northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces : Huesca, Zaragoza, and Teruel. Its capital is Zaragoza...
, Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
and, to a lesser extent, from Navarre
Navarre
Navarre , officially the Chartered Community of Navarre is an autonomous community in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Country, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and Aquitaine in France...
. They were frontiersmen and foot-soldiers who wore no armour, dressed in skins, were shod with brogues (abarcas), and carried the arms similar to those of Roman
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
legionaries: two heavy javelin
Javelin
A Javelin is a light spear intended for throwing. It is commonly known from the modern athletic discipline, the Javelin throw.Javelin may also refer to:-Aviation:* ATG Javelin, an American-Israeli civil jet aircraft, under development...
s, or azconas in Spanish language, and a short stabbing sword.
They were professional soldiers, and served kings, the Roman Catholic Church, nobles, or towns for pay; eventually they also hired themselves out to the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. When Peter III of Aragon
Peter III of Aragon
Peter the Great was the King of Aragon of Valencia , and Count of Barcelona from 1276 to his death. He conquered Sicily and became its king in 1282. He was one of the greatest of medieval Aragonese monarchs.-Youth and succession:Peter was the eldest son of James I of Aragon and his second wife...
made war on Charles of Anjou after the Sicilian Vespers
Sicilian Vespers
The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to the successful rebellion on the island of Sicily that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I, who had ruled the Kingdom of Sicily since 1266. Within six weeks three thousand French men and women were slain by...
of March 30, 1282 for the possession of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, the Almogavars formed the most effective element of his army. Their discipline and ferocity, the force with which they hurled their javelins, and their activity, made them very formidable to the heavy cavalry of the Angevin
Anjou
Anjou is a former county , duchy and province centred on the city of Angers in the lower Loire Valley of western France. It corresponds largely to the present-day département of Maine-et-Loire...
armies. They fought against cavalry by attacking firstly horses instead of knights. Once the knight was on the ground he was an easy victim for the Almogavar.
When the Peace of Caltabellotta
Peace of Caltabellotta
The Peace of Caltabellotta, signed on 31 August, 1302, was the last of a series of treaties, including those of Tarascon and Anagni, designed to end the conflict between the Houses of Anjou and Barcelona for ascendancy in the Mediterranean and especially Sicily and the Mezzogiorno.The peace divided...
in 1302 ended the war in southern Italy, the Almogavars, under the leadership of Roger de Flor
Roger de Flor
Roger de Flor , also known as Ruggero/Ruggiero da Fiore or Rutger von Blum or Ruggero Flores, was a military adventurer active in Sicily, Italy and the Byzantine Empire...
("Roger Blum", a former Knight Templar
Knights Templar
The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon , commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders...
), formed the Catalan Company
Catalan Company
The Catalan Company of the East , officially the Magnas Societas Catalanorum, sometimes called the Grand Company and widely known as the Catalan Company, was a free company of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor in the early 14th-century...
in the service of the emperor of the East, Andronicus II Palaeologus, to fight against the Turks
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. Both kings of Aragon and Sicily agreed with the idea since peace had been reached and it was viable alternative to having the Almogavar standing army unemployed in their realms.
Their campaign in Asia Minor
Asia Minor
Asia Minor is a geographical location at the westernmost protrusion of Asia, also called Anatolia, and corresponds to the western two thirds of the Asian part of Turkey...
during 1303 and 1304 was a series of military victories, but alongside widespread looting of Byzantine civilians, so when they insisted in receiving the agreed payment, the Emperor refused. Thereafter the Almogavars turned to violence, making their presence intolerable to the Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
population. Roger de Flor and his lieutenants were assassinated by orders of the Emperor in 1305 while meeting to discuss terms on their compensation, presumably on the instigation of Genoese merchants, who were conspiring to keep their own position of influence and power and keep the Catalans out of the loop. This betrayal resulted in the Almogavars ravaging the neighbourhood of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
.
Subsequently they marched against the Duchy of Athens
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade, encompassing the regions of Attica and Boeotia, and surviving until its conquest by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century....
, under the rule of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
House of Brienne. Duke Walter V of Brienne
Walter V of Brienne
Gautier or Walter V of Brienne was born in Brienne-le-Château, Aube, Champagne, France. He was the son of Hugh de Candie des Brienne, known as Hugh of Brienne, Count of Brienne and Lecce, and Isabella de la Roche, daughter of Guy I of la Roche, Duke of Athens...
was defeated and slain by the Almogavars with all his knights at the Battle of the Cephissus, or Orchomenus, in Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...
in March 1310. They then divided the wives and possessions of the Frenchmen by lot, and summoned a prince of the house of Aragon to rule over them.
The foundation of the Aragonese rule over the duchy of Athens was to be the culminating achievement of the Almogavars. Although the duchy eventually fell to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, even today the King of Spain still holds the title of 'Duke of Athens and Neopatria'.
Etymology
The origin of the word Almogavar is not clear. Like most Iberian words beginning with the prefix "al-", it is likely to be derived from the Arabic languageArabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. Catalan sources claim that the word "Almogàver" is based on the name al-mughawwar, meaning «els que provoquen algarades» ("the ones wreaking havoc") given to them by the Saracens. When they made brief incursions (lasting one or two days) of about twelve men into Muslim-controlled territory, they were led by the "Adalí" (Arabic ad-dalla, "guide"). The captain of a large squadron was known in Catalan as "Almogaten" (Arabic al-muqaddam, "captain").
Other sources claim that the word Almogavar may come from the Arabic "al-muqafir," a "raider" or "devastator".
The battle cry of the Almogàvers(In Catalan)
- Aur! Aur! Desperta ferro!
- Deus aia!
- ...
- Veyentnos sols venir, los pobles ja flamejen:
- veyentnos sols passar, son bech los corbs netejen.
- La guerra y lo saqueig, no hi ha mellors plahers.
- Avant, almugavers! Que avisin als fossers!
- La veu del somatent nos crida ja a la guerra.
- Fadigues, plujes, neus, calors resistirem,
- y si'ns abat la sòn, pendrèra per llit la terra,
- y si'ns rendeix la fam carn crua menjarem!
- Desperta ferro! Avant! Depressa com lo llamp
- cayèm sobre son camp!
- Almugavers, avant! Anem allí a fer carn!
- Les feres tenen fam!
Meaning: Listen! listen! Wake up, O iron! Help us God!...Just seeing us coming the villages are already ablaze. Just seeing us passing the crows are wiping their beaks. War and plunder, there are no greater pleasures. Forward Almogavars! Let them call the gravediggers! The voice of the somatent is calling us to war. Weariness, rains, snow and heat we shall endure. And if sleep overtakes us, we will use the earth as our bed. And if we get hungry, we shall eat raw meat. Wake up, O iron! Forward! Fast as the lightning let us fall over their camp! Forward Almogavars! Let us go there to make flesh, the wild beasts are hungry!