History behind the song Catalan Vengeance
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The Grand Catalan Company by Friar Thomas Bacon [1]
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Wikipedia: Battle of the Cephissus [2]
_from The Grand, Combined Yosef Alaric/Pre-Dawn Leftist "Megafilk" Songbook
Volume 1. Tenth Anniversary Edition._
Moses ben Eldad wrote this song based on an actual battle that occurred in
Eastern Greece in 1311 and was known as the Battle of Kephissos River. The
Catalan Grand Company, mercenary spear with some light cavalry, were evicted
in Sicily in 1305 and took service with the Byzantine Emperor.
When the Emperor killed their captain, Roger de Flori, by treachery, the
Company turned bandits to ravage the hills of Morea for half a decade.
Walter of Brienne, Duke of Athens, led an army to crush the Catalans. True
to his training in French Chivalry, he ordered a charge before scouting the
terrain, trapping his army in a marsh that had been formed when the Catalans
opened an aqueduct and was killed with his followers. The Latin Kingdoms of
Greece, leaderless, were soon destroyed and replaced by a government formed
by the Catalans.
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from Warfare in the Balkans-Medieval-1000 to 1453 (no longer active
members.aol.com/_ht_a/balkandave/wbmedivl.htm)
"With Michael's death the new Emperor Andronicus II allowed the army and
navy to deteriorate. In 1302 after being defeated by the first arrival of
Ottoman forces at Nicomedia he hired the Catalan Company. This was a
mercenary company of some 6000 troops led by Roger De Flor.(8) After a
successful campaign against the Turks, Roger was murdered by Alans at
Adrianople in 1305. The Catalan vengeance resulted in the devastation of
Thrace and much of northern Greece. Walter, Duke of Athens employed the
company in 1310. However, he failed to pay them and they rebelled. At armies
clashed at Kephissos in 1311 when Walter's knights charged into a mire
created by the Catalans. The light infantry Almogavars who formed the bulk
of the Catalan company destroyed the Latins. They went on to conquer Athens
establishing themselves there until its capture in 1388.
(8)The history and organisation of the Catalan Company is set out in Paul
Burton's article The Catalan Adventure, Slingshot 192 July 1997 "
_(used with permission)_
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For more information:
Catalan Company (1302-1388 AD)(a wargaming site) [3]
Cathal mac Edan na faeled provided this booklist:
My favorite source on the matter is: The Catalan Vengence by Alfonso Lowe
(London, Routledge & Keegan Paul, 1972 ISBN: 0 7100 7323 2.
Others include:
Catalan Domination of Athens, 1311-1388, by Kenneth Meyer Setton.
The Rise of the Aragonese-Catalan Empire, 1200-1350, by Jerome Lee Shneidman
The Problem of a Catalan Mediterranean Empire, 1229-1327, by J. N.
Hillgarth.
Back to the song
Back to Main Songbook Page
1: http://www.baronyofvatavia.org/articles/hisfig/catalan042003as37.php
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Cephissus
3: http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~kuijt/dba165/dba165.html