Catalan company... who were they?

Hello All,
Just wondering if anyone can give me a description of the catalon company and what Almogavers were?

As far as I know, the almog�vares (Arabic for scouts) were a type of mounted infantery, mostly from the Pyrenees, who seem to have used about the same military equipement that ancient Iberians had: two spears and a sword. They were the best fighting in open field but had no abilities defending fortifications (thy defended Gallipoli marching out). Their most common tactic was to rip the soft belly of horses, forcing then the knights or other cavalry to fight on foot, where they were clearly superior.

Apart of the famous Catalan Company, there was also a Navarrese Company, first sent there to conquer Albania for the Sicilian monarchs.

Originally posted by Surenas How were they used with knights? did they charge with the kngihts? what where spainish knights like?

They did not charge: they were infantery (mounted but infantery anyhow). As I described above they force knights to fight on foot, where they were superior normally. I don't know they ever fought with knights but if they did, they probably divided the battlefield in areas of action.

Spanish knights were like any other knights, I guess. But these weren't the backbone of Aragonese or (later) Spanish expansion. They played a role in the Reconquista wars, specially the military orders (Santiago, Calatrava, etc.) but later Aragon and Spain managed to create modern armies that had most of the weight in the infantery (halbardiers, musketeers) and artillery.

The period of Catalan (Aragonese) expansion in the Mediterranean is probably more modern (early Renaissance) than medieval, at least in the military sense. Also Catalonia wasn't just the typical feudal kingdom... in some senses it was more like the Mediterranean republics of Italy, with a constitutional monarchical structure, which may help to explain why so many free peasants were capillarly recruited to the army. Remember that these almog�vares came from the north were feudalism wasn't the norm but the exception.

 Its a shame the Catalans didn't return its Anatolian conquests to Byzantium as they should of or atleast as the Emperor should of insisted upon. The Catalans would then of easily recieve their pay and De Flor could probably have created a small Catalan state in Asia Minor for himself without any problems.

 The Catalans are the kind of mercenaries who are stereotypical to what mercenaries are seen as, self-selving, ultimately disloyal and most dangerously of all more effective than your own army so can turn against you at any moment. Byzantium truly unleashed a force it could not hope to control and which in the end did more harm than good.

Originally posted by Heraclius  Its a shame the Catalans didn't return its Anatolian conquests to Byzantium as they should of or atleast as the Emperor should of insisted upon. The Catalans would then of easily recieve their pay and De Flor could probably have created a small Catalan state in Asia Minor for himself without any problems.  The Catalans are the kind of mercenaries who are stereotypical to what mercenaries are seen as, self-selving, ultimately disloyal and most dangerously of all more effective than your own army so can turn against you at any moment. Byzantium truly unleashed a force it could not hope to control and which in the end did more harm than good.

Why is it a shame? It's exactly the same as with the Crusaders... in fact all that wasn't but the late upbeat of the Crusades: when you aren't able to defend yourself and need to call for help... then you are totally sold - and expect the helpers to help themselves more than anything else.


Edited by Maju