Editing Almogavars (section)

=== Catalan Company ===
{{Main|Catalan Company}}
In 1302, the [[Peace of Caltabellotta]] ended the war in southern Italy. 4,000 Almogavars, under the leadership of [[Roger de Flor]] ("Roger Blum", a former [[Knights Templar|Knight Templar]]), formed the [[Catalan Company]] in the service of the [[Byzantine Emperors|Emperor of the East]], [[Andronicus II Palaeologus]]. This company was organized to fight against the [[Ottoman Empire|Turks]], defending the [[Byzantine Empire]]. Both kings of Aragon and Sicily agreed with this strategy as a viable alternative to having the Almogavar army standing unemployed in their realms.

The [[Catalan campaign in Asia Minor|Almogavar campaign in Asia Minor]] to drive back Turks took place in 1303 and 1304, and began with a series of great military victories that drove them back from [[Alaşehir|Philadelphia]] to [[Cyzicus]] and in doing so brought great destruction to the Anatolian landscape. When the Almogavars insisted in receiving the agreed payment, the Byzantine Emperor refused. In 1305, Roger de Flor and his lieutenants were assassinated by orders of the Emperor while meeting to discuss terms on their compensation. This assassination may have been instigated by [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] merchants, who were conspiring to keep their own position of influence and power.

This betrayal resulted in the surviving Almogavars, who resisted for two years a siege in [[Gallipoli]] and concentrated on the region of [[Thrace]], leading off the Catalan Revenge, a war of extermination and systematic looting against the civilian population of the Byzantine Empire between 1305 and 1307 in revenge and retaliation for the murder of Roger de Flor and the attempted annihilation of the company while it was stationed at Gallipoli.<ref>"La Venjança catalana". ''Gran Enciclopèdia Catalana''.</ref>