Catalan Company

The Catalan Company of the East (Catalan: Companyia Catalana d'Orient, IPA: [kumpəˈɲi.ə kətəˈɫanə ðuɾiˈen]), officially the Magna 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.

De Flor recruited soldiers left unemployed with the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302 by the Crown of Aragon, who opposed the French dynasty of Anjou.

In 1303 de Flor offered the services of his Company to the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus and his son the Basileus Michael IX Palaeologus. The Orthodox Byzantine Empire was under threat by the Turks, who were invading Anatolia and established the mighty Sultanate of Rum, whose name expressed succeeding to the '[Eastern] Roman' empire.

Roger de Flor's offer was accepted by both Byzantium and by the Crown of Aragon, rulers in Sicily and southern Italy, who were quite eager to rid themselves of unemployed and unruly soldiers. Roger de Flor departed with 39 galleys and transports carrying around 1,500 knights and 4,000 Almogavars, special foot soldiers employed mainly serving the kingdom's interests in the Mediterranean Sea, especially from Catalonia, Valencia and Aragon.

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