Navarrese Company

The Navarrese Company (Spanish: Compañía navarra) was a company of mercenaries, mostly from Navarre and Gascony, which fought in Greece during the late 14th century and early 15th century, in the twilight of Frankish power in the dwindling remnant of the Latin Empire. "Navarrese Company" is an informal, modern, and somewhat inaccurate term for these soldiers.

The first Navarrese Company was formed to fight for Charles II of Navarre against Charles V of France. In 1366, after peace was made, the mercenaries were organised into a coherent company of soldiers under Louis, Count of Beaumont-le-Roger in his own right and Duke of Durazzo in right of his wife, Joanna. Louis was a brother of Charles of Navarre, who supported his endeavour to recapture lost Durazzo and the regnum Albaniae. Charles of France likewise aided him with 50,000 ducats.

In 1372, the Navarrese ranks began to swell through the recruiting techniques of Enguerrand VII de Coucy, who was hired to form a force of 500 lances and 500 cavalry archers, mostly from Gascony. Though these soldiers were recruited for service in Albania, they were first organised in Naples. In 1375 and 1376, many men from Navarre began enlisting and travelled directly to Albania to join their countrymen. The enrollment lists for those years have been preserved in Pamplona and reveal the important presence of many engineers. The total number of men which left Tortosa between February 1375 and June 1376 was in the thousands. They were paid thirty gold Aragonese florins a month.

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