ABSTRACT
The Catalan Company was a mercenary force hired in 1303 by the Byzantine emperor Andronicus II Palaeologus to fight the Turks in western Asia Minor. Its relations with the Empire turned into military confrontation in 1305, when it was stationed at Gallipoli. Until 1310 the Company moved from that city westward in stages, causing widespread devastation across the European territories of Byzantium. In 1311 it conquered the Frankish Duchy of Athens, in which its members settled and established a state that survived for some 75 years. 1
