Almogávares (in Spanish) or Almogàvers (in Catalan) (from the Arabic Al-Mugavari, a scout), the name of a class of Spanish soldiers, well known during the Christian reconquest of Spain, and much employed as mercenaries in Italy and the Levant, during the 13th and 14th centuries. Catalan (Català, Valencià) is a Romance language understood by as many as 12 million people in portions of Spain, France, Andorra and Italy, although the majority of active Catalan speakers are in Spain. ... Arabic (العربية) is a Semitic language, closely related to Hebrew and Aramaic. ... The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ...

The Almogávares (the plural of Almogavar) came originally from the Pyrenees, and were in later times recruited mainly in Navarre, Aragon and Catalonia. They were frontiersmen and foot-soldiers who wore no armour, dressed in skins, were shod with brogues (abarcas), and carried the same arms as the Roman legionaries-two heavy javelins (assegai, Spanish azagaya, Catalan atzagaia, the Roman pilum), a short stabbing sword and a shield. Central Pyrenees The Pyrenees (French: Pyrénées; Spanish: Pirineos; Occitan: Pirenèus or Pirenèas; Catalan Pirineus; Aragonese: Perinés; Basque: Pirinioak) are a range of mountains in southwest Europe that form a natural border between France and Spain. ... Navarre (Spanish Navarra, Basque Nafarroa) is an autonomous community and province of Spain. ... Capital Zaragoza Area  â€“ Total  â€“ % of Spain Ranked 4th  47 719 km²  9,4% Population  â€“ Total (2003)  â€“ % of Spain  â€“ Density Ranked 11th  1 217 514  2,9%  25,51/km² Demonym  â€“ English  â€“ Spanish  Aragonese  aragonés Statute of Autonomy August 16, 1982 ISO 3166-2 AR Parliamentary representation  â€“ Congress seats  â€“ Senate... Capital Barcelona Official languages Spanish and Catalan In Val dAran, also Aranese. ... An assegai or assagai (from Berber as-zahayah, through Portuguese azagaia) is a weapon for throwing or hurling, a light spear or javelin made of wood and pointed with iron, particularly the spear used by the Zulu and other tribes tribes of southern Africa. ...

They served the king, the nobles, the church or the towns for pay, and were professional soldiers. When Peter III of Aragon made war on Charles of Anjou after the Sicilian Vespers--March 30, 1282--for the possession of Naples and Sicily, the Almogávares formed the most effective element of his army. Their discipline and ferocity, the force with which they hurled their javelins, and their activity, made them very formidable to the heavy cavalry of the Angevin armies. Peter III of Aragon (1239 - November 11, 1285, also Peter I of Valencia, Peter II of Barcelona), known as the Great, was the king of Aragon and Valencia and count of Barcelona from 1276 to 1285. ... Charles I (March 1227 - January 7, 1285) was the posthumous son of King Louis VIII of France, created Count of Anjou by his elder brother King Louis IX in 1246, thus founding the second Angevin dynasty. ... The Sicilian Vespers is the name given to a rebellion in Sicily, in 1282 against the rule of the Angevin king Charles I, who had taken control of the island with Papal support in 1266. ... March 30 is the 89th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (90th in Leap years). ... Events English conquest of Wales begins under Edward I of England Sicilian Vespers - Sicilians rebel against Charles of Anjou and are aided by Peter III of Aragon Births Pope Innocent VI Deaths August 25 - Thomas Cantilupe, Bishop of Hereford October 13 - Nichiren December 11 - Llywelyn the Last, Prince of Wales... Angevin is the name applied to three distinct medieval dynasties which originated as counts (from 1360, dukes) of the western French province of Anjou (of which angevin is the adjectival form), but later came to rule far greater areas including England, Hungary and Poland (see Angevin Empire). ...

When the peace of Calatabellota in 1302 ended the war in southern Italy, the Almogávares followed Roger de Flor (Roger Blum), the unfrocked Templar, entering as the Catalan Company in the service of the emperor of the East, Andronicus, as condottieri to fight against the Turks. Roger de Flor, a military adventurer of the 13th and 14th century, was the second son of a German falconer surnamed Blum (flower) in the service of the emperor Frederick II, who fell at Tagliacozzo (1268). ... The Seal of the Knights — the two riders have been interpreted as a sign of poverty or the duality of monk/soldier. ... The Oriental Catalan Company, or the Grand Company, was founded by Roger de Flor (who inspired the medieval tale of Tirant lo Blanc) after the Peace of Caltabellotta in 1302 had left jobless the soldiers from Catalonia and French dynasty of French in 1282. ... This is a list of Byzantine Emperors. ... Andronicus II Palaeologus (1260 - February 13, 1332), Byzantine emperor, was the elder son of Michael VIII Palaeologus, whom he succeeded in 1282. ...

Their campaign in Asia Minor, 1303 and 1304, was a series of romantic victories, but their greed and violence made them intolerable to the Christian population. When Roger de Flor was assassinated by his Greek employer in 1305, they turned on the emperor, held Gallipoli and ravaged the neighbourhood of Constantinople. The term Christian means belonging to Christ and is derived from the Greek noun Χριστός Khristós which means anointed one, which is itself a translation of the Hebrew word Moshiach (Hebrew: משיח, also written Messiah), (and in Arabic it is pronounced Maseeh مسيح). Christian is primarily an adjective, describing an object associated... Gallipoli, called Gelibolu in modern Turkish, is a town in northwestern Turkey. ... Map of Constantinople. ...

In 1310 they marched against the duke of Athens, of the French house of Brienne. Walter V of Brienne was defeated and slain by them with all his knights at the battle of Cephissus, or Orchomenus, in Boeotia in March. They then divided the wives and possessions of the Frenchmen by lot and summoned a prince of the house of Aragon to rule over them. The Duchy of Athens was one of the Crusader States set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade. ... Walter V of Brienne (c. ... Boeotia (Greek Βοιωτια) was the central area of ancient Greece. ...

The foundation of the Aragonese duchy of Athens was the culmination of the achievements of the Almogávares. In the 16th century the name died out. It was, however, revived for a short time as a party nickname in the civil wars of the reign of Ferdinand VII. Ferdinand VII (October 14, 1784 - September 29, 1833) was King of Spain from 1813 to 1833. ...

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. (Redirected from 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica) The Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1911) in many ways represents the sum of knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century. ...

References

Morris, Paul N., ' "We Have Met Devils!" The Almogavars of James I and Peter III of Catalonia-Aragon', Anistoriton v. 4 (2000) [1]