Everything about Roger De Flor totally explained
Roger de Flor (
1267 –
April 30,
1305), also known as
Rutger von Blum, was a military adventurer active in Sicily, Italy and the Byzantine Empire.
Life
He was born in
Brindisi, Italy, and was the second son of a
German falconer named Richard von Blum (
Blume means
flower in
German) in the service of the
Hohenstaufen rulers of southern Italy.
At eight years old he was sent to sea in a
galley belonging to the
Knights Templars. He entered the order and became captain of a galley. After rescuing wealthy survivors during the
siege of Acre by the
Mamluk Sultan
Al-Ashraf Khalil in 1291 to Cyprus, following some intrigues and personal disputes he was accused of robbery and denounced to the
pope as a thief and an
apostate. This resulted in his relegation from the order. Roger fled to
Genoa, where he borrowed a considerable sum from Ticino Doria, purchased a new vessel and began to play the
pirate.
The struggle between the
kings of Aragon and the French
kings of Naples for the possession of
Sicily was at this time going on; and Roger by then one of the most experienced military commanders of his time, was called to the service of
Frederick, king of Sicily, who gave him the rank of
vice-admiral. When the treaty of Caltabellotta brought the war to an end in 1302. Frederick was unwilling and unable to keep a mercenary army and was anxious to free the island from troops (called
Almogàvers), whom he'd no longer the means of paying, Given the current political and military situation Roger found an opportunity to make his services useful in the east in fighting against the
Ottoman Turks, who were ravaging the
Byzantine Empire.
The emperor
Andronicus II Palaeologus of the Byzantine Empire was facing siege by the Ottoman Turks, an islamic tribe approaching the capital of his empire after defeating his armies and ransacking most of his domains. Looking for assistance from the European kingdoms he made Roger an offer of service along with the
Almogavar army under his command. In September 1303 Roger with his fleet and army, now known as the
Catalan Company, arrived at
Constantinople. He was adopted into the imperial family, was married to the emperor's niece Maria Asenina (daughter of
Ivan Asen III of Bulgaria), and was made grand duke (
megas doux) and commander-in-chief of the army and the fleet.
Facing strong opposition from the powerful Genoese, some weeks past lost in dissipation, intrigues, and bloody quarrels against the Genoese who were intended in keeping him out of the loops of power, Roger and his men were sent into
Asia, reportedly beat the Turks back as far as Armenia and Iran. After these successful encounters with the Turks they went into winter quarters at
Cyzicus. In May 1304 they again took the field, and rendered the important service of relieving
Philadelphia, then invested and reduced to extremities by the Turks. Given his position of unchalenged military power he was accused of serving his own interest intead of those the emperor because he was determined to found in the East a principality for himself. He sent his treasures to
Magnesia, but the people slew his
Catalans and seized the treasures. He then formed the siege of the town, but his attacks were repulsed, and he was compelled to retire.
Being recalled to
Europe, he settled his troops in
Gallipoli and other towns, and visited Constantinople to demand pay for the
Almogàvers. Dissatisfied with the small sum granted by the emperor, he plundered the country and carried on intrigues both with and against the emperor, receiving reinforcements all the while from all parts of southern Europe. Roger was created Caesar in April
1305, but shortly afterwards the young emperor
Michael Palaeologus, not daring to attack the fierce and now augmented bands of adventurers, invited Roger to
Adrianople, and there contrived his assassination and the massacre of his Catalan
cavalry (
April 30,
1305) by his Alan troops. His death was avenged by his men in a fierce and prolonged war against the Greeks.
Literature
The early history of the Catalan Company was chronicled by
Ramon Muntaner, a member of the company, in his
Crònica.
The life of Roger de Flor inspired the fictional character of
Tirant lo Blanc, an epic romance written by
Joanot Martorell, published in
Valencia in 1490. It is one of the best known medieval works of literature in the
Catalan language, and played an important role in the evolution of the Western novel thanks to its influence on
Miguel de Cervantes.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Roger De Flor'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://roger_de_flor.totallyexplained.com">Roger de Flor Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
