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The Battle of Halmyros, known by older scholars as the Battle of the Cephissus or Battle of Orchomenos, was fought on 15 March 1311 between the forces of the Frankish Duchy of Athens and its vassals under Walter of Brienne and the mercenaries of the Catalan Company, resulting in a devastating victory for the Catalans. Engaged in conflict with their original employers, the Byzantine Empire, the Catalan Company had traversed the southern Balkans and arrived in southern Greece in 1309. The new Duke of Athens, Walter of Brienne, hired them to attack the Greek ruler of neighbouring Thessaly. Although the Catalans conquered much of the region for him, Walter refused to pay them the salaries owed, and prepared to forcibly expel them from their gains. The two armies met at Halmyros in southern Thessaly (or at the Boeotic Cephissus, near Orchomenos, according to an earlier interpretation). The Catalans were considerably outnumbered and weakened by the reluctance of their Turkish auxiliaries to fight. The Company did have the advantage of selecting the battleground, positioning themselves behind marshy terrain, which they further inundated with water. On the Athenian side, many of the most important lords of Frankish Greece were present and Walter, a prideful man and confident in the prowess of his heavy cavalry, proceeded to charge headlong against the Catalan line. The marsh impeded the Frankish attack and the Catalan infantry stood firm. The Turks, seeing that battle was joined in earnest, re-joined the Company, and the Frankish army was routed; Walter and almost the entire knighthood of his realm fell in the field. As a result of the battle, the leaderless Duchy of Athens was taken over by the Catalans, who ruled that part of Greece until the 1380s. == Background == In 1309, the Burgundian noble Walter of Brienne was selected as the Duke of Athens in Frankish Greece after the death of Guy II de la Roche. At that time the Greek world was in turmoil owing to the actions of the Catalan Company. These were a group of mercenaries, veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, originally hired by the Byzantine Empire against the Turks in Asia Minor. Soon, however, mutual suspicion and quarrels brought about an open conflict; evicted from their base in Gallipoli in 1307, the Catalans marched west through Thrace and Macedonia, until, pressed by Byzantine troops under Chandrenos, they entered Thessaly in early 1309. The arrival of the marauding Company, some 8,000 strong, in Thessaly caused concern to the region's Greek ruler, John II Doukas. Having just availed himself of the death of Guy II to throw off the tutelage of the Dukes of Athens, John turned to Byzantium and the other Greek principality, the state of Epirus, for aid. Defeated by the Greeks, the Catalans agreed to pass peacefully through Thessaly to the south, towards the Frankish principalities of southern Greece. Walter of Brienne, who in his youth had fought against the Catalans in Italy, spoke Catalan and had gained the Catalans' respect, now hired the Company for six months against the Greeks, at a high price: four ounces of gold for every heavy cavalryman, two for every light cavalryman and one for every infantryman, with two months' payment in advance. Turning back, the Catalans captured the town of Domokos and some thirty other fortresses, and plundered the rich plain of Thessaly, forcing the Greek states to come to terms with Walter. The Catalans gave Walter a remarkable success, which brought him accolades and financial rewards from Pope Clement V, but the Duke now declined to fulfil his end of the deal and pay the remaining four months' pay. Instead, Walter picked the best 200 horsemen and 300 Almogavar infantry from the Company, paid them their arrears and gave them land so that they would remain in his service, while ordering the rest to hand over their conquests and depart his lands. In response, the Catalans offered to recognize him as their lord if they were allowed to keep some of the land they had taken to establish themselves, but Walter rejected their proposal and began preparations to expel them by force. To this purpose, the Duke of Athens assembled a large army, comprising his own feudatories—among them the most prominent were Albert Pallavicini, Margrave of Bodonitsa, Thomas III d'Autremencourt, Lord of Salona and Marshal of Achaea, and the barons of Euboea, Boniface of Verona, George I Ghisi and John of Maisy—as well as reinforcements sent from the other principalities of Frankish Greece. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Halmyros」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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