Rutger von Blum , known under the name of Roger de Flor (Brindes, Italy, ~1266 - Turkey-red cotton, Byzantine Empire, 1305) is a knight of German origin and the chief of the Almogavres.

Biography

It was the son of Richard de Flor, falconer of the Germanic emperor Frederic (Friedrich) II of Hohenstaufen, which died as a combatant against Charles of Anjou to the battles of Tagliacozzo, and of an young woman of Brindisi, where it was born and grows with his brother.

He became knight of the Ordre of the Temple and took part in the last Croisade; he was distinguished by defending Saint-Jean-D' Acre (Palestine) and by evacuating the Christians at the time of the catch of the city by the Moslems (1291). Thereafter, the Templiers showed it to have diverted part of their treasures and expelled it Order. Tie profit of its military experiment, he became mercenary and was put at the service of the king Frederic (Fadric) II of Sicily, wire of Pierre (Father) the III Large of Aragon.

Frederic appointed it captain of the companies of Almogavre S (almogàvers), catalano-Aragonese mercenaries who had taken part in the conquest of Valence and Majorque on behalf of the Couronne of Aragon and which helped to consolidate the Aragonese presence in Sicily against the Maison of Anjou (defense of Messine, 1301).

The year following the Peace of Caltabellotta (1302) between Charles II of Anjou and Frederic II of Sicily, Roger de Flor proposed his services with the Byzantine emperor Andronic II Paleologist, to help it to fight the Turks who broke in the Greek Empire and threatened to besiege Constantinople. The Emperor reached his request and the captain arrived at the head of a forwarding of four thousand Almogavres and thirty-nine ships, constituting Large the Catalan Compagnie. He entered immediately in action and destroys Génois of Constantinople for the greatest joy of the Emperor, irritated of their supervision. Then in 1304 it passed in Anatolia and took the towns of Philadelphia, Magnésie and Éphèse, pushing back the Turks until in Cilicie, towards the mounts of Taurus. To reward it for its services, Andronic, in spite of certain abuses the Catalan soldiers against the Greeks, named it Mégaduc (Lord High Admiral of the imperial fleet), and gave him the hand of his/her niece Marie, girl of her Irene sister and the tsar détrôné Jean Asen III of Bulgaria ¹. But the Emperor was frightened by the ambitions of Roger de Flor who wanted to set up as a sovereign of the territories that it had conquered in Asia Mineure. After negotiations, Andronic conceded the title of César of the Empire and the seigniory of the Byzantine territories to him of Anatolia, except for the cities. The increasing ambition of Roger de Flor and his growing influence ended up upsetting Michel IX, oldest son of Andronic II, associated with the government of the Empire. This one attracted it in Andrinople and made it assassinate during a banquet, at the same time as a hundred and thirty chiefs almogavres (April 5th, 1305), in the intention to then attack the remainder of its troops. But it could not conclude its stratagem, because Almogavres chose new chiefs and launched out in violent reprisals. Under the command of Berenguer d' Entença, they moved towards Constantinople and shaved all that they found on their passage in Thrace and Macedonia; it is what one called. Thereafter, they mixed with the internal conflicts with the Empire and benefitted from it to seize the duchies Athens and Néopatrie in the name of the Crown Aragon, duchies which were lost only in 1390.

Roger de Flor was very popular at his contemporaries thanks to the Chronique of Ramon Muntaner, in which this one brings back this extraordinary forwarding in which it took part. Roger de Flor converts himself into a mythical figure for the Catalans and was used as model essential with the hero of Joanot Martorell in his Drawing the White .

note

¹ Irene had married Jean Asen III, tsar of Bulgarian the, in 1278. This one died in 1302 (cf Michel VIII Paleologist).

Internal bonds

• Catalan Company of Roger de Flor
• Almogavres | Almogavres in Gallipoli
• Bernat de Rocafort
• Soldier Almogavres Lead

Bibliography (in French)

• Ramon Muntaner, '' Almogavres. The forwarding of the Catalans in the East '', Anacharsis Editions, 2002.

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