Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
🎥 Watch 250+ exclusive videos on Youtube ► youtube.com/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw/join and ✔ Patreon ► patreon.com/kingsandgenerals
The Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on medieval history continues with a coverage of the Catalan Company. Mercenaries are supposed to fight for coin, not carve out kingdoms—but the Great Catalan Company did both. Born from Aragonese and Sicilian veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, these fearsome light infantrymen—the Almogavars—sailed east into a shattered Mediterranean shaped by the Fourth Crusade, Latin principalities, and Turkic beyliks gnawing at Byzantine Anatolia. Hired by Emperor Andronikos II after the disaster at Bapheus, Roger de Flor’s company arrives in Constantinople, clashes violently with Genoese rivals, and is rushed into Asia Minor. There the Catalans win battles, lift sieges, and terrorize the countryside with shock tactics, sparks on steel, and brutal plunder that turns their “allies” into enemies. In 1305 a palace plot kills Roger at Adrianople—triggering a bloody Catalan vengeance from Gallipoli across Thrace and Macedonia. Leadership feuds follow, but the company’s luck returns in Greece: after being shortchanged, they destroy the Duke of Athens at Halmyros (1311) and seize Athens and Thebes. The video traces their rule, pragmatic alliances with Venice and even former Turkic foes, and their slow decline as Florentine and Navarrese adventurers dismantle Catalan power. By the end, you’ll see why “Catalan” became an insult in parts of Greece—and why Barcelona, Palermo, and Athens share a hidden medieval story.
Rome’s Collapse, Region by Region: youtu.be/QdEO0ckSFC0
Nuragic Civilization: youtu.be/11SqfKmkT6o
Minoan Crete: youtu.be/YFWjtjb8PTQ
Samnites: Rome’s Early Nemesis: youtu.be/BuRn3pWH81g
Arabia Before Islam: Religion, Society, Culture: youtu.be/07OsSSt0ytc
Vandals: youtu.be/-IpbeEW6I9Y
How Rome Conquered Greece: youtu.be/v5q1rerf-qw
Did the Trojan War Really Happen: youtu.be/12eHJL2yRtk
Demosthenes: youtu.be/ABS1iepXG0U
Ancient Greek Politics and Diplomacy: youtu.be/MVnp4NilDLI
Pyrrhic Wars: youtu.be/2QBA6ZPmj3Q
Ancient Macedonia before Alexander the Great and Philip II: youtu.be/FXX1FVYysjQ
Diplomatic Genius of Philip of Macedon: youtu.be/yVTrkESkuTw
Etruscans: youtu.be/FkySjRwUteE
Bosporan Kingdom: youtu.be/ltikjXUiAC4
Ancient Greek State in Bactria: youtu.be/IQATsepKoLE
The Greco-Chinese War Over the Heavenly Horses: youtu.be/g6Rphg_lwwM
Ancient Greek Kingdom in India: youtu.be/ZxJk4KHZxi8
Script: Christos Nicolaou
Animation: Arb Paninken bit.ly/2Ow3oC8
Narration: Liam Taylor
âś” Merch store â–ş teespring.com/stores/kingsandgenerals
âś” Podcast â–ş kingsandgenerals.net/podcast
âś” Twitter â–ş twitter.com/KingsGenerals
âś” Facebook â–ş facebook.com/KingsGenerals
âś” Instagram â–şinstagram.com/Kings_Generals
Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com
00:00:00 - Truth Stranger Than Mercenary Fiction
00:01:55 - Aegean Powder Keg: Latins, Byzantines, Turks
00:03:41 - Almogavars: Shock Tactics & “Light Iron!”
00:04:51 - Byzantium Hires the Catalans (1302–1303)
00:07:05 - Blood in Constantinople: Genoese Massacre
00:08:29 - Adrianople Betrayal & The Catalan Vengeance (1305)
00:11:43 - Paid in War: Halmyros and the Seizure of Athens (1311)
00:18:34 - Decline, Fall, and a Lasting Aegean Legacy
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/10ldDEpTpRt2HcXEM1BuSb2krG_4rST1JyrYGste3-a4/edit?usp=sharing
#Documentary #History #Medieval
🎥 Watch 250+ exclusive videos on Youtube ► youtube.com/channel/UCMmaBzfCCwZ2KqaBJjkj0fw/join and ✔ Patreon ► patreon.com/kingsandgenerals
The Kings and Generals animated historical documentary series on medieval history continues with a coverage of the Catalan Company. Mercenaries are supposed to fight for coin, not carve out kingdoms—but the Great Catalan Company did both. Born from Aragonese and Sicilian veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, these fearsome light infantrymen—the Almogavars—sailed east into a shattered Mediterranean shaped by the Fourth Crusade, Latin principalities, and Turkic beyliks gnawing at Byzantine Anatolia. Hired by Emperor Andronikos II after the disaster at Bapheus, Roger de Flor’s company arrives in Constantinople, clashes violently with Genoese rivals, and is rushed into Asia Minor. There the Catalans win battles, lift sieges, and terrorize the countryside with shock tactics, sparks on steel, and brutal plunder that turns their “allies” into enemies. In 1305 a palace plot kills Roger at Adrianople—triggering a bloody Catalan vengeance from Gallipoli across Thrace and Macedonia. Leadership feuds follow, but the company’s luck returns in Greece: after being shortchanged, they destroy the Duke of Athens at Halmyros (1311) and seize Athens and Thebes. The video traces their rule, pragmatic alliances with Venice and even former Turkic foes, and their slow decline as Florentine and Navarrese adventurers dismantle Catalan power. By the end, you’ll see why “Catalan” became an insult in parts of Greece—and why Barcelona, Palermo, and Athens share a hidden medieval story.
Rome’s Collapse, Region by Region: youtu.be/QdEO0ckSFC0
Nuragic Civilization: youtu.be/11SqfKmkT6o
Minoan Crete: youtu.be/YFWjtjb8PTQ
Samnites: Rome’s Early Nemesis: youtu.be/BuRn3pWH81g
Arabia Before Islam: Religion, Society, Culture: youtu.be/07OsSSt0ytc
Vandals: youtu.be/-IpbeEW6I9Y
How Rome Conquered Greece: youtu.be/v5q1rerf-qw
Did the Trojan War Really Happen: youtu.be/12eHJL2yRtk
Demosthenes: youtu.be/ABS1iepXG0U
Ancient Greek Politics and Diplomacy: youtu.be/MVnp4NilDLI
Pyrrhic Wars: youtu.be/2QBA6ZPmj3Q
Ancient Macedonia before Alexander the Great and Philip II: youtu.be/FXX1FVYysjQ
Diplomatic Genius of Philip of Macedon: youtu.be/yVTrkESkuTw
Etruscans: youtu.be/FkySjRwUteE
Bosporan Kingdom: youtu.be/ltikjXUiAC4
Ancient Greek State in Bactria: youtu.be/IQATsepKoLE
The Greco-Chinese War Over the Heavenly Horses: youtu.be/g6Rphg_lwwM
Ancient Greek Kingdom in India: youtu.be/ZxJk4KHZxi8
Script: Christos Nicolaou
Animation: Arb Paninken bit.ly/2Ow3oC8
Narration: Liam Taylor
âś” Merch store â–ş teespring.com/stores/kingsandgenerals
âś” Podcast â–ş kingsandgenerals.net/podcast
âś” Twitter â–ş twitter.com/KingsGenerals
âś” Facebook â–ş facebook.com/KingsGenerals
âś” Instagram â–şinstagram.com/Kings_Generals
Production Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound: epidemicsound.com
00:00:00 - Truth Stranger Than Mercenary Fiction
00:01:55 - Aegean Powder Keg: Latins, Byzantines, Turks
00:03:41 - Almogavars: Shock Tactics & “Light Iron!”
00:04:51 - Byzantium Hires the Catalans (1302–1303)
00:07:05 - Blood in Constantinople: Genoese Massacre
00:08:29 - Adrianople Betrayal & The Catalan Vengeance (1305)
00:11:43 - Paid in War: Halmyros and the Seizure of Athens (1311)
00:18:34 - Decline, Fall, and a Lasting Aegean Legacy
Sources: docs.google.com/document/d/10ldDEpTpRt2HcXEM1BuSb2krG_4rST1JyrYGste3-a4/edit?usp=sharing
#Documentary #History #Medieval
