Battle of Halmyros, March, 15, 1311

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ

The battle fought on 15 March 1311, between Walter I, duke of Athens, supported by many of the leading knights of Frankish Greece, and the Catalan Company, the duke’s former mercenaries, whom he was trying to dismiss from his service and remove from his duchy.

The battle was decisive in that many members of the French ruling element in central Greece were slaughtered and replaced by the victorious Catalans. Like other battles of the fourteenth century, it demonstrated how well-drilled foot soldiers with crossbow support could trounce an army of mounted knights. The site of the battle is not securely known. The medieval writers RamônMuntaner and Nikephoros Gregoras both located the battle on the marshy plain of the Kephissos in the region of Orchomenos; in this they were followed by all writers before 1940, who thus named the engagement the battle of the Kephissos. In 1940 a hitherto unknown letter of Marino Sanudo came to light; written in 1327, it referred to the battle taking place near Halmyros, presumably at or near the modern town of Halmyros, just south of modern Volos on the Pagasaitic Gulf.

Seal of the Grand Catalan Company, c. 1305.

The Catalan Company, involved in conflict with its original employer, the Byzantine Empire, had crossed the southern Balkans and reached southern Greece in 1309. The new Duke of Athens, Gauthier de Brienne, hired them to attack the Greek ruler of neighboring Thessaly. Although the Catalans conquered much of the region on his behalf, Gauthier refused to pay them and prepared to expel them by force from the lands they had occupied.

The two armies met at Chalmýros in southern Thessaly (or at the Boeotian Kifissos, near Orchomenos, according to an earlier interpretation). On the Athenian side were many of the most important lords of Frankish Greece. The Catalans were significantly fewer in number and weakened by the reluctance of their Turkish allies to fight. However, they had the advantage of choosing the battlefield, placing their army behind marshy land, which they further flooded with water. Gauthier, proud and confident in the superiority of his heavy cavalry, charged head-on against the Catalan line. The marshes hindered the Frankish attack, while the Catalan infantry held its ground. The Turks reunited with the Company, and the Frankish army was defeated, with Gauthier and almost all of his duchy's cavalry falling on the battlefield. The Catalans then took over the headless Duchy of Athens, ruling the region until the 1380s.

After the Fall of Constantinople in 1204, much of Greece was under the control of the Frankish Crusaders and their principalities. The most important of these were the Kingdom of Thessalonica, the Principality of Achaea, and the Duchy of Athens, with Thebes as its capital. Thessalonica proved short-lived and was taken by the restored Greeks, but the remaining Frankish principalities survived and even flourished for most of the 13th century. In his 1908 history of Frankish Greece, the medievalist William Miller writes of the Duchy of Athens that "under the rule of the dukes of the house of de la Roche, trade prospered, industries thrived, and the splendor of the Theban court impressed foreigners who were accustomed to the grandeur and pageantry of much larger states."

On October 5, 1308, the last Duke of Athens from the de la Roche family, Guy II, died without children. His succession was contested, but by mid-1309, the Supreme Court (feudal council) of Achaea chose his cousin, the Burgundian noble Walter de Brienne, as his successor.

At the same time, the Greek world was in turmoil due to the actions of the Catalan Company, a group of mercenaries, veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, who had initially been hired by the Byzantine Empire against the Turks in Asia Minor. Mutual distrust and quarrels led to war with the Byzantines. Expelled from their base in Gallipoli in 1307, the Catalans fought and pillaged their way westward through Thrace and Macedonia until, pressured by Byzantine forces under Handrinus, they entered Thessaly in early 1309. The last leader of the company, Bernat de Rocafort, had envisioned restoring the Kingdom of Thessalonica with himself as its ruler and had even started negotiations for an alliance through marriage with Guy II. However, these negotiations proved fruitless, as Rocafort's increasingly despotic rule led to his deposition. The company was then governed by a committee of four, with the help of a twelve-member council.

The arrival of the 8,000 men of the company in Thessaly alarmed the Greek ruler, John II Doukas. Taking advantage of Guy II's death to challenge the superiority of the Dukes of Athens, John turned to the Byzantine Empire and the other Greek principality, the Despotate of Epirus, for help. Defeated by the Greeks, the Catalans agreed to leave Thessaly peacefully for the Frankish principalities of southern Greece.

Walter de Brienne had fought the Catalans in Italy during the War of the Vespers, spoke their language, and had earned their respect. Using this familiarity, he hired them for six months against the Greeks, at a high cost: four ounces of gold for each heavy cavalryman, two for each light cavalryman, and one for each foot soldier, with payment every month and a two-month advance. Returning, the Catalans took the city of Domokos and about thirty other fortresses, and plundered the rich plain of Thessaly, forcing the Greek states to agree to Walter's terms. This brought Walter praise and financial rewards from Pope Clement V, but the Duke now refused to honor his agreement with the Catalans and pay the remaining four months. Walter selected the best 200 knights and 300 foot Almogavars from the company, paid them their dues, and gave them land to remain in his service, while ordering the rest to surrender their conquests and depart. The Catalans offered to recognize him as their lord if they were allowed to keep part of the lands they had captured for settlement, but Walter rejected their proposal and prepared to expel them by force.

The Duke of Athens gathered a large army, composed of his vassals—among them Albert Pallavicini, Marco of Vodonitsa, Thomas III d'Atrémgourt, Lord of Salona, and Marsalkos of Achaea, and the barons of Euboea, Boniface of Verona, George I Ghisi, and John of Maisi—as well as reinforcements from the other Frankish principalities of Frankish Greece.

The Battle

Sources and Location of the Battle

Many sources report the events before and during the battle with varying degrees of detail: Chapter 240 of Ramon Muntaner’s chronicle, various editions of the Chronicle of Morea (sections 540 and 548 of the French edition, verses 7263–7300 and 8010 of the Greek edition, and sections 546–555 of the Aragonese edition), Book Z, section 7, of the history by the Byzantine author Nikephoros Gregoras, as well as brief references in Book H of the Nuova Cronica by the Florentine banker and diplomat Giovanni Villani, in the History of Romania by the Venetian politician Marino Sanudo, and in a letter from the latter that remained unpublished until 1940.

The location of the battle varies in different sources, placing it in two regions. Muntaner mentions that the battle took place “in a beautiful plain near Thebes, where there were marshes,” which is identified with the plain of Boeotian Kifisos and the marshes of Lake Kopais (which has now been drained). Gregoras also mentions that the battle took place near Boeotian Kifisos. In contrast, the editions of the Chronicle of Morea place the battle at “Chalmiru,” presumably in the town of the same name in southern Thessaly, where there was another city known as Thebes. The first location was favored for a long time in the literature; in the standardized history of Frankish Greece, William Miller rejected Chalmiru based on the topography described by Muntaner, a view that continues to be repeated in more recent works. Some suggestions by modern scholars for the exact location of the battle in the Kifisos valley include areas around Orchomenos and Lake Kopais, or even further north, around the villages of Chaironeia and Davleia, or even the regions of Amphikleia and Lilaias.

Critical examination of primary sources by modern scholars has reversed the situation. Muntaner was a member of the company until 1307 but was appointed governor of Zerbā when the battle occurred, and he wrote his chronicle between 1325–1328, which led to serious errors in his account. Gregoras, although a contemporary of the battle, wrote his history later, between 1349–1351, relying primarily on secondary sources. His understanding of the activities of the company in the years leading up to the battle is unclear and inaccurate, and his account of the battle itself closely resembles that of Muntaner, which may suggest that Gregoras used a Western source. On the other hand, the original French edition of the Chronicle of Morea, on which all other editions are based, was written between 1292 and 1320, and the abridged French edition that has survived until today was compiled shortly afterward by a well-informed author in Morea. The Greek and Aragonese editions, written later in the century, contain essentially the same information as the French edition.

A crucial piece of evidence was the discovery and publication in 1940 of a letter from Marino Sanudo dated 1327, who was the governor of the galleys in northern Euboea on the day of the battle. Sanudo clearly states that the battle took place at Chalmiru ("... fuit bellum ducis Athenarum et comitis Brennensis cum compangna predicta ad Almiro"), and his testimony is generally considered reliable. As a result, modern historical studies generally accept Chalmiru as the location of the battle.

The Course of the Battle

According to the Chronicle of Morea, the Catalan army consisted of 2,000 horsemen and 4,000 foot soldiers, while Gregoras reports 3,500 horsemen and 4,000 foot soldiers for the Catalans. The Catalan horsemen were mostly of Turkish origin (Sanudo mentions they numbered 1,800), both as Turkopoles and as mounted archers. Serving under their own leaders, the Turks were divided into two bodies, one of Eastern Turks under Halil, who had joined the Company in 1305, and the other under Malik, who had defected from Byzantine service immediately after the Battle of Abrus. The members of the second group had been baptized as Christians. Sources differ significantly regarding the size of Walter's army: Gregoras mentions 6,400 horsemen and 8,000 foot soldiers, while the Chronicle of Morea places it at "over" 2,000 horsemen and 4,000 foot soldiers, while Muntaner claims that it consisted of 700 knights and 24,000 foot soldiers, mostly Greeks. Modern scholars consider these numbers to be exaggerated, but they suggest that the Athenian army had a numerical superiority over the Catalans.

Faced with a numerically superior but less experienced enemy, the Company took a defensive position, ensuring they chose a battlefield that favored them. The Catalans chose a naturally strong position, protected by a swamp, which, according to Gregoras, they reinforced by digging trenches and flooding them with water diverted from a nearby river. The Catalans were placed on dry ground behind the swamp, forming a stable line, but the sources provide no further details on their arrangements. The Athenian army gathered at Zitouni (modern Lamia). On March 10, 1311, Walter of Brienne wrote his will there and led his army.

The presence of the Frankish army at Zitouni during this period further confirms the placement of the battle at Chalmiru, as Zitouni is located north of Kifisos but southwest of Chalmiru. For Muntaner and Gregoras' accounts to be correct, the Catalans would have to be behind the Duke's army. Furthermore, Gregoras writes that the Catalans passed through Thermopylae to reach Boeotia, which is highly unlikely, given the strong Frankish fortifications at Zitouni and Bodonitsa.

The night before the battle, the 500 Catalans serving the Duke, struck by remorse, went to him and asked for permission to return to their old companions, saying they preferred to die rather than fight against them. Walter is said to have granted them permission to leave, replying that they could die with the others. The Turkish auxiliary soldiers took a separate position nearby, thinking the dispute was a pretext organized by the Company and the Duke of Athens to annihilate them.

Walter was known for his courage, which bordered on recklessness, and he was confident of his success, as evidenced by his arrogant response to the 500 mercenaries. Walter’s pride and arrogance, combined with his numerical superiority and his innate belief in the superiority of heavy cavalry over infantry, led him to fatally underestimate the Catalans and order an attack, despite the ground being unfavorable for cavalry. Impatient for action, according to Muntaner, Walter formed a line of 200 Frankish knights with "golden swords," followed by the foot soldiers, and positioned himself with his banner at the front. The Frankish attack failed, but the reason remains unclear; Muntaner’s description is brief and lacks details, while Gregoras states that the heavy cavalry of the Franks got stuck in the mud, with the Almogavars, lightly armed with swords and arrows, exterminating the knights who had become immobilized due to the weight of their armor. This is the version generally accepted by scholars. The Chronicle of Morea suggests that the battle was fierce, which, as military historian Kelly DeVries notes, seems to contradict Gregoras, and that the swamp likely only reduced the impact of the attack, rather than completely halting it. It is clear that the Catalans repelled the attack and that the Duke and most of his men fell. As the two lines clashed, the Turkish auxiliary soldiers realized there was no treason and descended from their camp upon the Athenian army, causing panic and pursuing its remnants.

Gregoras mentions that 6,400 horsemen and 8,000 foot soldiers fell in the battle, the same number he gives for Walter's forces. According to Muntaner, 20,000 foot soldiers were killed, and only two of the seven hundred knights survived the battle, Roger Delora and Boniface of Verona. As with the numbers of the troops involved in the battle, these casualties are impossible to verify and are likely exaggerated, but they indicate the scale of the Athenians' defeat. Both David Jacoby and Kenneth Setton have noted that the similarities between Muntaner and Gregoras' accounts of the battle and the descriptions of the earlier Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302, where Flemish foot soldiers defeated French knights, reaching a number of 700 knights killed "all with golden swords," as Muntaner claims. Jacoby, in particular, believes that the creation of an artificial swamp to stop the cavalry's charge is a possibly fabricated element in both cases, designed to explain the stunning defeat of the French knights through the use of a "treacherous" trap. We know that some senior members of the Frankish aristocracy survived: Nicholas Sanudo, later Duke of the Islands, managed to escape, and several others, such as Antoine Le Flamand, who is known to have participated and survived the battle, were likely captured and later released. Walter's head was severed by the Catalans and many years later transported to Lecce, Italy, where his son, Walter VI, buried it in the Church of Santa Croce.

Aftermath

The battle was a defining event in the history of Frankish Greece; almost the entire Frankish elite of Athens and its vassal states fell dead on the battlefield or were captured, and when the Catalans entered the regions of the Duchy, resistance was minimal. The Greek inhabitants of Livadeia immediately surrendered to their heavily fortified city, for which they were rewarded with the rights of Frankish citizens. Thebes, the capital of the Duchy, was abandoned by many of its inhabitants, who fled to the Venetian castle of Negroponte, and was plundered by the Catalan troops. Finally, Athens was surrendered to the victors by the widow of Walter, Joanna of Sault. All of Attica and Boeotia passed peacefully into the hands of the Catalans, and only the lord of Argos and Nauplia in the Peloponnese remained in the hands of the loyalists of Brienne. The Catalans divided the land of the Duchy among themselves. The extermination of the previous feudal aristocracy allowed the Catalans to relatively easily conquer the area, in many cases marrying the widows and mothers of the men they had killed at Chalmiru. However, the Turkish allies of the Catalans refused the offer to settle in the Duchy. Khalil’s Turks took their share of the spoils and headed toward Asia Minor, only to be attacked and almost wiped out by a combined Byzantine and Genoese force as they attempted to cross the Dardanelles a few months later. Malik’s Turks entered the service of the Serbian king Stefan Milutin but were wiped out after they rebelled against him.

Without a leader of great stature, the Company of the Catalans turned to their two distinguished captives; they asked Boniface of Verona, whom they knew and respected, to lead them, but after he refused, they chose Roger Delora instead. Delora proved to be a disappointment, and the hostility of Venice and other Frankish states forced the Catalans to seek a powerful patron. They turned to the House of Barcelona, the King of Sicily, Frederick II, who appointed his son, Manfred, as Duke of Athens. In practice, the Duchy was governed by a series of viceroys, who were appointed by the Crown of Aragon, often members of the Catalan-Aragonese royal family. The most successful viceroy, Alfonso Fadrica, expanded the Duchy to Thessaly, founding the Duchy of Neopatras in 1319. The Catalans consolidated their dominance and survived an attempt by the Briennist faction to reclaim the Duchy in 1331–1332. In the 1360s, the twin duchies were beset by internal conflicts, were in a semi-warlike state with Venice, and increasingly felt the threat of the Ottoman Turks, but another attempt by the Briennists to campaign against them in 1370–1371 failed. It was not until 1379–1380 that Catalan dominance suffered its first serious setback when the Company of Navarre conquered Thebes and much of Boeotia. In 1386–1388, the ambitious lord of Corinth, Nerio I Atsaïoli, seized Athens and claimed the Duchy from the Crown of Aragon. With the capture of Neopatras in 1390, the era of Catalan dominance in Greece came to an end.

In military history, the battle was part of a significant shift in European warfare, which began with the Battle of the Golden Spurs in 1302: it marked an era in which infantry successfully challenged the traditional supremacy of the heavy cavalry of knights.

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