It was formed by almogavar veterans of the War of the Sicilian Vespers, who had remained unemployed after the signing in 1302 of the Peace of Caltabellotta between the Crown of Aragon and the French dynasty of the Angevins.

The Sicilian chancellery referred to them as Francorum, "Frankish", as Western Europeans were called in Byzantium, However, the written letters produced by the Company were mainly in Catalan.

[3] The Great Catalan Company departed from Messina with 36 ships (including 18 galleys) transporting about 8,000 men (1,500 cavalry, 4,000 almogavar foot soldiers and an indeterminate number of servants and auxiliary personnel).

Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos arranged the wedding of Roger de Flor to his niece, the 15 year old princess Maria Asanina, daughter of the Tsar of Bulgaria Ivan Asen III and Irene Palaiologina.

It especially irritated the Genoese, who saw the arrival of the Catalan Company as an intrusion by the House of Barcelona into the area of influence of the Republic of Genoa: the Eastern Mediterranean and the Byzantine Empire.

Transported there in the fleet commanded by the Catalan Admiral Ferran d'Aunés, Roger de Flor's troops disembarked at Cape Artake, near the ruins of ancient Cyzicus.

The almogavars made a surprise attack on the Oghuz Turkish camp located at Cape Artake, killing about 3,000 cavalry and 10,000 infantry and capturing many women and children.

[8] After this victory, Roger de Flor decided to postpone a planned march to the besieged town of Philadelphia and spent the winter on Cape Artake, a position that provided good defenses and an easy means of supply.

[9] During this period Ferran Eiximenis d'Arenós [ca] temporarily left the company after a disagreement with Roger de Flor, putting himself in the service of the Duke of Athens.

[10] Roger de Flor, on the other hand, took advantage of the lull to travel with his wife to Constantinople with four galleys, claim payment from the Emperor and discuss with him the next campaign.

Greek historians say that the region of Cyzicus was devastated by the looting of the almogavars, to the point that the sister of Andronikos had to go to the city to exhort Roger to move his troops immediately to Philadelphia.

[11][12] Having already accomplished the principal mission entrusted to him by the emperor, Roger de Flor decided to consolidate the defence of Philadelphia by conquering the nearby fortresses which had fallen into the hands of the Turks.

The Greek garrison of Kula received Roger de Flor as a liberator, but he, not appreciating how a seemingly impregnable fortress could be allowed to fall into the hands of the Turks without a battle, beheaded the governor and condemned the commander to the gallows.

the Company retreated through the valley of the river Hermos and entered the prefecture of the city of Magnesia (modern Manisa), the only territory of Anatolia that remained under the control of the Byzantines.

After leaving his spoils and a small garrison of almogavars in Magnesia, the troops of Roger de Flor arrived at the city of Nif (Nymphaion), where he received a request for aid from two inhabitants of Tire.

The remaining troops under de Flor made a forced march to arrive at the walls of Tire in the dead of night, entering the city without being spotted by the besieging Turks.

Inside Tire, Roger de Flor ordered his seneschal Corberán of Alet [ca] to prepare a detachment of 200 men on horseback and 2,000 almogavars.

In response, the Turks harassed the almogavars by throwing stones and firing arrows, one of which killed Corberán of Alet, striking his head at a moment when his helmet had been removed.

The almogavar troops, shocked by the death of the seneschal of the company, interrupted their pursuit and retreated to Tire carrying the corpse of Corberán of Alet, thus allowing the surviving Turks to escape.

[13] When the troops returned to Tire and informed Roger de Flor of the death of his seneschal, he ordered that Corberán of Alet be buried with all honors in the Church of San George, located two leagues from the city, and that his tomb be beautifully decorated.

Bernat had not joined the company the previous year after he had refused to accept the terms of the Peace of Caltabellotta, which forced him to return two castles he had conquered in the Kingdom of Naples.

After the new victory, the captains decided to return to the eastern provinces and seek a great confrontation with the Turks in the interior of Anatolia since the limited number of soldiers of the Company did not allow a war of occupation.

The almogavars then began to shout out their wish to continue the march through the Taurus mountains to Little Armenia and to quickly recover what the Byzantine Empire had lost over many centuries, but their captains judged the idea reckless.

[16] After the important victory of Kibistra, the Company decided to return to Ania and spend the winter there as the a lack of knowledge of the terrain made an advance very dangerous.

During the retreat, crossing country that had been conquered by the Turks, Greek historians report numerous examples of looting, abuses and cruelty by the almogavar soldiers, worse according to them than was suffered under the Ottoman yoke.

However, the siege had to be lifted shortly afterwards by order of Andronikos, who requested the help of the company to defend the prince of Bulgaria (Roger's brother-in-law) from an uprising led by his own uncle.

The small force left in Gallipoli nevertheless agreed to defend the site and their honour to the death and bored holes in the remaining ships to ensure there was no escape.

The Company decided to have a showdown with a tribal group known as the Magasetas, who were based in the vicinity of Mount Haemus and had been involved in the murder of Roger de Flor.

Subsequently, the Catalan Company suffered a period of internal confrontation provoked by the disputes and interests of foreign powers eager to control it.

After this period of internal struggle, Bernat de Rocafort offered the services of the company to Charles of Valois to strengthen his aspirations to the Byzantine Empire.