Roger of Lauria (c. 1245 – 17 January 1305), was a Calabrian knight who served the Crown of Aragon as admiral of the Aragonese navy during the War of the Sicilian Vespers.

His father had served under King Manfred of Sicily, a Hohenstaufen; when the last member of that family, Conradin of Swabia, was beheaded at Naples in 1268, he and his mother took refuge with other Ghibelline exiles at Barcelona, part of the Crown of Aragon.

[citation needed] Later King Peter III of Aragon, who had married Constance of Hohenstaufen, made him knight together with Corrado Lancia, who was to be a comrade of Roger in many of his enterprises as well as brother-in-law.

[clarification needed] When Frederick III was elected King of Trinacria (Sicily), Roger received the fief of Aci and the annexed castle stripped from the bishops of Catania as rewards for his victories.

However, the relationship between the admiral and the young King soon soured; when the former passed to the Angevins, Aci was besieged and captured by Frederick, and Roger took refuge at his summer residence in Castiglione di Sicilia.

But, in spite of his promises, he returned to Italy, where, on 4 July 1299, he defeated the Sicilians near Sicily at the Battle of Cape Orlando, capturing eighteen enemy galleys.

His archers and crossbowmen were used initially, while his oarsmen and/or Almogavars (unarmored and highly mobile elite troops armed with two javelins, a lance and a dagger) stayed under cover.