The Catalan Grand Company in Athens (1340s)

Timeline

1. 1340–1343Athens–Thebes · Central GreeceThe Catalan Grand Company was not merely a mercenary band but ruled Athens through a company-feudal hybrid system: almogàver warriors were granted fiefs, Catalan customary law was retained, and some old Frankish nobles were absorbed. After the failure of the Brienne counterattack in 1331–1332, the duchy entered a relatively stable period in the early 1340s, with the viceregency collecting taxes and administering justice in the name of the King of Aragon.
2. 1343–1347Neopatras · ThessalyIn the mid-1340s, the Company extended its control into Thessaly, relying on the Duchy of Neopatras established in 1319, and maintained vassal relations with local Greek magnates. A network of Catalan garrisoned fortresses and fiefs covered the key passes of Central Greece, but Thessaly was never fully unified, leaving an opening for the Serbian advance of 1348.
3. 1348–1350Thessaly · ThessalyIn 1348 Stefan Dušan conquered most of Thessaly, and many Catalan northern strongholds fell, but the core of Athens and the city of Neopatras remained in Company hands. In the late 1340s the Company shifted from expansion to defense; its military-commercial network still controlled Attica until the 1380s and the Florentine capture of Athens in 1388.