They heard that the Greek provinces of Asia were invaded by the Turks: they resolved to share the harvest of pay and plunder: and Frederic king of Sicily most liberally contributed the means of their departure.

In a warfare of twenty years, a ship, or a camp, was become their country; arms were their sole profession and property; valor was the only virtue which they knew; their women had imbibed the fearless temper of their lovers and husbands: it was reported, that, with a stroke of their broadsword, the Catalans could cleave a horseman and a horse; and the report itself was a powerful weapon.

Roger de Flor [477] was the most popular of their chiefs; and his personal merit overshadowed the dignity of his prouder rivals of Arragon.

The offspring of a marriage between a German gentleman of the court of Frederic the Second and a damsel of Brindisi, Roger was successively a templar, an apostate, a pirate, and at length the richest and most powerful admiral of the Mediterranean.

He sailed from Messina to Constantinople, with eighteen galleys, four great ships, and eight thousand adventurers; [478] and his previous treaty was faithfully accomplished by Andronicus the elder, who accepted with joy and terror this formidable succor.