The Battle of Halmyros was fought on 15 March 1311 between the Frankish Duchy of Athens and the Catalan Company (seal depicted). The Catalans were mercenaries hired by the Byzantine emperor to combat the increasing power of the Turks in Anatolia. After the Byzantines murdered the Catalan leader, Roger de Flor, the company crossed the southern Balkans and arrived in southern Greece in 1309. The new Duke of Athens, Walter of Brienne, hired them to attack Thessaly. The Catalans conquered much of the region, but Walter refused to pay them and prepared to forcibly expel them. The two armies met at Halmyros in southern Thessaly. The Catalans positioned themselves behind marshy terrain, but the Franks, confident in the prowess of their heavy cavalry, charged headlong against the Catalan line. The marsh impeded their attack, and the Frankish army was routed. Walter and almost all of his knights fell in the field, allowing the Catalans to take over the Duchy of Athens and rule it until the 1380s.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Halmyros
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1783:
George Washington delivered a speech to Continental Army officers in Newburgh, New York, asking them to support the supremacy of the Congress of the Confederation, defusing a potential coup. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newburgh_Conspiracy
1927:
In rowing, Oxford defeated Cambridge in the inaugural edition of the Women's Boat Race. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Boat_Race
1951:
The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by Mohammad Mosaddegh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nationalization_of_the_Iranian_oil_industry
2019:
A lone gunman carried out two consecutive mass shootings during Friday prayers at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, resulting in 51 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christchurch_mosque_shootings
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
slugabed: (archaic, now chiefly Canada, US) A lazy person who lies in bed after the usual time for getting up; a sluggard. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/slugabed
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you. --Ruth Bader Ginsburg https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ruth_Bader_Ginsburg