Ramon Muntaner

A leaf of the Crònica de Ramon Muntaner, one of the four Catalan Grand Chronicles through which historians view the thirteenth and fourteenth-century military and political affairs in Aragon and Catalonia. 

Ramon Muntaner (1265-1336) was a Catalan mercenary and writer, born at Perelada in the province of Girona. As captain of the Catalan Company, a precursor to the ‘Free Companies’ that plagued Europe in the later fourteenth century, he led an adventurous life. His company was made up of Aragonese and Catalan light infantry, known as Almogavars, and under the overall leadership of Roger de Flor - an Italian military adventurer - Ramon led them to Constantinople to aid the Greeks against the Turks. 

Later in life, in semi-retirement, Ramon was inspired by a vision to begin work on his chronicle. In the preamble he states:

“I, Ramon Muntaner, native of the town of Perelada and citizen of Valencia, give great thanks to Our Lord the true God and to his blessed Mother, Our Lady Saint Mary, and to all the Heavenly Court, for the favour and grace he has shown me and my escape from the many perils I have been in. Such as thirty-two battles on sea and land in which I have been, as well as in many prisons and torments inflicted on my person in wars in which I have taken part, and many persecutions suffered, as as well in my fortune as in other ways, you will understand from the events of my time.”

Though at times uncritical, excitable and egotistical, Ramon’s account is considered a faithful and vivid history of his time, and is still used as an important source for the pan-European wars of the late thirteenth century.