Almogavares (Aragonese mountain infantry mercenaries)

Almogavares, or Almugavares, is apparently derived from the Arabic al-mughawir, "one who makes hostile incursions". ¹

At the end of the Middle Ages the name was given to contingents of mercenaries levied from the mountaineers of Aragon, a tough, sober but undisciplined people. They fought on foot in the service of the kings of Aragon and Castile, and cut to pieces the French army of Philip III the Bold on his campaign of 1285 at Roussillon. Later, under the name of the Grande Compagnie Catalane, they made daring raids in the eastern Mediterranean. ¹