Ferran d'Aunés or Fernando d'Ahonés ( el, Φαρεντζανέζας, ''Pharentzanezas'') was a

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

mercenary of the Catalan Company who entered

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

service. Ferran arrived in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

with the mercenary Catalan Company in September 1303. The Company's commander, Roger de Flor, was named '' megas doux'', head of the entire

Byzantine fleet The Byzantine navy was the naval force of the East Roman or Byzantine Empire. Like the empire it served, it was a direct continuation from its Imperial Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than ...

. Roger in turn secured Ferran's appointment by the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Andronikos II Palaiologos , image = Andronikos II Palaiologos2.jpg , caption = Miniature from the manuscript of George Pachymeres' ''Historia'' , succession = Byzantine emperor , reign = 11 December 1282 –24 May 1328 , coronation = 8 Novembe ...

as an admiral—with the borrowed title ''amirales'', used for the first time in official Byzantine titulature—in charge of the Catalan fleet of some 12 ships. At the same time, Ferran married into the Byzantine nobility. He kept this post until May 1305, when he was discovered while trying to smuggle over fifty Catalans out of Constantinople aboard his galley and imprisoned. In the subsequent pogrom against the Catalans, the house of his father-in-law, Pachys Raoul, was torched by the mob. Nevertheless Ferran was released and named

Domestic of the Schools The office of the Domestic of the Schools ( gr, δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, domestikos tōn scholōn) was a senior military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. Originally ...

by Emperor Andronikos. He remained in the post until 1305/6, when he took part in the failed conspiracy of

John Drimys John Drimys ( gr, Ἰωάννης Δριμὺς) was a Byzantine priest who led a failed conspiracy against Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1305. He came from the "west" (most likely Epirus or Thessaly) to Constantinople. Claiming that he was ...

. Nothing further is known of him. His brother, whose first name is unknown, defected with fifty of his men to the Byzantines in 1306/7 and was honoured by the Emperor.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:dAunes, Ferran 13th-century births 14th-century deaths 14th-century Byzantine military personnel 14th-century Catalan people Byzantine admirals Domestics of the Schools Catalan Company Prisoners and detainees of the Byzantine Empire