Roger Deslaur or Desllor, an almogàver

Almogavars

The almogavars were a class of soldiers from the Crown of Aragon, well-known during the Christian Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula. They were much employed as mercenaries in Italy, Latin Greece and the Levant during the 13th and 14th centuries.-History:The Almogavars came mainly from the...

 from Roussillon

Roussillon

Roussillon is one of the historical counties of the former Principality of Catalonia, corresponding roughly to the present-day southern French département of Pyrénées-Orientales...

 in the service of Walter V of Brienne

Walter V of Brienne

Gautier or Walter V of Brienne was born in Brienne-le-Château, Aube, Champagne, France. He was the son of Hugh de Candie des Brienne, known as Hugh of Brienne, Count of Brienne and Lecce, and Isabella de la Roche, daughter of Guy I of la Roche, Duke of Athens...

, Duke of Athens, was one of the few knights to survive the bloody Battle of Halmyros

Battle of Halmyros

The Battle of Halmyros, of Orchomenos, or of the Cephissus was fought on 15 March 1311 between the Frankish Greek forces of Walter V of Brienne and the mercenaries of the Catalan Company, resulting in a devastating victory for the Catalans....

 on 15 March 1311. Captured by the Catalan Company

Catalan Company

The Catalan Company of the East , officially the Magnas Societas Catalanorum, sometimes called the Grand Company and widely known as the Catalan Company, was a free company of mercenaries founded by Roger de Flor in the early 14th-century...

, he accepted the post of rector

Rector

The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...

 and marshal

Marshal

Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...

 of the Company (rector et marescalcus universitatis) after Boniface of Verona

Boniface of Verona

Boniface of Verona was an Lombard Crusader in Latin Greece during the early fourteenth century. From 1296 he was, in right of his wife, Agnes of Cicone, the Lord of Karystos, a triarch of Negroponte, and a great lord in the Duchy of Athens, owning thirteen castles there as a gift from Duke Guy...

 declined it.

Deslaur was the agent through which Walter had first hired the Catalan Company for six months in 1310. Deslaur remained with Walter even after he tried to expel the Catalans. Following the defeat on the Cephissus

Cephissus (Boeotia)

The northern Cephissus river or Cephisus rises at Lilaea in Phocis and flows by Delphi through Boeotia and eventually issues into Lake Copais which is therefore also called the Cephisian Lake...

, the Catalans granted Deslaur the fief of Salona

Amfissa

Amfissa is a town and a former municipality in Phocis, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Delphi, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is also the capital of the regional unit of Phocis...

 (called "La Sola" by Ramon Muntaner

Ramon Muntaner

Ramon Muntaner was a Catalan soldier and writer who wrote the Crònica, a chronicle of his life, including his adventures as a commander in the Catalan Company...

) and the hand in marriage of the widow of the lord of Salona, Thomas III of Autremencourt. Deslaur, however, proved ineffective as a defender of the Catalan conquests. Menaced by the Venetian

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

 Negroponte

Negroponte

Negroponte can refer to:*the Greek island of Euboea, called Negroponte in Italian**Chalkis, the island's capital, named Negroponte during the Middle Ages...

 and the Frankish

Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...

 Morea

Principality of Achaea

The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica...

, he negotiated the handover of suzerainty to Frederick II of Sicily

Frederick III of Sicily

Frederick II was the regent and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the War of the Sicilian Vespers on behalf of his father and brothers, Alfonso and James...

, who appointed his young son Manfred

Manfred of Athens

Manfred , infante of Sicily, was the second son of Frederick III of Sicily and Eleanor of Anjou. His maternal grandparents were Charles II of Naples and Maria Arpad of Hungary....

 duke (1312). Frederick sent Berenguer Estanyol d'Empúries to act as Manfred's vicar general

Vicar general

A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...

 and Deslaur stepped down from his post as leader of the Company and duke of Athens, retiring to his castle at Salona, which either escheated, or he was forced to relinquish, to Alfonso Fadrique

Alfonso Fadrique

Don Alfonso Fadrique was the eldest and illegitimate son of Frederick II of Sicily. He served as vicar general of the Duchy of Athens from 1317 to 1330....

around 1320.