Alans (100 BCE - 1395 CE)

Alani (Latin), Alanoi (Greek), Halani (Middle Persian),

Alanliao or Alanguo (Pinyin Chinese), Allon (Ossetian)

Early Alans (100 BCE - 375 CE)

Western Alans (375 - 567 CE)

Caucasian Kingdom of Alania (376 - 1395 CE)

 

The Massagetae were an Aryan nomad group that originated on the steppes in-between the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash in southeastern Kazakhstan (ca. 900-200 BCE). Between about 200 and 30 BCE, an eastern Aryan nomad group from western China—the Yuezhi/Kushans—migrated westwards into eastern Kazakhstan, conquering and assimilating some groups of the Massagetae, although other groups escaped the conquest by migrating into northwestern Kazakhstan (ca. 200-100 BCE). These Massagetae seem to have conquered the eastern Skythian groups that still inhabited northwestern Kazakhstan at that time, and they temporarily occupied a realm that stretched from the Ust Urt/Ustyurt Plateau to the east of the Caspian Sea in the south to the Baraba steppe east of the Ural Mountains in the north. Between 100 BCE and 100 CE, the Massagetae went on to conquer the Sarmatian Aorsi tribe that inhabited the steppes between the Volga and Ural rivers to the north of the Caspian Sea, and the Sarmatian Serbi tribe that inhabited the Kalmykia-Astrakhan region to the west of the Caspian Sea. Some of these groups escaped conquest by fleeing westward across the Pontic-Caspian steppes (see my Sarmatians gallery). We do not know why or at what point these Massagetae changed their name to Alans, although “Alan” is etymologically linked to “Aryan” (i.e., Alan = Aryan), and it may be that the Massagetae were trying to emphasize the common ethnicity of the various tribes living under their hegemony (i.e., the Skythians and Sarmatians were western Aryan nomads and the Massagetae were eastern Aryan nomads, but they were all Aryans). The Alans regularly joined the Dahae (Dahistan lay to the south of the Ust Urt Plateau) in raiding the Parthian Empire (ca. 51-78 CE), and they also often accompanied an unidentified group of Sarmatians (presumably the Siraces) in raiding the Kingdom of Armenia (ca. 72-135 CE).

 

By the middle of the fourth century CE, the geopolitical landscape in Central Asia had changed dramatically due to the rise of the Huns (see my Hunnic Peoples gallery). The easternmost groups of the Alans (i.e., those living on the Ust Urt Plateau and Baraba steppe east of the Ural Mountains and Ural River) seem to have formed an alliance with the Black Huns, and together the eastern Alans and Huns crossed the Ural River in 370 CE, defeated the Alans that lived in-between the Ural and Volga rivers north of the Caspian Sea and the Alans that lived in the Kalmykia-Astrakhan region to the west of the Caspian Sea—some of these latter Alanic groups fled westward into the Sarmatian and Gothic realms, while others fled southward into the foothills of the Caucasus Mountians (Circassia and Ossetia). Those that fled westward before the Huns, and those that joined the Huns in their westward expansion, are generally known as the Western Alans (ca. 375-503 CE), while those that fled southward into Circassia and Ossetia are generally known as the Caucasian Alans (ca. 375-1405 CE).

 

By 375 CE, the Huns had consolidated their control over the former Alanic realm and proceeded westward against the Sarmatians (the Alpidzuri, Itimari, Tuncarsi, Akatziri, and Boisci tribes) that inhabited the northern steppes between the Dniester and Volga rivers (they probably also conquered the Siraces in the Kuban region to the east of the Black Sea). They also conquered the Greuthungian Goth kingdom that lay to the south of the territories of the Sarmatians between the Dnieper and Don rivers (and also including parts of the northern Crimea), and the Heruls that inhabited the littoral of the Maeotian Lake (today known as the Sea of Azov). In 376 CE, the Huns and Alans attacked and destroyed the Thervingian Goth kingdom in eastern Romania (see my East Germanic Peoples gallery). Some of these peoples fled toward the Danube frontier of the Roman Empire, while others were conquered or killed, and the Huns once again spent some years in consolidating their hold over their newly conquered territories (ca. 375-412 CE)—subsequently, the leaders of the Goths and Heruls became highly valued advisors to the leaders of the Huns, and these groups provided the Hunnic armies with auxiliaries. For unknown reasons, after the conquest of the Thervingian Kingdom the Alanic allies of the Huns broke up into several groups—some remained loyal to the Huns and were eventually settled in Pannonia when the Huns conquered that region (ca. 412-422 CE), others joined the Goths in their migration into the Balkan provinces of the Roman Empire (ca. 377-418 CE), but the bulk of the Alans migrated westward across the southern Polish Plain onto the Bohemian Massif (ca. 377-405 CE), where they formed an alliance with the Markomanniz/Marcomanni (Common Germanic/Latin, “Border-men”), a coalition of East Germanic (Burgundian and Vandal), West Germanic (Suebi, Buri, and Quadi), and Sarmatian tribes that had been attempting to force the Rhine frontier of Rome since the second century CE. Those Alans that were settled in Pannonia were eventually assimilated by the Gepids—another East Germanic group that fell under Hunnic dominion (ca. 405-406 CE), but later successfully rebelled against the Huns (ca. 454 CE) and created a kingdom that encompassed all of Romania west of the Carpathians and parts of northeastern Pannonia (ca. 454-567 CE). Those Alans that migrated into the Roman Empire with the Goths were assimilated into the Visigothic nation as it formed (ca. 377-418 CE)(see my East Germanic Peoples gallery). Those Alans that had moved west onto the Bohemian Massif joined the Marcomannic tribes in the Great Rhine Crossing of 406 CE into Roman Gaul (France). In the tumultuous wars that followed (ca. 406-442 CE), some Alans joined the Vandals, Suebi, and Buri when they invaded Roman Hispania (Spain)(ca. 407-408 CE), and these secured their position as nominal Roman federates (ca. 409-418 CE), settling in Lusitania (southwestern Spain and southern Portugal). Others remained in Gaul and were eventually settled as Roman federates in three groups—in the lower Loire river region and eastern Armorica in northwestern Gaul (modern Pays de la Loire and eastern Brittany), in the area around the city of Aurelianum/Orléans within the bend of the middle Loire river in northwestern Gaul (modern Centre-Val de Loire), and in the area around Valentia/Valence in southeastern France (modern Auvergne). The Alans in Lusitania suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Visigoths (ca. 418 CE), and the remainder of this group fled to the court of the Vandal king, Gunderic, in Baetica (southern Spain). The days of the Vandals and Alans in Hispania were numbered, however, and a Roman-Visigoth alliance eventually drove the Vandals and Alans out of southern Spain (ca. 429 CE)—they settled in North Africa, where the Vandal king, Gaiseric (428-477 CE), conquered a kingdom. Although Gaiseric assumed the title, “King of the Vandals and Alans,” his heirs shortened this to “King of the Vandals.” We may assume that the Alans that accompanied the Vandals to North Africa were more-or-less completely assimilated by the Vandals between 418 and 477 CE. Goar (409-446 CE) and Sangiban (447-453 CE) were the only two kings of the Alans that settled near Aurelianum in Gaul. Goar supported the rebellion of the would-be Gallo-Roman usurper, Jovinus (ca. 411-413 CE), and despite the defeat of Jovinus and his Burgundian and Alan allies by the Visigoths (who were acting as the proxies of the legitimate Roman emperor, Honorius), Goar retained his throne and apparently managed to annex Roman territories between Aurelianum and Lutetia (Paris). Sangiban joined the alliance of the Roman general, Aetius, that repelled the invasion of Gaul by the Huns under Attila (ca. 451 CE), although his weakened forces were then no match for the Visogoths, who conquered the Aurelianum Alans soon after the defeat of Attila (probably 452-? CE). Sambida (440-? CE) and Beorgor (?-464 CE) are the only two known kings of the Valentia Alans. Sambida was the first king of the Alans that settled in Valentia in 440 CE, and he accepted federate status for his people, although nothing more is known of him. His successor, Beorgor, supported the rebellion of the Gallo-Roman general, Aegidius (458-465 CE), that created the short-lived Kingdom of Soissons (461-486 CE) in northwestern Gaul. Beorgor was killed in battle in Italy in 464 CE, however, and the Valentia Alans were absorbed into the Frankish Kingdom soon thereafter (ca. 481-486 CE). The original land grant for the Alans in the lower Loire and eastern Armorican regions was made to a king called Eochar/Gokhar (430-446 CE), who was tasked with putting down a rebellion by the local Gallo-Roman peasants (bagaudae/bacaudae). Eochar was successful, but his successors are unknown—we know there was an independent Alan king in the region as late as 502-503 CE (although he is not named in the sources), when the Franks attempted to invade the lower Loire and Armorican regions and were defeated by the Alans. However, by that time these Alans had apparently converted to Christianity—like the Franks—and they came to an accord with the Frankish king, Clovis I, whereby the Alanic realm was peacefully absorbed into the Frankish Kingdom (ca. 404 CE). Despite their relatively short tenure in Gaul/France as an independent political-military force (ca. 406-503 CE), the Alans subsequently played a role in the cultural ethnogenesis of the French people, and they have left behind several place-names in the parts of France where they settled (e.g., Allainville Eure-et-Loire, Allainville Yvelines, and Allaines), and the modern personal name, “Alain” in French and “Alan” in English, is also likely etymologically linked to the Alans.

 

The history of the Alans of the northern Caucasus (Circassia and Ossetia) is murky during the Hunnic period (ca. 375-600 CE), as is their history during the period of Khazar domination of the northern Caucasus (ca. 600-969 CE). They seem to have remained independent of the Hunnic groups that settled on the steppes north of the Caucasus (the Onogurs and Saragurs), although they formed an alliance with the Sabir Huns after they entered eastern Europe and conquered the Saragurs (ca. 520-557 CE). They also remained independent when the Avars swept through eastern Europe and conquered the Sabirs, Onogur-Bulgars, Utigurs, and Kutrigurs (ca. 557-580 CE), although they then fell under the domination of the Khazar Turks (ca. 650-969 CE). Throughout this period (ca. 375-969 CE), the Caucasian Alans were slowly pushed off the steppes and into the valleys along the northern edge of the Caucasus Mountains (from the headwaters of the Kuban River in the west to the Darial/Daryal Pass in the east). Although they maintained their military traditions as cavalrymen (during the tenth century, they could field as many as 30,000 horsemen), they established a capital city named Maghas/Maas (location unknown) and settled down and forged a quasi-feudal agro-pastoralist kingdom (with a peasantry mainly involved in agriculture and animal husbandry of cattle, sheep, and goats, although horse herds were maintained on the steppes immediately to the north of the mountains). The Caucasian Alans had an elective kingship, with the landholding lords (aldar) electing a king from among their ranks—the title of the king varied, some kings being referred to as khan (in imitation of the Huns and Turks), knyaz/knez (following Slavic usage), or mepeta (following Georgian usage). During the Byzantine-Sassanid Wars (ca. 530-532, 548-561, 572-591, and 602-628 CE) the Caucasian Alans were allies of Persia, but Byzantine missionaries succeeded in converting the Alans to Christianity (ca. 706-923 CE), and thereafter the Caucasian Alans became important allies of the Byzantines and Georgians against the encroachments of the Arabs (ca. 629-1050 CE), Pechenegs (ca. 850-1091 CE), Cuman-Kipchaks (ca. 1000-1223 CE), and Seljuks (ca. 1071-1074 CE). The Alans also became important allies of the Volga Bulgars (ca. 675-1237 CE), a Hunnic group that established a kingdom to the southwest of the Ural Mountains (to the north of Alania). In the twelfth century, a dynasty of Alanic kings with ties to the royal house of the Caucasian Kingdom of Georgia ruled Alania (ca. 1100-1188 CE), culminating in the unification of the Georgian and Alanic realms under the joint rule of the Alanic king, David Soslan (1189-1207 CE), and the Georgian queen, Tamar (1189-1213 CE). But David’s successor, Vladislav Soslan (1208-1239 CE), was defeated and killed by the Mongols, and Alania and Georgia were incorporated into the Mongol Khaganate (ca. 1239-1242 CE) and then the Mongol Golden Horde (ca. 1242-1405 CE). However, several other children of David Soslan and Tamar survived, set themselves up in remote mountain fortresses, and alternated between fighting a guerrilla war against the Mongols and fighting each other. Alans loyal to the Mongols were used to create a unit of Alanic cavalry (the Asud) that rose to prominence in the imperial Battle Guard (the Khorchin) of the Mongol Empire (ca. 1242-1482 CE)(see my Medieval Mongols gallery). After the breakup of the Mongol Empire, the Caucasian Alans were drawn into the wars of succession between various Persian, Turkic, and Mongol warlords—in particular, the campaigns of Timur “the Lame” (a.k.a., Tamerlane) devastated the populations of the various Caucasian peoples, including the Alans (ca. 1370-1395 CE). Alania was repeatedly invaded and laid waste, its population killed or enslaved. The remaining steppelands of the kingdom north of the Caucasus were stripped away, and a much-reduced population survived only by withdrawing into remote mountain fastnesses. A small remnant population survived in the Caucasus until modern times—there are currently 700,000 Ossetians living primarily in Russia (mainly in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania), Georgia (mainly in the Republic of South Ossetia-Alania and Republic of Abkhazia), and Turkey (mainly in the cities of Ankara, Istanbul, and Samsun).

 

The Military system of the Early Alans (100 BCE-375 CE) was broadly similar to that of the Middle Sarmatians (see my Sarmatians gallery), although the Alans put a heavier emphasis on horse archers. As mentioned above, the Sarmatians were western Aryan nomads and the Massagetae had been eastern Aryan nomads, and although the Aryan nomads of the Kazakh steppes had also developed heavy cavalry lancers of a similar mien to those of the Sarmatians, horse archery by lightly equipped skirmishers had remained a prominent feature of steppe warfare east of the Ural River and Caspian Sea. The Alanic federation formed by the Massagetae around the northern half of the Caspian Sea also included western Aryan nomad groups like the eastern Skythians, Aorsi, and Serbi, but these groups seem to have retained a higher degree of respect for horse archers than the other Skytho-Sarmatian tribes on the Pontic-Caspian steppes. Thus, in Early Alanic armies, horse archers often outnumbered lancers (in Sarmatian armies, the role of horse archer was usually left to subject peoples and young men just beginning their career as warriors). As with the Sarmatians, the only infantry seems to have been poorly equipped commoners fighting as spearmen (wicker shield, spear, long fighting knife, and maybe a helmet), or subject groups from agro-pastoralist tribes that lived in the forests on the edges of the steppe and along the rivers of the region, as well as fisherfolk that lived along the northern littoral of the Caspian Sea (most of these peoples would have been Ugrians). The Western Alans (375-567 CE) would have initially followed this same pattern, although as with the Huns, they would have picked up East Germanic auxiliaries as they moved westwards across the Pontic-Caspian steppe. As with the Sarmatians, those groups of Western Alans that migrated into the Roman Empire alongside the Goths (ca. 377-418 CE) and those that joined the Vandals, Suebi, and Buri in their migration/invasion of Roman Gaul, Hispania, and North Africa (ca. 406-477 CE), all gradually lost their cultural distinctiveness as they became assimilated into the Germanic culture of their allies. Their kit, panoply, and tactical stance would have become indistinguishable from those of the Germanic tribes (both cavalry and infantry). Not so the Alans that settled in Pannonia (ca. 412-567 CE) and those that settled in Gaul (ca. 407-503 CE). Unlike the other groups that invaded the Roman Empire alongside the Germanic peoples, those that settled in Pannonia and Gaul seem to have formed distinct communities that maintained something of their own ethnic-cultural identity at least until the Pannonian Alans were conquered and incorporated into the hordes of the Avars (ca. 567 CE), and the Gallic Alans lost their political independence to the Visigoths (ca. 486 CE) and Franks (ca. 503 CE). Of these two groups, the Pannonian Alans remained semi-nomadic (the Pannonian Plain was the only region west of the Carpathians suitable for such a lifestyle) and seem to have retained more of their ancestral traditions, while the Gallic Alans settled down and ruled as quasi-feudal lords over the Roman populace over whom they had been granted authority as federates of the Roman Empire (they were deeply unpopular with the Gallo-Roman populace, however, being seen as rapacious and cruel and seizing the property of Gallo-Roman nobles at will). The Gallic Alans are reported to have still fielded cavalry lancers riding armored mounts up until their incorporation into the Frankish Kingdom, and it seems likely that the Pannonian Alans did the same (despite lack of evidence to prove it), although each group would have acquired a different set of auxiliaries (local Gallo-Roman militias for the Gallic Alans and Slavic warriors for the Pannonian Alans), and it seems likely that only the Pannonian Alans would have been able to field substantial numbers of horse archers (this being a tactical stance generally associated with nomadic and semi-nomadic tribesmen).

 

The long history of the Caucasian Alans (376-1395 CE) meant that their military system went through processes of evolution that ultimately led it far away from that of their ancestors. As with the Western Alans, the military system of the Early Caucasian Alans (ca. 376-650 CE) would have remained broadly similar to that of the Early Alans, except the auxiliaries would have been recruited from Georgian tribes living along the northern edge of the Caucasus Mountains (mostly medium infantry and infantry skirmishers armed with a combination of spear, javelins, axes, long fighting knives, bows, and/or slings, with only chieftains wearing mail or scale and helmets and carrying swords). Under the domination of the Khazars (ca. 650-969 CE), however, the steppe territories of the Alans north of the Caucasus began to be whittled away, and they gradually shifted from a predominantly semi-nomadic horse and cattle herding people to a quasi-feudal agro-pastoralist society similar to that of the early Caucasian Georgian states, but also heavily influenced by the Byzantines and Armenians (ca. 650-923 CE). They also seem to have undergone extensive assimilation with the native Georgian tribes during this period. By the time of the Christianization of Alania (ca. 923 CE) and the disintegration of the Khazar Khaganate (ca. 969 CE), these processes would have been complete (although the Alans still controlled small swathes of steppe immediately north of the Caucasus). During the Later Caucasian Alan Period (ca. 650-969 CE), the nobles (aldar) fought as composite cavalrymen—basically, armored horse archers that could also charge into close combat as lancers, although now with stirrups, a one-handed lance, and a shield—and they seem to have maintained retinues of retainers (usually more lightly equipped than their lords) that bulked out the units of the nobles. Styles of equipment reflected Khazar, Byzantine, Armenian, and Georgian influences, including the use of horse barding that only covered the front half of the mount (i.e., chamfron for the head and pectral skirt for the chest and shoulders)—this was an innovation introduced to Europe by the Avars that is believed to have been intended to increase the mobility of armored horse archers, and the practice found favor with the Khazars, Alans, Georgians, Persians, and Byzantines. For nobles, long-sleeved mail shirts that extended to mid-thigh were generally worn beneath a short-sleeved or sleeveless scale or lamellar cuirass (sometimes including scale or lamellar skirts to protect the legs while mounted), coupled with a composite helmet with aventail of scale or mail, splinted bracers for the forearms and splinted greaves for the lower leg, and a relatively large round shield. Horse armor was either scale or lamellar. As mentioned above, retainers would have bulked out the numbers of the elite units of the nobles, these were not uniformly equipped, and many likely fought with substantially less armor on unarmored horses, although with the same tactical stance—composite cavalrymen that used bows and arrows to “soften up” enemy formations or to drive off horse archers, then charging with one-handed spear/lance, sword, axe, and mace for close combat. There were still dedicated horse archers, although their numbers were rapidly dwindling, and the Alans were forced to increasingly rely on Turkic mercenaries to fulfil this role. Infantry levied from the ranks of the commoners would have been broadly similar to those of the Early Alan Period, although the frequent warfare of the period allowed the chieftains of the Georgian subject tribes to begin arming and fielding their own retinues of relatively well-equipped infantrymen (i.e., as they came home laden with booty, they were able to set themselves up as a kind of smallholding gentry), supplemented with commoner infantry skirmishers (javelinmen, archers, slingers). By this time, the Alans were being referenced in period sources as the Asi (Alanic), Osi (Georgian), or Jasy (Russian). Traditional Alanic dress set them somewhat apart from other ethnic groups in the region, particularly the Alanic cap—a peaked cap similar to the Skythian cap (Greek, kyrbasia) that framed the face (even warriors that wore helmets sometimes wore an oversized Alanic cap over their helmet). Male Alan clothing generally consisted of a long-sleeved tunic that could reach the knees or mid-calf, worn over baggy trousers tucked into ankle boots or knee-high boots. In inclement weather, a felt jacket was often added that could be short- or long-sleeved. The longer tunic and jacket styles were generally split in the front and back to accommodate riding. Jackets and caps could be plain or highly decorated with embroidery (depending on the wealth and position of the wearer). Long-sleeved shirts often had a deep embroidered cuff that could reach almost to the elbow.

 

Following the collapse of the Khazar Khagante (ca. 969 CE), the Kingdom of Alania culturally, economically, and militarily gravitated toward the Bagratid Armenian Kingdom (885-1045 CE); the Kingdom of Georgia (1008-1245 CE); the Byzantine Empire of the Nikephorian (963-1042 CE), Konstantinian (1042-1071 CE), and Komnenan (1071-1204 CE) dynasties; and the Kingdom of the Volga Bulgars (675-1237 CE); although the influence of Kievan Rus’ (882-1240 CE) and the Turkic peoples that swept across the Pontic-Caspian steppes during the Early Middle Ages (Pechenegs, Cumans, and Kipchaks, ca. 850-1223 CE) were also felt. Therefore, during the Early Medieval Alan Period (970-1290 CE), the tactical stance of Alanic noble cavalry units shifted away from the composite cavalry model and toward the shock cavalry lancer model, as practiced by the Georgian aznauri, Armenian nakharar, and Russian druzhyniki. Horse armor disappeared, teardrop bucklers and kite shields became the norm, and although armor and weaponry basically stayed the same and Alanic noble cavalrymen continued to carry a bow and arrows, emphasis was lain on a powerful impetuous charge. By this time, the Kingdom of Alania had developed a quasi-feudal socio-political structure, the Alans and Georgians within Alania were fully assimilated with each other, and the nobles (aldar) were often accompanied on campaign by smallholders and commoners that owed them fealty. These troops generally fell into two categories—skirmishing cavalry drawn from the steppe regions of the kingdom, and spearmen drawn from the agricultural smallholders and commoners of the kingdom—although the mountain tribes (Irons, Digorons, and Tuals) continued to supply skirmishing infantrymen. The Mongol conquest ultimately brought this system down and irrevocably transformed the Alanic state and society. The remaining steppe regions of the kingdom were stripped away (ca. 1239-1242 CE), the noble houses were forced to send their sons to the Mongol capital at Karakorum (in Mongolia) as hostages to assure the loyalty of their family to the Mongols, and the steppe-dwelling Alanic population was forced to resettle in the Crimea and Astrakhan (where they were assimilated by the Kipchak Turks). As mentioned above, the noble hostages sent to Karakorum were organized into a cavalry guard unit (the Asud) that served in the imperial battle guard of the Mongol Khaganate (the Khorchin) until the end of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, although many young Alans took service with the Asud in order to see the world and have a military career they hoped would bring them position and booty. The remaining Alanic lands in the Caucasus Mountains became balkanized, with practically every valley having its own virtually autonomous lord (some being the sons of David Soslan and Tamar, some not). The policy of the Mongol Golden Horde was to keep it that way. Nevertheless, there were periodic attempts to throw off the Mongol yoke until about 1290 CE, when the last known ruler (Peredjan) to claim the royal title over Alania was slain by the Mongols.

 

During the final phase of the military history of the Caucasian Alans, the Later Medieval Caucasian Alans (ca. 1290-1395 CE) had lost the steppes and steppe-dwelling population, Alania remained politically balkanized with no clear central leadership, and the economic stagnation that resulted from the isolation of the Caucasian Alans under Mongol rule led to the development of a very different military system. Basically only able to draw on the resources of a single valley, each lord was only able to muster a small contingent of cavalrymen as a retinue, and these were supplemented by infantrymen drawn from a peasantry that had fallen on hard times. Noble retinue cavalry now generally wore a long-sleeved mail shirt under a short-sleeved padded leather jacket (Greek, aketon). Sometimes the mail was supplemented with a breastplate, segmented plate brassards for the upper arms, and segmented plate lames for the thighs instead of a padded jacket, but this would only have been for elites (i.e., nobles, but probably not their retainers). Later Medieval Alanic cavalry are described in period sources as continuing to fight as shock cavalry lancers—they continued to carry a bow and arrows, although this weapon was now only considered appropriate when hunting or fighting on foot (basically, during sieges). In addition to serving the khans of the Golden Horde, the Alans served as mercenaries in the armies of the Byzantine Empire—notably, alongside the Catalan Company (a mercenary company from the western Mediterranean) during the Palaiologan Dynasty’s attempts to reconquer Anatolia from the Turks (ca. 1303-1384 CE), although the Alans and members of the Catalan company took an immediate dislike to one-another and spent almost as much time fighting each other as they did fighting the Turks. Indeed, the Alanic component of the garrison of the city of Magnesia in western Anatolia—where the Catalan Company kept its treasury while on campaign—incited the local Greek population against the Catalans, which led to riots that ended with the slaughter of the Catalan component of the garrison, and the Alans then stole the treasury of the Catalans. The Catalans protested to the Byzantine emperor, Andronikos II (1282-1328 CE), while they besieged Magnesia, but not only did the protest fall on deaf ears, but Andronokos’ son, prince Mikhael, ordered the assassination of the leader of the Catalan Company, Roger de Flor (30 April 1305 CE)(the assassins were Alans). Subsequently, the Alans assisted the Byzantines as they attempted to exterminate the remaining Catalan troops in Byzantine territory (ca. 1306-1311 CE)—Byzantine historians claimed this betrayal was predicated on the abusive behavior the Catalans had shown toward the native Greek population during their tenure in Byzantine service. As the hegemony of the Golden Horde collapsed in Russia (ca. 1359-1381 CE), units of Alan vassals took part in the civil wars between the various Mongol factions and in their fights against the Muscovite Russians. Alan mercenaries served in the army of the Mongol general, Mamai (1335-1380 CE), at the Battle of Kulikovo (8 September 1380 CE), where the Mongols were defeated by the allied forces led by the Grand Prince of Moscow, Dmitry Donskoy (1359-1389 CE). They also (fatefully) fought with Urus Khan (1361-1380 CE) against Urus’ nephew, Tokhtamysh, who rebelled against his uncle (ca. 1376-1380 CE) with the backing of Amir Timur (a.k.a., Tamerlane)(1370-1405 CE), founder of the Timurid Empire (1370-1507 CE). Tokhtamysh overthrew Urus, but the Alans then declared independence (ca. 1380-1395 CE). Timur ultimately found Tokhtamysh too independent-minded, and invaded the Golden Horde via the northern Caucasus (ca. 1391-1395 CE). He laid waste Alania. Most of the population was slain or enslaved and forced to march off into servitude in Persia or Transoxania, while the decimated remnants of the Alans—the mountain peoples of the Irons, Digorons, and Tuals—withdrew into the remotest areas of the former Alanic realm, from that time called Ossetia. The Ossetians had no independent army thereafter and virtually disappeared from the historical record until the era of the Russian Empire (1721-1917 CE).