The Battle of Stilo (also known as Cape Colonna and Crotone) was fought on 13 or 14 July 982 near Crotone in Calabria between the forces of Holy Roman Emperor

Otto II Otto II (955 – 7 December 983), called the Red (''der Rote''), was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Ita ...

and his Italo-Lombard allies and those of the

Kalbid The Kalbids () were a Muslim Arab dynasty in the Emirate of Sicily, which ruled from 948 to 1053. They were formally appointed by the Fatimids, but gained, progressively, ''de facto'' autonomous rule. History In 827, in the midst of internal By ...

emir of Sicily, Abu'l-Qasim. . Abu'l-Qasim, who had declared a Holy War ('' jihad'') against the Germans, retreated when he noticed the unexpected strength of Otto's troops when he was not far from Rossano Calabro. Informed by some ships of the Muslim retreat, Otto left in that city his wife and children with the baggage and the imperial treasure, and set to pursue the enemy. When Abu'l-Qasim recognized that his flight had no hope of success, he fielded his army for a

pitched battle A pitched battle or set-piece battle is a battle in which opposing forces each anticipate the setting of the battle, and each chooses to commit to it. Either side may have the option to disengage before the battle starts or shortly thereafter. A ...

south of Crotone at Cape Colonna. After a violent clash, a corps of German heavy cavalry destroyed the Muslim centre and pushed towards al-Qasim's guards. The emir was killed, but his troops were not shaken by the loss: they even managed to surround the German troops with a hidden cavalry reserve (approx. 5,000 warriors), slaughtering many of them. According to the historian

Ibn al-Athir Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad ash-Shaybānī, better known as ʿAlī ʿIzz ad-Dīn Ibn al-Athīr al-Jazarī ( ar, علي عز الدین بن الاثیر الجزري) lived 1160–1233) was an Arab or Kurdish historian a ...

, casualties were around 4,000. Landulf IV of Benevento,

Henry I, Bishop of Augsburg Henry I (died 14 July 982), from the Luitpolding family, was the bishop of Augsburg from 973 to his death. He succeeded Saint Ulrich. A bellicose warrior-bishop, under him the diocese suffered. Henry aided the rebels against the Otto II, Holy R ...

Günther, Margrave of Merseburg Gunther (german: Günther; died 13 July 982) was the Margrave of Merseburg from 965 until his death, upon which the march of Merseburg was united to that of Meissen. Gunther was a scion of the Ekkeharding noble family first recorded around Naumb ...

, the

Abbot of Fulda The Abbey of Fulda (German ''Kloster Fulda'', Latin ''Abbatia Fuldensis''), from 1221 the Princely Abbey of Fulda (''Fürstabtei Fulda'') and from 1752 the Prince-Bishopric of Fulda (''Fürstbistum Fulda''), was a Benedictine abbey and ecclesiasti ...

and 19 other German counts were among them. Otto had to flee the battlefield and swim towards a Greek merchant ship which gave him shelter.''The Place of Byzantium in the Medieval World'', Steve Runciman, ''The Cambridge Medieval History'', Vol. IV., Part II, ed. J.M. Hussey, (Cambridge University Press, 1967), 361. Resting in Rossano, he only returned to Rome on 12 November 982. The defeat forced Otto to flee north, where he held an assembly of primarily north Italian magnates at

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. He sent his nephew

Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria Otto I (born 954, died 31 October or 1 November 982) was the Duke of Swabia from 973 and Duke of Bavaria from 976. He was a member of the Ottonian dynasty, the only son of Duke Liudolf of Swabia and his wife Ida, and thus a grandson of the Empero ...

, back to Germany with the news, but he died ''en route''. News of the battle did reach as far as

Wessex la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons , common_name = Wessex , image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg , map_caption = S ...

, which is significant of the magnitude of the disaster. Bernard I of Saxony was heading south for the assembly when Danish

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

raids forced him to return. Saxon losses at Stilo had been most severe. At the assemblage, Otto secured his son Otto III's election as

King of Italy King of Italy ( it, links=no, Re d'Italia; la, links=no, Rex Italiae) was the title given to the ruler of the Kingdom of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. The first to take the title was Odoacer, a barbarian military leader ...

and a call for reinforcements from Germany. He died the next year before continuing his campaign in the south. The state of the

Mezzogiorno Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half. The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...

was shaken up. Besides Landulf IV, his brothers

Pandulf II of Salerno Pandulf II (died 13 July 982) was the prince of Salerno (981), the second of such princes of the family of the princes of Capua. He was originally appointed heir to the childless Gisulf I of Salerno, who had been reinstated on his throne by Pandulf' ...

and Atenulf also died in battle. Though the Kalbid troops were forced to retreat afterwards to Sicily, the Saracens remained a presence in southern Italy, harassing the Greeks and Lombards. Capua and Benevento meanwhile passed to younger branches of the Landulfid family and Salerno was snatched by Manso,

Duke of Amalfi Medieval Amalfi was ruled, in the tenth and eleventh centuries, by a series of dukes ( la, duces), sometimes called ''dogi'' (singular: ''doge''), corresponding with the republic of Venice, a maritime rival throughout the Middle Ages. Before the t ...

. In Germany, the Elbean Slavs, upon hearing news of the emperor's defeat, rose against their German suzerains under

Mstivoj Mstivoj (925? - 995) was an Obodrite prince (''princeps Winulorum'') from 965 or 967 until his death. He inherited his position along with his brother Mstidrag from their father Nako in an unknown year. Name Mstiwoj is an old Slavic name popular ...

in a great revolt known as the ''Slawenaufstand''. The Germanisation and Christianisation of the Slavs was put back for decades.

Notes

Sources

* *Reuter, Timothy. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. New York: Longman, 1991. {{coord, 39, 01, 31.60, N, 17, 12, 07.80, E, type:event_source:dewiki, display=title Stilo 982 Stilo 982 Stilo 982

Stilo , image_skyline = Stilo vecchio 2.jpg , imagesize = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_shield = Stilo-Stemma.png , shield_alt = , image_map = , map_alt = , m ...

10th century in Italy