Abu'l-Qasim Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Kalbi ( ar, أبو القاسم علي بن الحسن الكلبي, Abū al-Qāsim ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥasan al-Kalbī), known to the

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 ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

as Bolkasimos, was the third Emir of Sicily. He ruled from June 23, 970 to his death in battle on July 13, 982.

Background

In 947, the

Fatimid The Fatimid Caliphate was an Ismaili Shi'a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries AD. Spanning a large area of North Africa, it ranged from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The Fatimids, a dy ...

caliph A caliphate or khilāfah ( ar, خِلَافَة, ) is an institution or public office under the leadership of an Islamic steward with the title of caliph (; ar, خَلِيفَة , ), a person considered a political-religious successor to th ...

al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah Abu Tahir Isma'il ( ar, أبو طاهر إسماعيل, Abū Ṭāhir ʾIsmāʿīl; January 914 – 18 March 953), better known by his regnal name al-Mansur bi-Nasr Allah (), was the third caliph of the Fatimid Caliphate in Ifriqiya, ruling from ...

sent

al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Kalbi Al-Hasan ibn Ali ibn Abi al-Husayn al-Kalbi ( ar, ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻦ ﺍﺑﻦ ﻋﻠﻲ ﺍﺑﻦ ﺍﺑﻲ ﺍﻟﺤﺴﻴﻦ الكلبي, al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī al-Ḥusayn al-Kalbī), known in Byzantine sources as Boulchasenes ( el, Βο ...

to subdue a revolt on

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, where he would go on to establish his own ruling dynasty, the

Kalbids 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 ...

. Al-Hasan was succeeded by his son,

Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Kalbi Ahmad ibn al-Hasan al-Kalbi () was the second Kalbid Emir of Sicily. He was the son of the first Kalbid emir, al-Hasan ibn Ali al-Kalbi, who ruled the island on behalf of the Fatimid Caliphate. Ahmad succeeded his father in May 953 until 968, apar ...

, in 954. In 969 Ahmad was recalled to

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

to assist in subduing a revolt by Berber tribesmen. Briefly in 969, one of Ahmad's freed slaves, Ya'ish, was appointed governor of Sicily. The next year Abu'l-Qasim, Ahmad's brother, was elevated to governor.

Rule

During the spring of 976, Abu'l-Qasim launched a raiding expedition on

Byzantine Italy Byzantine Italy was those parts of the Italian peninsula under the control of the Byzantine empire after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476). The last Byzantine outpost in Italy, Bari was lost in 1071. Chronologically, it refers to: *Praet ...

. His first target was the city of

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

, which he found deserted upon arrival. He soon moved on to

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

, taking tribute from

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

before sending his brother to raid the surrounding countryside. He soon crossed the straits back to Sicily. During the summer of the same year, Abu'l-Qasim crossed back to mainland Italy, where he quickly forced tribute out of St. Agatha and took and razed

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

. He then sent one army to

Otranto Otranto (, , ; scn, label= Salentino, Oṭṛàntu; el, label=Griko, Δερεντό, Derentò; grc, Ὑδροῦς, translit=Hudroûs; la, Hydruntum) is a coastal town, port and ''comune'' in the province of Lecce (Apulia, Italy), in a fertil ...

while he besieged Gravina, before retiring to Muslim lands for the year, bringing home hundreds of captives as slaves. In May 982, Abu'l-Qasim returned to Italy hoping to confront the advancing German 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 Italy. ...

. Around Rossano Calabro, Abu'l-Qasim spotted the German army and realized that he had hugely underestimated its size. He attempted to retreat back to Sicily, but Otto caught up with him around

Capo Colonna Capo Colonna (sometimes Capo Colonne or Capo della Colonne is a cape in Calabria located near Crotone. In ancient times the promontory was called Promunturium Lacinium. The modern name derives from the remaining column of the Temple of Juno Lacin ...

. In the

Battle of Stilo 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 and his Italo-Lombard allies and those of the Kalbid emir of Sicily, Ab ...

, the outnumbered Kalbid force was able to surround and defeat the German forces with an unexpectedly strong cavalry charge; Otto himself only escaped by swimming to a Greek merchant ship,''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. but Abu'l-Qasim was killed in the melee.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abul-Qasim Ali ibn al-Hasan al-Kalbi 982 deaths 10th-century Arabs Fatimid people of the Arab–Byzantine wars Emirs of Sicily Kalbids Military personnel killed in action Year of birth unknown Generals of the Fatimid Caliphate Slave owners