| Battle of Stilo | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Warrior of the Fatimid / Kalbid period 11th century Sicily | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Holy Roman Empire Principality of Benevento | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| EmperorOtto II Landulf IV of Benevento † Pandulf II of Salerno † | EmirAbu'l-Qasim † | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 2,100+ armored cavalry, the rest unknown | Unknown | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 4,000 killed including many nobles | Fewer than Imperial army | ||||||
TheBattle of Stilo (also known asCape Colonna andCrotone) was fought on 13 or 14 July 982 nearCrotone inCalabria between the forces ofHoly Roman EmperorOtto II and hisItalo-Lombard allies and those of theKalbidemir of Sicily,Abu'l-Qasim, who had declared aholy war against the Germans.Some sources claim that the Muslims received support from theByzantines, in retaliation for Otto's invasion of theirprovince of Apulia, but this is unconfirmed.[citation needed]
Abu'l-Qasim was not far fromRossano Calabro when he noticed the unexpected strength of Otto's troops, and retreated. Tipped off to the retreat by ships,[clarification needed] Otto left his wifeTheophanu and their children in Rossano, along with the baggage and the imperial treasure, and set off to pursue the enemy. When Abu'l-Qasim recognized that he would not be able to flee, he readied his army for apitched battle atCapo Colonna, south of Crotone. After a violent clash, a corps of German heavy cavalry destroyed the Muslim centre and then pushed towards the emir's guards. Abu'l-Qasim was ultimately killed during the battle, but his troops were not shaken, going on to surround Otto's forces with a hidden reserve of approximately 5,000 cavalry and[1] inflicting heavy losses. According toIbn al-Athir's history, casualties numbered around 4,000, among themLandulf IV of Benevento,Henry I, Bishop of Augsburg,Günther, Margrave of Merseburg, theAbbot of Fulda, and 19 other German counts.[2] Otto was forced to flee the battle, ultimately securing shelter only by swimming out to a Byzantine merchant ship.[3][4] He then rested in Rossano, only returning to Rome on 12 November 982.
After fleeing northward, Otto held an assembly consisting primarily of local magnates inVerona. There, he secured the election ofhis son asKing of Italy and called for reinforcements from Germany. Saxon losses in the battle had been the most severe, and DukeBernard I of Saxony had been heading south to Verona for the assembly, but raids from Danish Vikings forced him to turn back. Otto had sent his nephew DukeOtto I of Swabia and Bavaria north to Germany to deliver the news of the battle at Stilo, but the Duke perished en route. Nevertheless, word did travel, reaching as far asWessex—a testament to the magnitude of the disaster. Ultimately, Otto would die the next year before being able to resume the campaign in southern Italy.
TheMezzogiorno was shaken by the battle. With Landulf and his brothers Atenulf andPandulf II of Salerno having died fighting, the holdings of Capua and Benevento passed on to cadet branches of theLandulfid family—with Salerno ultimately being snatched up by DukeManso I of Amalfi.
Although the Kalbid troops had been forced to retreat back to the island of Sicily, the Muslims retained a presence in southern Italy, continuing to harass local Greeks and Lombards. Additionally, when theSlavic peoples living on the Elbe heard of the emperor's defeat, they immediatelyrose up against imperial suzerainty in what would ultimately prove to be a decades-long setback for efforts to Germanise and Christianise them.
39°01′31.60″N17°12′07.80″E / 39.0254444°N 17.2021667°E /39.0254444; 17.2021667