Battle of Stilo

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For the battle called "Punta Stilo", see Battle of Calabria.

The Battle of Stilo was fought on 13 July^[1] 982 near Crotone in Calabria between the forces of the Emperor Otto II and his Italo-Lombard allies and those of the Kalbid ruler of Sicily, Abu al-Qasim. Some sources claim that the Muslims received support from the Byzantines, in retaliation from Otto's invasion of their province of Apulia, but this is unconfirmed.

al-Qasim, who had declared a Holy War against the Germans, retired 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, he left in that city his wife and children with the baggage and the Imperial treasure, and set to pursue the enemy. When al-Qasim recognized that his flee had no hopes, he fielded his army for pitched battle south to Crotone. After a violent clash, a corps of German heavly 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, slaughtering many of them. According to the historian Ibn al-Athir, casualties were c. 4,000. Landulf IV of Benevento, the bishop of Augsburg, the Abbot of Fulda and numerous other German counts were among them.

The defeat forced Otto to flee north, where he died the next year. The state of the Mezzogiorno was shaken up, for not only were Saracens able to maintain their hold on the peninsula, but the princes Pandulf II of Salerno and Landulf VI of Capua and their brother Atenulf, sons of the great Pandulf Ironhead, died in battle. Capua went to a younger son, still a minor, and Salerno was snatched by the duke of Amalfi, Manso.

The emperor sent his nephew Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria, back to Germany with the news, but he died en route.