982: Thietmar of Merseburg on the Battle at Capo Colonna

Abstract

In July 982, the armies of Emperor Otto II and Abū l-Qāsim of Sicily clashed in the Battle of Capo Colonna in Calabria, with the Ottonian ruler suffering a crushing defeat and only narrowly escaping with his own life. For the chronicler Thietmar of Merseburg (sed. 1009-1018), this was also a consequence of Otto‘s misguided church policy, which had led to the temporary dissolution of the bishopric of Merseburg in 981. This unusual, but for Thietmar‘s chronicle almost typical combination of local Saxon and Mediterranean developments stands at the centre of the article. His view of the events of 982 will also be compared with alternative accounts from Latin-Christian and Arabic-Islamic perspectives in order to provide a comprehensive picture of a turning point in Ottonian Italian politics in the late tenth century.