Battle of Brenta

Battle of the Brenta river
Part of the Hungarian invasions of Europe
Date 24 September 899 Location Bank of the Brenta River, Italy Result Decisive Hungarian victory
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Principality of Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Berengar I	Unknown
Strength
15,000	5,000
Casualties and losses
Almost all the Italian army	Minor

The Battle of Brenta was fought between the cavalry of the Kingdom of Italy under king Berengar I and the Hungarians, hired by the East Francian king Arnulf of Carinthia, against him, at an unidentified location in northern Italian Peninsula along the river Brenta on 24 September 899. It was one of the earliest battles of the Hungarian invasions of Europe. The result was a crushing defeat for Berengar I, opening the following raids for the Hungarians against Italy. The Hungarian invasion resulted in the burning of many cities, like Feltre, Vercelli, Modena and monasteries like the monastery in Nonantola, and attacking even Venice, hovewer without success.

In the meantime Berengar's arch enemy, Arnulf of Carinthia died in December 899, as a result the Hungarians, whom he hired against the Italian king, left the kingdom in the next year with all their plunders, not before concluding peace with Berengar, who gave them many hostages and "gifts". In their way home the Hungarians made an "amphibious assault", a unique achievement from an exclusively land army in the premodern times, crossing the Adriatic Sea in order to attack Venice.

In some historians' opinion the returning army had a role also in the conqering of Pannonia, as part of the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin, from the Bavarians by the Hungarians in late 900.

Many contemporary sources mention about this battle, like the Chronicon of Regino of Prüm, the Annales Fuldenses, the Chronicon Sagornini of John the Deacon, Catalogus abbatum nonantulorum, etc. The most important source is Antapodosis, seu rerum per Europam gestarum, written by Liutprand of Cremona,which give the most detailed description of the events which led to the battle and battle itself.

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