Otto II (HRR)

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The ivory tablet , probably donated by Johannes Philagathos , emphasizes the equality between Otto and Theophanu . They wear Greek robes and receive their crowns from the hands of Christ. For the first time in the West, Emperor and Empress are represented here in the same size. However, Theophanu is on the less posh left of the Savior.

Otto II. (Also called Otto the Red ; * 955 ; † December 7, 983 in Rome ) from the noble family of Liudolfinger was Roman-German Emperor from 973 to 983.

At a young age, Otto was raised to be co-king in 961 and co-emperor in 967 by his father, Otto the Great , in order to secure his successor. As the only ruler in the post-Carolingian era, Otto II was made emperor during his father's lifetime. When his father died after 37 years of rule, Otto, who was only 18 years old, assumed sole rule.

During his rule he operated a gradual reorganization in the south of the empire. By excluding the Bavarian line of the Liudolfinger from royal rule, he strengthened the royal power and secured his son's succession. The attempt to include all of Italy in imperial rule led to conflicts with the Saracens and Byzantines in southern Italy. Otto's campaign against the Saracens ended in a catastrophic defeat in 982 , followed a little later with the Slav uprising of 983, a severe setback in the Christianization and subjugation of the Slavs . The sudden death of the emperor at the age of 28 in Italy and the resulting crisis in the empire shaped the image of a hapless ruler for posterity. He was the only German ruler to be buried in Rome.

Life until the assumption of power

Marriage certificate of Otto and Theophanus (State Archives Wolfenbüttel 6 Urk 11): With this certificate Otto assigned his wife extensive lands in the empire and in Italy as a morning gift. The certificate is handed down in a splendid copy, in which the text is written in gold on a purple background patterned with animal ornaments.

Origin and youth

Otto II was the son of the East Franconian King Otto I and his second wife Adelheid of Burgundy . He received a comprehensive literary and intellectual education through Wilhelm von Mainz , later Bishop Volkold von Meißen and Ekkehard II of St. Gallen . Margrave Hodo instructed him in warfare and legal customs. At the age of six he was elected co-king at the Worms farm conference in May 961 when his father was preparing for a procession to Italy, and he was crowned in Aachen . Otto I. thereby violated customary law , because until then it had been customary in the Saxon house to wait until he was of legal age before taking further steps. The reasons for this decision are not known, but they are likely to be related to Otto I's risky military expedition to Italy. Since Adelheid's first husband, Lothar , had been made co-king by his father at the same age in 931, this decision may be due to its influence.

Otto II was escorted to Aachen, where the Lothringers paid homage to him, and anointed king by the Rhenish archbishops Brun of Cologne , Wilhelm of Mainz and Heinrich von Trier . The two archbishops Brun and Wilhelm were appointed deputies in the empire, with whom the young Otto stayed north of the Alps. After three and a half years of absence, Otto's father returned to his ancestral kingdom in early 965 as Emperor and King of Italy. To express the hope for dynastic continuity, the anniversary of the imperial coronation was celebrated on February 2, 965 in Worms, the site of Otto II's election as king.

Heir to the throne and co-regent

In Italy, the political situation remained unstable even after Otto I was coronated as emperor. The loyal Pope John XIII. could not assert itself against the urban Roman noble family of the Crescentier . He was captured but managed to escape and called the emperor for help. Only a year and a half after his return, Otto I moved to Italy again. At the age of almost eleven, Otto II had been on his own again since the end of August 966. After Brun's death, the older stepbrother Wilhelm remained as sole regent. After the imperial coronation, Otto the Great also had to clarify his relationship to the older Eastern Roman-Byzantine empire. In the course of the dispute over the imperial title, Byzantium had to regulate the constitutional situation and the division of power between the two empires. In fact, Byzantium only ruled a small area in the south of the Italian peninsula. The sovereignty over the two principalities of Capua and Benevento had long been disputed. A marriage alliance between the two powers should both solve the double emperor problem and clarify the extent of the respective area of ​​rule in Italy within the framework of an alliance of friendship. The prestige of both parties also had to be preserved. In Otto I's political thinking, the coronation of his son as emperor was an important prerequisite for the desired marriage with a Byzantine emperor's daughter who was born in purple. Otto apparently hoped that the marriage connection with the glorious Macedonian dynasty would legitimize his son and his house. In order to promote his dynastic plans, Otto asked his son in a letter written together with the Pope to travel to Rome in the autumn of 967 to celebrate Christmas with them. Nothing is known about the arrangements that were made for the duration of the absence. The recall to Italy, however, prevented the creation of a tailored clientele among the Saxon nobility. The departure of Otto II to Italy and the death of Wilhelm von Mainz in March 968 and Queen Mathilde created a power vacuum in Saxony . This was not without consequences for the concept of rule: For the first time since 919, the royal presence in Saxony was interrupted for a longer period.

Otto took the train across the Brenner from Augsburg . In October 967, father and son met in Verona and moved together via Ravenna to Rome. On December 25, 967 Otto II was crowned co-emperor in Rome. This ensured the passing on of the empire created by his father and the imperial crown. Negotiations for the marriage of Otto II with a Byzantine princess began in 967, but it was not until 972 that a marriage and peace agreement was concluded. The only bride born in purple who came into question for Otto II, born in 955 for reasons of age, was Anna, the daughter of Emperor Romanos II. However, the choice of Emperor Johannes Tzimiskes fell on his niece Theophanu , who was only a niece by marriage a soldier emperor was. On April 14, 972, Theophanu, who was not born purple, was married to Otto and crowned empress. This meant the recognition of the western empire by Byzantium. As a result, the situation in the southern parts of Italy relaxed, without anything being known about a specific reorganization of the situation there. With a ceremonial act of co-emperor showed his wife the counties of Istria and Pescara , Walcheren and Wichelen with the rich Abbey Nivelles including 14,000 hooves, the royal courts Boppard on the Rhine, Tiel on the Waal, Herford , Tilleda and Nordhausen to Saxony as dowry.

Even after the imperial coronation, Otto remained in the shadow of his overpowering father. He was denied administrative action on his own responsibility. Unlike his early son Liudolf , who had received the Duchy of Swabia in 950 , his father did not leave Otto a separate area of ​​responsibility after he came of age. After the imperial coronation it was restricted to the northern part of the empire. The imperial seals used by Otto II up to the year 973 were already smaller in their outer proportions than those of their father. The young emperor did not have his own chancellery and the scope of the content of his few royal documents remained small. In August 972 Otto II returned home with his parents after five years of absence. In the following nine months, in which the father was still alive, sixteen privileges have been handed down from Otto I, but only four from Otto II. In the first two documents the son enters the Intitulatio as Coimperator Augustus on, yielding both Kaiser at least put the title on the same level. But this title was dropped again in the following documents.

The emperor Otto II.

Assumption of power

When Otto the Great died on May 7, 973, the course for a smooth succession had long been set. Otto II had been king for twelve years and emperor for more than five years. Unlike his father, he also had no brother who could dispute his rule. On the morning of May 8th, he was paid homage by the greats present . Widukind paralleled this “election to head” with his father's accession to power in 936 in Aachen. As one of his first acts, Otto confirmed the possessions and rights of the Archdiocese of Magdeburg on June 3rd and 4th . In the first three months of his reign, Otto met with the archbishops of the empire, the dukes and many bishops. He visited the central places of the kingdom in Saxony, Franconia and Lower Lorraine. He moved via Werla and Fritzlar to Worms , where the first big court day was convened. In Worms he was greeted by the archbishops Dietrich von Trier , Adalbert von Magdeburg , Friedrich von Salzburg , the bishops Dietrich von Metz , Wolfgang von Regensburg , Abraham von Freising and Pilgrim von Passau . A month later, another court day took place in Aachen at the place of the royal coronation. Otto celebrated the feast of St. Laurentius in Magdeburg .

Uprising in the empire

Although the transition of power had gone smoothly from the outside, the future distribution of power had to be decided again. The problems from 963 to 972 were not solved when his father died. In the Saxon aristocratic landscape, resistance to the founding of the dioceses on the eastern border continued under Otto the Great. The regulation of many details, from the exact demarcation to the furnishing of the dioceses, was left to Otto II and his helpers. The marriage to a Byzantine princess turned out to be a disadvantage, because it did not change the closeness of the influential Saxon families to the king. It is possible that Otto's wife met with major rejection in Saxony. Among his advisers, only Bishop Dietrich von Metz from the older generation had a prominent position. His other advisers were mostly people who did not necessarily have the support of powerful relatives. Willigis , although he did not come from a more respected family, had already been to Italy with the young co-emperor and had been Arch Chancellor since 971. In 975 Otto made him Archbishop of Mainz . Also Hildebald , the 977 took over as head of the firm and the 979 in addition, the Bishopric of Worms was passed, not one of one of the first families of the kingdom.

Otto I did not clarify the uncertain conditions in Italy. In Rome, the Crescentier raised against the 972 elected Pope Benedict VI. the antipope Boniface VII . A little later, Benedict was murdered in Castel Sant'Angelo . Due to the change of ruler, the relationship with foreign kings and princes had to be rebalanced. In the first seven years Otto was busy asserting royal power against internal and external opponents. The conflicts in the early years led to a change in the title, also because an inheritance was initially missing. On April 29, 974, the new title Coimperatrix Augusta appeared for the Empress . According to the Byzantine model, it was supposed to secure the right of succession to Theophanu if the throne were vacant. Theophanu thus claimed a title that no other Latin empress had before or after her. During this time Otto carried out a fundamental reorganization of the ownership structure among the women of the imperial court. Theophanu received rich possessions in Northern Hesse and Thuringia, including the royal courts of Eschwege and Mühlhausen. Otto's sister Mathilde von Quedlinburg and his mother, Empress Adelheid, also received gifts, albeit less than his wife.

The conflict with Heinrich the quarrel

Certificate from Emperor Otto II about the donation of the Bamberg King Castle including accessories and the town of Stegaurach to Heinrich the Quarrel.

In order to create a balance with the younger line of descendants of the founder of the dynasty Heinrich I , Otto II gave his cousin, Duke Heinrich the Quarrel of Bavaria, the Ottonian royal castle of Bamberg and the town of Stegaurach with all its accessories on June 27, 973 . Nevertheless, Heinrich the quarrel tried in Bavaria to intensify the king's position granted to him by Otto I. and to expand his influence on Swabia. After the death of Bishop Ulrich von Augsburg on July 4, 973, Abbot Werner von Fulda, a confidante of Otto I and an important advisor to Otto II, was to be his successor. But Heinrich the quarrel and his brother-in-law Burchard III. von Swabia, without consulting Otto and under deception of the cathedral chapter, the elevation of Heinrich's cousin of the same name as the new bishop of Augsburg. Otto II subsequently approved this choice. On September 22nd, 973, the new bishop Heinrich was invested in Bothfeld .

After the death of Duke Burchard of Swabia on November 11 or 12, 973, his widow Hadwig saw herself as the heir to the power of the duke. But Otto defied their claims and appointed his nephew Otto as his successor, the son of his half-brother Liudolf, an opponent of the Bavarian Liudolfinger. Otto did not deviate from the principle of filling important positions in the empire with relatives of the imperial family.

During this time, however, there seems to have been a falling out between Otto and his mother Adelheid. From the burial of Otto I until Easter 974 she had accompanied her son constantly on the move in the Reich, in more than 46 diplomas she is mentioned as an intervener. After that, the certificates stop. A last meeting shortly before Pentecost (May 31), probably for an amicable understanding with Adelheid, Duke Heinrich and his advisor, Bishop Abraham von Freising , failed. Adelheid withdrew from Otto's court. However, since she only returned to her Burgundian homeland in 978, additional conflicts could have contributed to the falling out with her son.

Heinrich the quarrel obviously understood Otto's ascension to be an attack on his position as a king. He and his advisor, Bishop Abraham von Freising, conspired against the emperor with the dukes Mieszko of Poland and Boleslaw of Bohemia . Their goals are not passed down from the sources. Heinrich probably initially only intended to restore his honor and his position alongside Adelheid as the most influential advisor. As a reaction to the conspiracy, Otto sent Bishop Poppo von Würzburg and Count Gebhard to Heinrich the quarrel and invited him and all his followers to a court day. If they refused, they were threatened with excommunication. This open threat was a clear difference to the behavior usual at the time of Otto I. Heinrich obeyed the request. He submitted to Otto even before armed conflicts broke out. Nevertheless, both were severely punished. The Duke was imprisoned in Ingelheim , Bishop Abraham von Freising in Corvey .

In 976 Heinrich returned to Bavaria. It is not known whether he was released from prison or fled. He immediately continued the conflict against Otto, allegedly claiming Otto's rule. Heinrich not only put Regensburg in defense readiness, but also mobilized his strong support among the Saxon nobility, which included the Margrave Gunther von Merseburg , Ekbert the one-eyed and the Wettin Dedi. Otto then moved with an army to Bavaria, besieged Regensburg, where Heinrich defended himself. The bishops in the imperial army excommunicated the duke. Heinrich could not withstand the siege, and he fled to the Bohemian Duke Boleslaw.

In Regensburg, in July 976, Otto made far-reaching decisions to reorganize the southern German duchies. Bavaria was reduced by almost a third in its territorial portfolio. As a result of this measure, the Duchy of Carinthia was newly created. By withdrawing the counties of Verona and Friuli , the Bavarian dukes also lost their considerable influence in northern Italy and on royal Italian policy. By appointing his nephew Otto von Schwaben and Heinrich Luitpolding , Otto also promoted people who were not among his father's beneficiaries or who had even fought against him.

A first move to Bohemia failed, but Otto succeeded by another move to force Boleslaw into submission in August 977. In the meantime Heinrich the Quarrel had occupied Passau with Bohemian support and his Luitpoldingian relative Heinrich von Kärnten, the just raised Duke of Carinthia. Bishop Heinrich von Augsburg also joined the uprising. Otto therefore moved from Bohemia to Passau and, after a long siege, was able to force his opponents to submit. The insurgents were asked to appear in Quedlinburg on Easter Court Day 978 (March 31) . Boleslaw was treated with honor, vowed allegiance, and was honored with royal gifts. Bishop Heinrich was sent to Werden monastery and released after four months. Heinrich the quarrel was not released until Otto's death. He was sent to Bishop Folcmar in Utrecht .

While Otto's father had repeatedly accepted his rebellious brother in grace, Otto II pursued a different policy. He intervened massively in the structure of the Bavarian regnum and strove for a hierarchical subordination of the duke to the imperial authority. The quarrel's son, who later became Emperor Heinrich II , was given to the Hildesheim Cathedral School for training for a spiritual career. Apparently Otto intended to finally end the secular rule of the Bavarian Liudolfinger. In Bavaria, Otto had to redistribute power. Otto von Schwaben kept the reduced Bavaria. The new Duchy of Carinthia was given to the Salian nephew Otto von Worms . In Bavaria and Carinthia there were now dukes who did not have their own power base in their area of ​​office. Otto's reorganization in the south-east also included the founding of the diocese of Prague in 976, which his father had operated since 973 and which was incorporated into the church province of his confidante Willigis von Mainz. With this measure he withdrew Bohemia from the ecclesiastical sphere of influence of Regensburg and thus from the access of the Duke of Bavaria. He appointed the Corvey monk Dietmar as the first bishop . However, Bavaria remained a remote zone of royal rule even under Otto. The Kaiser only visited Bavaria three times, and in all cases these visits were marked by war.

Fight with the Danish king Harald Blauzahn

The Danish king Harald Blauzahn had to recognize the sovereignty of Otto the Great and converted to Christianity. Harald had fulfilled all of his obligations towards Otto's father and paid tribute. In the meantime, however, he had extended his rule over Norway . Given his seniority and increased power, he was unwilling to serve the young ruler as he once did his father. Maybe he wanted to shake off his dependence on the Reich. In the summer of 974 he invaded northern Albingia . Supported by Norwegian troops under Jarl Hakon , he advanced south over the Danish protective wall, the Danewerk . Otto's first counterattack failed in front of the Danewerk, which was tenaciously defended by Jarl Hakon and the Norwegians. It was not until the autumn, when the Norwegians had sailed north again, that Otto made his breakthrough. A prestigious symbolic act ended the fighting: the emperor had access to the kingdom of Harald at any time through a fort-like gate in the Danish fortification wall. But there is no evidence of Harald on Otto's farm day. The 974 built castles were destroyed again after Otto's heavy defeat in southern Italy.

Conflict in the west of the empire

Gregormeister : Kaiser Otto II., Single sheet from a Registrum Gregorii , Trier after 983. Chantilly, Musée Condé, Ms. 14 bis . The emperor is enthroned under a canopy supported by pillars. Otto receives homage to the provinces of Germania, Francia, Italia and Alamannia, symbolized by women. The picture documents the emperor's claim to rule over the West.
Diploma of Otto II for the Diocese of Zeitz, August 1st, 976 (?). Naumburg, Domstiftsarchiv, No. 1

Even before the conflicts in the south of the empire, there had been disputes in the west. The brothers Reginar IV and Lambert from the Lorraine ducal family of Reginare took up the fight for their paternal inheritance in 973. Your father Reginar III. had lost all property in 958 after an outrage against the king and had been sentenced to lifelong exile with the Bohemian Duke. Otto II had awarded or newly confirmed offices and fiefs in 973 on the occasion of the homage to the Lorraine major offices. Apparently Otto stuck to his father's decision and thus disappointed the two sons, who had hoped for a conciliatory new beginning. Reginar and Lambert returned in the autumn of 973 to forcibly recover their inheritance. In 976 they repeated the attempt, this time supported by King Lothar of West Franconia . In order to calm the situation in Lorraine, the old family property was returned to Reginar and Lambert on a farm day in mid-May 977 in Diedenhofen . In addition, the Carolingian Karl was enfeoffed with the Duchy of Lower Lorraine and the Chancellor Egbert was appointed Archbishop of Trier .

When Otto and his wife were in Aachen in June 978, Lothar suddenly invaded Lower Lorraine. The reason could have been the appointment of his brother Karl as Duke of Lorraine, as Lothar was in irreconcilable dispute with him. Otto is said to have been so surprised that he was convinced on horseback that the West Franconian army was approaching. The imperial couple managed to escape by fleeing to Cologne. But Lothar neither secured positions of power in Lorraine, nor did he attempt to seize power. He left it at a symbolic demonstration: his warriors turned an eagle attached to Charlemagne's palace in the opposite direction. At the imperial assembly in Dortmund in mid-July, Otto decided to launch a campaign against western France. The company was started in autumn of the same year. Otto gathered an army and now invaded the western empire. He devastated the places Attigny , Soissons and Compiègne . He had to break off the siege of Paris because of the onset of winter. The emperor contented himself with letting the army line up for a victory celebration on Montmartre and singing the alleluia through the clergy . Otto had restored his honor through the campaign to Paris. In 980 there were negotiations about a reconciliation. Both rulers met in Margut and restored peace through an alliance of friendship ( amicitia ). Otto moved from there to Aachen, where he held court over Pentecost. From Aachen he turned to Nijmegen . On the way there, the Empress gave birth to the heir to the throne, Otto (III) , in late June or early July in the Königsforst Kessel near Kleve - after three daughters Adelheid , Sophia and Mathilde . Otto then returned to Saxony, where he bequeathed a large foundation to Memleben .

Italian policy

After Otto II had consolidated his rule north of the Alps, and after the birth of the heir to the throne, Italy became the focus. In 979 the position of Pope Benedict VII was threatened, who had to withdraw from Rome and turned to the emperor. Otto II traveled to Italy with Theophanu and his son Otto, but without a large army. The Archbishop of Mainz, Willigis, was appointed as deputy in the empire. In the Franconian town of Bruchsal , the last regulations for the areas north of the Alps were made in October 980 and the first Italian delegations were received. The emperor and his entourage moved from Chur and Chiavenna to Italy. For the first time on Italian soil, Otto is attested in Pavia on December 5, 980. It was there that the emperor was reconciled with his mother Adelheid. During this time, the Archbishop Adalbero of Reims came in his retinue with Gerbert von Aurillac , one of the most famous scholars of his time. The whole farm went to Pavia to celebrate Christmas there. In Ravenna the emperor opened a scientific debate about the division of the sciences between Gerbert and the former head of the Magdeburg cathedral school, Ohtrich , who was serving in the court chapel at this time. Ohtrich probably wasn't up to scientifically speaking. In order to spare his Kapellan the shame of defeat, the emperor ended the dispute prematurely. He arrived in Rome at the beginning of the fast (February 9, 981). Apparently Otto was able to bring Pope Benedict VII back to Rome without any difficulties. The antipope fled to Byzantium. A splendid court day was held in Rome at Easter 981, to which both empresses and Otto's sister Mathilde, as well as King Konrad of Burgundy and his wife Mathilde, as well as Duke Hugo Capet of Franzien , Duke Otto of Swabia, and high secular and spiritual dignitaries met Germany, Italy and France met. In the summer heat, Otto and his farm first withdrew to the southern edge of the Apennines , then in August to the central Abruzzo to the Rocca de Cedici fortress on the road from Celano to L'Aquila .

In his imperial and Italian policy, Otto went beyond the paths his father had trodden. According to the St. Gallen annals, he was dissatisfied with what his father had achieved (Otto imperator non contentus finibus patris sui) . The influence of Theophanus on Otto's South Italian policy is controversial in research. His imperial idea was not based only on rule in and over Rome or on cooperation with the papacy, but aimed at unrestricted rule over all of Italy. According to Dirk Alvermann's study, the most striking sign of an intensification of rule in the Lombard south is the increased importance of Salerno . The Ottonian kingdom had two direct access to Calabria via the city via the Vallo di Diano and the Via Popilia . The emperor visited Salerno frequently and on important occasions. He also tried to bind the region to his rule in terms of church politics. Salerno served as the starting and ending point of the army campaign to Apulia. He reinforced his claim to rule over southern Italy by adopting a new title: "Romanorum Imperator Augustus" ("exalted emperor of the Romans"). Otto strove for the complete subjugation of southern Italy under his imperial rule. But this necessarily meant war with Byzantium and the Saracens, who claimed southern Italy as their domain. In Byzantium, however, there had been internal turmoil over rule. Emperor Johannes Tzimiskes died in 976. His family, which also included Otto's wife Theophanu, was persecuted by the new rulers. To achieve this, the Saracens had been advancing to Calabria since 976.

In the summer of 981 Adalbert , the first Archbishop of Magdeburg, died. From Italy, Otto and the Merseburg bishop Giselher , one of his most important advisors, became his successor and at the same time abolished the diocese of Merseburg . His possessions were partly transferred to Halberstadt and partly used to strengthen the dioceses of Zeitz and Meißen . Since a change from one bishopric to another was forbidden by canon law , a Roman synod on November 10, 981 created the conditions for a translation .

In conflict with the Byzantine officials in southern Italy, the Lombard prince (princeps) Pandulf Eisenkopf had built up an area of ​​power at the time of Otto I that included the Principality of Capua , the Duchy of Benevento , the Duchy of Spoleto and the Margraviate of Camerino. Pandulf had paid homage to Otto I, but had died in the spring of 981. With this the emperor had lost one of the most important pillars of his rule in central Italy. The collapse of the entire power bloc threatened, because Byzantium had not given up its claims to sovereignty over the Lombard principalities. After the death of Pandulf, Otto II tried to subjugate the Lombard principalities politically and ecclesiastically to his rule. During numerous stays he spoke right and intervened massively in the lordly structure.

Relations with Venice were also reorganized. The Doge Pietro IV, who had ruled since 959 , leaned on Otto I, who in turn prompted him to pay him tribute - in exchange for access to the church property in his area. But after Pietro's murder in August 976, changing groups ruled Venice. When the Coloprini family, still loyal to Otto II, came into conflict with the pro-Byzantine Morosini and Orseolo, they turned to Otto. Regardless of the almost 170 years of amicable agreement, Otto imposed several trade blockades on the island republic. While the first blockade ordered in January or February 981 - i.e. immediately after his arrival in Italy - had little effect (see Economic History of the Republic of Venice ), the second, imposed in July 983, caused Venice considerable damage and split the ruling ones Families of the republic. The submission of Venice to the Empire no longer seemed impossible, but was prevented by the untimely death of Otto II.

Monastery politics

Emperor Otto II, so-called 4th emperor's seal. Transcription: OTTO IMP (erator) AVG (ustus)

Monasticism and monasteries played an important role in Otto's rule. They were to serve as factors that support and stabilize power in the empire structure. In order to fulfill these tasks, Otto strengthened their legal integrity and economic independence from the nobility and episcopate. Under him and his wife, Memleben was upgraded with the establishment of a Benedictine abbey. The monastery was richly endowed with property, churches and tithe rights. These measures and the unusual size of the building may indicate that Memleben was intended as the burial church of the imperial couple.

After the uprisings of Heinrich the Quarrel were put down, the monasteries were used as repositories for high traitors. While his father founded only one monastery in the 37 years of reign, St. Mauritius in Magdeburg , Otto II can claim the rank of founder or co-founder of at least four monasteries - Memleben , Tegernsee , Bergen bei Neuburg / Donau and Arneburg . The active involvement of monasticism in imperial politics was a fundamental constant in Otto's relationship to the monastic system, whose representatives he entrusted with central political functions.

Otto counted important monks such as Ekkehard von St. Gallen , Majolus von Cluny , Johannes Philagathos and Gregor von Cassano among his political advisors. The St. Gallen monastery received lifelong care from Otto. In the first years of his reign, Otto intended to become the brother of the monks (societas et fraternitas) out of concern for his soul and that of his wife . With the diploma of January 19, 976 Otto was accepted into the prayer brotherhood of the St. Bavo Monastery. At the same time Otto had entered into a prayer brotherhood with the monks' convent. In 977 the neighboring monastery Blandigni also concluded a prayer fraternity with him.

More often than his two predecessors, he decided on the appointment of the abbot. In Italy, in 982 Otto appointed three close confidants to be abbots. In late summer 982, Gerbert von Aurillac became abbot in the Bobbio monastery . In the same year the imperial arch-chancellor for Italy, Johannes Philagathos , was appointed abbot in Nonantola , in Farfa, perhaps at the end of 982, Adam of Casa aurea received this office.

Defeat in southern Italy

The attacks by the Saracens under the leadership of the Emir Abu al-Qasim on the southern Italian mainland provided an occasion for a military enterprise in southern Italy . With the death of Pandulf Eisenkopf, the danger they posed increased. The move south was carefully prepared. Spiritual and secular greats from Lorraine, Franconia, Swabia and Bavaria raised a total of 2100 armored riders. Around 80% of the contingent was provided by religious institutions.

The campaign began on Saint Mauritius' Day (September 22nd). Otto was initially able to take Salerno , where he celebrated Christmas. As a sign of his hegemonic position and the legitimacy of his foray into Byzantine territory, he assumed the title of Roman emperor, Romanorum imperator Augustus , during the siege of Taranto in March 982 . This imperial title should after the imperial coronation of Otto III. become commonplace for all western emperors. The emperor celebrated Easter in Taranto. In Rossano he left his wife and the court behind, as a clash with the troops of the Emir Abu al-Qasim threatened. On July 15, 982, the battle of Cape Colonna broke out . The battle is localized at Columna, north of Reggio di Calabria . At first the Ottonian army was successful, the emir fell. When the lines of battle broke up and the sacking of the fallen began, however, Saracen reserves intervened and almost completely destroyed the imperial troops. The memorial records of several religious institutions name long series of names of the fallen. The emperor himself was in extreme danger and could only save himself by fleeing on a Byzantine ship. He narrowly escaped the attempt of the ship's crew to take him hostage. Otto managed to jump from the ship before Rossano. Swimming he reached the safe shore. With the help of a Mainz Jew from the Kalonymiden family , who gave him a horse, he was able to escape.

The outcome of the battle was already considered a disaster by contemporaries, none of Otto's predecessors had ever suffered such a defeat and had to flee so shamefully. For half a year, the emperor's documentary work was practically suspended, and little is known about his actions during this time. However, the Saracens did not use their success to advance further, but withdrew to Sicily. After the defeat Otto received the news of the death of Duke Otto of Swabia and of the Fulda abbot Werinher, who probably did not die in connection with the Battle of Crotone. He withdrew to Rome via Capaccio , Salerno and Capua, where he stayed for several months and also celebrated Christmas and Easter.

Crisis of the empire

Succession to the throne

Emperor Otto II installed Adalbert of Prague in his spiritual office by handing over the bishop's staff. Depiction on the door of Gniezno Cathedral , 12th century

After receiving the unlucky news, the greats remaining in the empire demanded a meeting with the emperor. A court day was convened in Verona at Pentecost 983 . There the duchies of Bavaria and Swabia were newly occupied. Almost all the resolutions passed in Verona brought the princely opposition a gain in power. The clearest evidence was the elevation of the Luitpoldinger Heinrich the Younger , who was previously in exile , a rebel from 977, to Duke of Bavaria. The Duchy of Swabia received Konrad from the family of the Konradines . The Czech Vojtěch, baptized Adalbert , was appointed bishop of Prague and invested with the staff on June 3rd by the emperor . On June 7th, extensive agreements were made with Venice. The sea blockade and trade war were settled. The most important decision of the greats of Italy and Germany was the choice of three-year-old Otto III. to the king. The reason why the succession of the minor prince's son was secured at this time is not mentioned in the sources. Otto III. was the only Roman-German king who was elected south of the Alps. It is possible that the situation in southern Italy after the defeat suggested a quick decision. With the departing participants of the court day, the child was led across the Alps to receive the royal ordination at the traditional coronation site of the Ottonians, in Aachen .

Slavic Uprising

In 983 the Slavic tribes rose east of the Elbe. It cannot be proven with certainty whether the defeat of the imperial army in Italy played a role. The Abodrite prince Mistui destroyed the Diocese of Oldenburg and destroyed Hamburg . On June 29th, Havelberg was attacked, three days later Brandenburg. Both episcopal seats with their churches were destroyed. Thietmar von Merseburg cites the arrogant behavior of Margrave Dietrich as the reason for the uprising of the Slavs . Thietmar also establishes a direct connection between the abolition of the Merseburg diocese and the Slav uprising.

A Saxon army under the leadership of Archbishop Giselher von Magdeburg and Bishop Hildeward von Halberstadt succeeded in the battle of the Tangier in repelling the advance on Magdeburg and forcing the Slavs to retreat across the Elbe. The consequences of the Slavic uprising were grave. Only in the 12th century could the dioceses be visited again by their bishops. After the dissolution of Merseburg, the Archdiocese of Magdeburg had lost the second and third suffragan dioceses and had itself become an episcopal city on an endangered eastern border. The successes of Christian missionary policy were nullified and political control of the areas east of the Elbe was lost. Otto I's missionary and regulatory work was destroyed in a very short time. The area of ​​the Slavs, apart from the Sorbian area, remained closed to Christianization for a century.

Early death

Otto III., The successor of Emperor Otto II. Illumination from the Gospel Book of Otto III. (Bavarian State Library, Clm 4453, fol.24r)

No diploma has survived from Otto's last three and a half months . In September he went to Rome to raise a successor to Pope Benedict VII, who died in July. With his chancellor, Bishop Petrus von Pavia , a personality became Pope who did not come from the environment of the Roman Church.

A malaria infection prevented the resumption of military activities in southern Italy and led to the death of the emperor. He died completely unexpectedly at the age of 28 on December 7, 983, allegedly after doctors had used high doses of aloe to fight diarrhea . The surprising thing about death is emphasized by Alpert von Metz , who wrote in 1017 .

All Otto had left was the time to split up his money. He gave part of his funds to the churches, the poor, his mother, his sister Mathilde and his servants and noble followers. No preparations or long-term plans for the funeral are known. Otto was buried by the faithful in the vestibule of St. Peter. Unlike his predecessors and successors, he found his final resting place in a foreign country and not in a place that he himself had donated or richly endowed in order to liturgically secure his memoria . The grave was soon forgotten. During the monumental reconstruction of St. Peter's Basilica on April 18, 1506, Otto's bones from the old sarcophagus were placed in a simple marble coffin closed with stucco in 1609. Only after the completion of the nave by Carlo Maderno in 1614 could Otto's marble coffin be buried on April 23, 1618 in the Vatican grottos near the grave of his relative, Pope Gregory V.

The three year old son Otto III. was ordained king three weeks after the death of his father on Christmas 983 in Aachen. While the consecration was being carried out, news of his father's death arrived. Due to the unsolved problems in southern Italy and the dramatic situation on the eastern border of the empire triggered by the Slav uprising, the political situation was extremely unstable and would have required an energetic ruler. This made numerous bishops shy away from the longer rule of an underage child. Meanwhile, the empresses Theophanu and Adelheid as well as Otto's aunt Mathilde stayed in Italy for half a year and only returned when a solution in the succession became apparent.

After Otto II's death, Heinrich the Quarrel was released from custody by Bishop Folkmar of Utrecht and, in accordance with the kinship law (ius propinquitatis), had the three-year-old child of Archbishop Warin of Cologne , Otto III. was entrusted for education. Heinrich's activities were less aimed at exercising the guardianship of the child, but rather at participating in the royal rule - whether instead of Otto III. or by some kind of co-rule is uncertain. However, Heinrich was unable to mobilize sufficient support for his plans in negotiations with the Saxon and Frankish greats . Heinrich shied away from enforcing his claims to the kingship by force, and on June 29, 984 in Rohr, Thuringia, gave the royal child to his mother. In doing so, he demonstratively renounced all claims to the royal succession.

During the reign, Theophanu became the most important of the dominae imperiales . She once moved to Italy during her reign. On December 7, 989, the anniversary of her husband's death, she was at his grave and looked after his memoria. After Theophanus' death (991) Adelheid took over the reign of Otto III. The reign of the empresses was spared major conflicts. They lived up to their most important ruling task, the maintenance of peace.

Aftermath

Otto II in the judgment of the Ottonians and Salians

The concrete failures, such as Otto's defeat against the Saracens, the great Slav uprising and the abolition of the Merseburg diocese, shaped the judgment of the Ottonian historians and modern historians alike. Rarely in the Middle Ages followed such clear signs after a church political decision, the abolition of the diocese of Merseburg, which, according to the ideas of the time, could be interpreted as an expression of God's wrath.

For the chronicler Thietmar von Merseburg , who measures the rulers by their attitude to the diocese of Merseburg, Otto II began a time of crisis and transformation in the empire, a nova norma . In particular, the abolition of the diocese of Merseburg cast a dark shadow over the emperor's rule. The great Slav uprising, the unfortunate campaign to southern Italy with the loss-making defeat at Cotrone and finally the surprising death of the 28-year-old ruler were the consequences of Otto II's "sin" to resolve Merseburg for Thietmar. But Thietmar attributed the misfortune that afflicted Otto's reign at the end of his life, not to the ruler, but to the sins of the people (nostris criminibus) . In particular, Thietmar used dreams, apparitions, and visions to argue in the interests of Merseburg and to criticize Otto II.

Brun von Querfurt criticized rash actions and a serious misconception that as king he had to enforce whatever he wanted. Brun described the abolition of the diocese of Merseburg as a sin against the patron saint of the Merseburg church, St. Laurentius (cap. 12). The regular defeats of the emperor were therefore a punishment for sin against the saint. But Brun also criticized Otto's wrong prioritization. So he fought against the Carolingian Franks instead of the pagans (Chapter 10).

The Mathildenvita commissioned by Otto II in the crisis year 974 intended to prove that he was the legitimate heir to the throne and thus the sole holder of an indivisible royal power. It does not end with the death of the holy ruler, but culminates in the transition of the reign of Otto I to his son on May 7, 973, whom the author saw distinguished by the same virtue as his parents and grandparents. Otto II was presented as the most important descendant of a glorious royal family.

The systematic promotion of monasticism and monasteries led the monks in the empire and in Italy to commemorate Otto after his death. The Cluniac monasteries included him and his mother Adelheid as familiar in their memory of the dead. But neither did the successor Otto III. Heinrich II still refers in their diplomas to the burial place of their predecessor. Otto III. established a memorial foundation for his father in Essen , which Theophanu had already initiated and which his relative Mathilde carried out. The grave in St Peter's was not forgotten, the first Salian rulers Konrad II. Had fallen in 1027 in advance of the imperial coronation in Rome by street fighting Swabian Count Berengar next to Otto II. In the atrium of St. Peter's bury.

Afterlife in the High and Late Middle Ages

Humbert von Silva Candida had the bishop, who was canonized in 1050, perform a long prayer at the imperial tomb in the biography he wrote of Gerhard von Toul . But Otto's grave has not been mentioned in any description of the atrium of St. Peter since the 11th century. Otto's memoria took a back seat to the enormous memoria of the popes. From the middle of the 11th century onwards, the Ottonian epoch was viewed as a closed epoch, separated from the present, a long time ago. The reign of Otto II was often only seen as a part of the epoch from which the individual emperors no longer stood out. The negative judgment about him can only be found in a few works. The local tradition remained untouched. In Saxony, under the influence of the Hersfeld and Hildesheim annals tradition, the negative image of the emperor was retained.

The escape and rescue of Otto II from the Saracens in 982 found its way into legend and historical works early on. The development of this episode reached its climax in the 12th century. Different variations of the narrative of how the emperor saved himself from the battlefield formed. The sailors are said to have demanded that he be released with gold in the weight of his body. It was also said that one of his warriors had held the sadness of his situation against him by remembering earlier victories or that the emperor was pursued by two after jumping into the water. He drowned one and then fled the other. According to another version, Otto was wounded by a poisoned arrow, and his life could only be extended by half a year through the art of doctors.

Research history

In the 19th century, Albert Hauck made the sharpest negative judgment about Otto. Hauck polemicized in his church history: "Since he (sc. Otto II.) Was interested in many things, he was considered a genius: in reality he is characterized by the combination of excessive self-esteem and low talent". Hauck did not see the inadequacy in Otto's policy as a result of "the fact that he encountered conditions whose superiority he was unable to break, but rather because he lagged behind what the situation required of him."

But even in the 19th century not all historians adopted the image of the dependent, reckless and glorious youth. In addition to the skepticism about the sources, the romantic glorification of the Middle Ages also contributed to this. Wilhelm Giesebrecht gave a very favorable verdict in the “Yearbooks of the German Empire” in 1840. Otto's youthful qualities are praised. Especially in the ruler's youth, Giesebrecht sees a reason to excuse the quick decisions and the high-handedness. "All in all" it is "the picture of a happily gifted, noble, cheeky young man in the imperial crown that stands before our eyes."

The most recent comprehensive appraisal of Otto's person and rule comes from the year 1902 by Karl Uhlirz . For him the abolition of the diocese of Merseburg and the disputes with Adelheid were the main reasons for the negative assessment of the emperor in the sources. Uhlirz's own judgment is extremely positive. Otto had mastered his historical task and maintained the position of the empire. His only failure, the battle against the Saracens, could not be considered the final result of a completed episode. On the contrary, there were good prospects for success in southern Italy. Uhlirz characterizes Otto's government as powerful and powerful and compares the emperor to Heinrich VI. who had also been torn from his plans by fate.

Robert Holtzmann emphasized in his “History of the Saxon Imperial Era” the discrepancy between Otto's high self-assessment and his ill-considered actions, from which “many hasty decisions” arose: “The youthful impatience that was characteristic of the emperor is partly to blame for this last misfortune of the two sorrowful years, his untimely death. "

After the Second World War , Manfred Hellmann drew a positive conclusion in 1956, despite the defeat of Cap Colonne and the Slav uprising, because “Otto II preserved his father's legacy in the east, but also in the west and not least in the south, continued his policy and his Home secured the rule on this side and on the other side of the Alps ”. Historians like Fritz Ernst or Helmut Beumann exercised restraint in their handbooks. They waived a judgment, instead characterized the sources and pointed out Otto's unfavorable situation against the background of contemporary historiography.

Otto received neither in 1967, when his coronation could have been commemorated, nor in 1973, when the beginning of his autocracy had commenced for the thousandth time, nor ten years later, when the anniversary of his death would have been the occasion for a memorial ceremony, received greater public attention. In recent research contributions he was often treated under the question of whether he was "a great father's hapless son". The assessment was favorable. In order to be able to adequately assess Otto, Hubertus Seibert (2001) examined his rulership practice as well as his ideas about rulership and goals. Seibert noted among other things Otto's “efforts to centralize the rulers and bundling of forces into larger units”, “that he again asserted the official character of the duchies” and the “powerful enforcement of his claim to hegemony over all of Italy” as ruling activities . According to Rudolf Schieffer (2002) Otto was kept short by his father, but nevertheless remained a loyal son and intended to achieve more than he did, whereby he was also able to achieve certain successes. Gerd Althoff and Hagen Keller came to a more differentiated judgment in 2008. They emphasized that one can only do justice to Otto's performance if one appreciates the difficult situation at the beginning of his rule. Problems from his father's time remained unsolved: the rule over Italy, the tensions in the Saxon aristocratic society and the founding of the dioceses in eastern Saxony, accompanied by conflicts. In addition, the new king first had to assert his precedence among the often older rulers who had been closely connected to his father. In 2015, Tina Bode presented a new interpretation of Otto's rule with her dissertation, which, unlike older research, she judges to be successful. It shows this on the basis of three processes: the introduction of a completely new type of title monogram (since 975), Duke Otto of Swabia and Bavaria was highlighted in the documents, his influence was expanded as a relative, thus securing the existence of the Ottonian dynasty and recognizing it more closely Growing together of the two parts of the empire north and south of the Alps, for example through more deeds for north-alpine recipients in the south.

swell

Documents and regesta works

Literary sources

literature

General representations

Monographs and Articles

  • Dirk Alvermann : Royal rule and empire integration. A study of the political structure of regna and imperium at the time of Emperor Otto II. (967) 973-983 (= Berlin historical studies. Vol. 28). Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-428-09190-6 (also: Berlin, Humboldt University, dissertation, 1995).
  • Bernhard Askani : The image of Emperor Otto II: The assessment of the emperor and his government in historiography from the 10th century to the present. Dissertation, Heidelberg 1963.
  • Jacek Banaszkiewicz: A knight flees or how Emperor Otto II saved himself from the battlefield near Cotrone. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 40 (2006), pp. 145–165.
  • Tina Bode: King and Bishop in Ottonian times. Rule practice - scope for action - interactions (= historical studies. Vol. 506). Matthiesen, Husum 2015, ISBN 978-3-7868-1506-8 .
  • Ekkehard Eickhoff : Theophanu and the King: Otto III. and his world. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-608-91798-5 .
  • Hubertus Seibert : A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Symposium on the exhibition "Otto the Great, Magdeburg and Europe". von Zabern, Mainz 2001, ISBN 3-8053-2701-3 , pp. 293-320.
  • Rudolf Schieffer : Otto II and his father. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 36 (2002), pp. 255–269 ( online ).
  • Karl Uhlirz : Yearbooks of the German Empire under Otto II and Otto III. First volume: Otto II. 973–983. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1967, ND d. 1st edition from 1902.

Lexicons

Web links

Commons : Otto II.  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Johannes Laudage: Otto the Great. A biography. Regensburg 2001, p. 271.
  2. ↑ Johannes Laudage: Otto the Great. A biography . Regensburg 2001, p. 272.
  3. ↑ Gerd Althoff / Hagen Keller: Late antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, pp. 208-209.
  4. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer: Otto II. And his father. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 36 (2002), pp. 255–269, here: p. 263. ( online )
  5. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer: Otto II. And his father. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 36 (2002), pp. 255–269, here: p. 267 ( online ).
  6. ↑ Johannes Fried: Empress Theophanu and the empire . In: Hanna Vollrath , Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Cologne, city and diocese in church and empire of the Middle Ages. Festschrift for Odilo Engels on his 65th birthday. Cologne 1993, pp. 139–185, here: p. 142.
  7. ↑ Johannes Fried: Empress Theophanu and the empire. In: Hanna Vollrath, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Cologne, city and diocese in church and empire of the Middle Ages. Festschrift for Odilo Engels on his 65th birthday. Cologne 1993, pp. 139-185, here: p. 153.
  8. ^ Regesta Imperii II, 2 n.656 ( online ; accessed October 15, 2016).
  9. ^ Gerhard Pfeiffer: The Bamberg document of Otto II for the Duke of Bavaria. In: Report of the Historisches Verein Bamberg 109 (1973), pp. 15–32.
  10. ↑ Gerd Althoff / Hagen Keller: Late antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, p. 245.
  11. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, pp. 293-320, here: pp. 298-299.
  12. ↑ Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state. 2nd expanded edition. Stuttgart et al. 2005, p. 139.
  13. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, p. 293-320, here: p. 303. Peter Hilsch: The Bishop of Prague and the Empire in Saxon times. In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages 28 (1972) pp. 1–41, here: pp. 7–16 ( digitized version )
  14. ^ Dirk Alvermann: Royal rule and integration of the empire. A study of the political structure of regna and imperium at the time of Emperor Otto II. Berlin 1998, p. 187.
  15. ↑ Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state. 2nd ext. Edition, Stuttgart et al. 2005, p. 142.
  16. ^ Richer, III. c. 70.
  17. ^ Wolfgang Giese: Venice policy and the idea of ​​an empire among the Ottonians. In: Georg Jenal (Ed.): Dominion, Church, Culture. Contributions to the history of the Middle Ages. Festschrift for Friedrich Prinz on his 65th birthday. Stuttgart 1993, pp. 219-243, here: p. 221.
  18. ↑ Annales Sangallenses ad a 982.
  19. ^ Dirk Alvermann: Royal rule and integration of the empire. A study of the political structure of regna and imperium at the time of Emperor Otto II. Berlin 1998, p. 283.
  20. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, pp. 293-320, here: p. 309.
  21. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, pp. 293-320, here: p. 309.
  22. ^ Gerhard Streich: Dioceses, monasteries and monasteries in Ottonian Saxony . In: Matthias Puhle (Ed.): Otto the Great, Magdeburg and Europe. 2 volumes, Mainz 2001, pp. 75–88, here: p. 83; Matthias Untermann: The Ottonian church ruins in Memleben. In: Alfried Wieczorek, Hans-Martin Hinz (Hrsg.) Europes Mitte um 1000. Contributions to history, art and archeology, Stuttgart 200, 2, pp. 758–760; Joachim Ehlers: Otto II and the Memleben monastery. In: Sachsen-Anhalt 18, 1994, pp. 51-82 ( online ).
  23. ↑ DO II. 126: gratia fraterne societatis in eodem monasterio nobis concesse .
  24. ↑ Wolfgang Wagner: The prayer commemoration of the Liudolfinger as reflected in the royal and imperial documents from Heinrich I to Otto III. In: Archiv für Diplomatik 40 (1994), pp. 1–78, here: p. 25.
  25. ^ Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians, royal rule without a state. 2nd expanded edition, Stuttgart 2005, p. 148.
  26. ^ Dirk Alvermann: La Battaglia di Ottone II contro i Saraceni nel 982 . In: Archivio storico per la Calabria e la Lucania 62 (1995) pp 115-130.
  27. ↑ Robert Holtzmann (Ed.): Scriptores rerum Germanicarum, Nova series 9: Die Chronik des Bishop Thietmar von Merseburg and their Korveier revision (Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi Chronicon) Berlin 1935, p. 124 ( Monumenta Germaniae Historica , digitized version ) For this episode see Jacek Banaszkiewicz: A knight flees or how Emperor Otto II saved himself from the battlefield near Cotrone . In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien 40 (2006), pp. 145–165.
  28. ↑ Gerd Althoff / Hagen Keller: Late antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, p. 265.
  29. ^ Gerd Althoff: Otto III. Darmstadt 1996, p. 38.
  30. ↑ Thietmar III, 17.
  31. ↑ Thietmar III, 16-19.
  32. ↑ Gerd Althoff: The Ottonians. Royal rule without a state. 2nd expanded edition. Stuttgart et al. 2005, p. 151.
  33. ↑ Thietmar III, 17-18.
  34. ↑ Gerd Althoff / Hagen Keller: Late antiquity to the end of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, p. 268.
  35. ↑ Alpert von Metz, De episcopis Mettensibus, MGH SS 4, pp. 697-700, p. 699: Ipse autem cum Deoderico praesule Romam rediit, ibique aeger non post dies moritur
  36. ^ Regesta Imperii II, 2 n.919f ( online ; accessed October 16, 2016).
  37. ^ Gerd Althoff: Otto III. Darmstadt 1996, p. 42.
  38. ↑ Thietmar II, 45.
  39. ↑ Thietmar III, prol., P. 85.
  40. ↑ Gerd Althoff: The argumentative memory. Accusation and strategies of justification in the historiography of the 10th and 11th centuries. In: Gerd Althoff: Staged rule. Historiography and Political Action in the Middle Ages. Darmstadt 2003, pp. 126–149, here: p. 138.
  41. ^ Brun von Querfurt: Passio Sancti Adelberti episcopi martyris. ed. Jadwiga Karwasińska (Monumenta Poloniae Historica NS IV / 2), Warsaw 1969, cap. 9, p. 8, lines 1-5.
  42. ^ Vita Mathildis reginae antiquor , ed. Bernd Schütte, in: The biography of Queen Mathilde, MGH SS rer. Germ., Hannover 1994, pp. 107-142, here: cap. 7, p. 126, lines 6-16. For Otto as a client, cf. the dedication in the prologue, p. 109.
  43. ↑ Klaus Gereon Beuckers: The Essen Marsus shrine. Investigations into a lost masterpiece of the Ottonian goldsmith's art. Münster 2006, p. 47 ff.
  44. ^ Bernhard Askani: Das Bild Kaiser Otto II: The assessment of the emperor and his government in historiography from the 10th century to the present. Dissertation, Heidelberg 1963, p. 77.
  45. ^ Bernhard Askani: Das Bild Kaiser Otto II: The assessment of the emperor and his government in historiography from the 10th century to the present. Dissertation, Heidelberg 1963, p. 70.
  46. ↑ In summary: Karl Uhlirz: Yearbooks of the German Empire under Otto II and Otto III. Vol. 1: Otto II. 973-983, Berlin 1902, ND Berlin 1967, p. 271.
  47. ^ Albert Hauck: Kirchengeschichte Deutschlands , Vol. 3, Leipzig 1906, unaltered reprint, 8th edition, Berlin / Leipzig 1954, pp. 240–241.
  48. ^ Wilhelm von Giesebrecht: Yearbooks of the German Imperial Era under the rule of Otto II. Berlin 1840, p. 5.
  49. ^ Karl Uhlirz: Yearbooks of the German Empire under Otto II. And Otto III. Vol. 1: Otto II. 973-983, Berlin 1902, ND Berlin 1967, pp. 213-214.
  50. ^ Robert Holtzmann, Geschichte der Sächsischen Kaiserzeit (900-1024), 3rd edition 1955, p. 291.
  51. ↑ Manfred Hellmann: The Ostpolitik of Emperor Otto II. In: Syntagma Friburgense. Historical studies presented by Hermann Aubin for his 70th birthday on December 23, 1955. Lindau 1956, p. 66.
  52. ↑ Helmut Beumann: The age of the Ottonians. In: Peter Rassow (ed.): German history at a glance. 2nd edition, Stuttgart 1962, pp. 103–129, here: pp. 117 ff. Fritz Ernst: Das Reich der Ottonen in the 10th century. In: Bruno Gebhardt, Handbook of German History. Vol. 1 edited by Herbert Grundmann 8th edition 1954, pp. 161–209, here: p. 191.
  53. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, pp. 293-320. Section: The great father's hapless son? In: Gerd Althoff, Die Ottonen. Royal rule without a state. 2nd expanded edition. Stuttgart et al. 2005, pp. 137–152.
  54. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, pp. 293-320, here: p. 296.
  55. ↑ Hubertus Seibert: A great father's hapless son? The new politics of Otto II. In: Bernd Schneidmüller, Stefan Weinfurter (Hrsg.): Ottonische Neuanfänge. Mainz 2001, pp. 293-320, here: pp. 319-320.
  56. ↑ Rudolf Schieffer: Otto II. And his father. In: Frühmittelalterliche Studien , Vol. 36 (2002), pp. 255–269 ( online ).
  57. ↑ Gerd Althoff, Hagen Keller: Late Antiquity to the End of the Middle Ages. The time of the late Carolingians and Ottonians. Crises and Consolidations 888–1024. (Gebhardt - Handbuch der deutschen Geschichte, 10th completely revised edition), Stuttgart 2008, pp. 241–242.
  58. ↑ Tina Bode: King and Bishop in Ottonian times. Rule practice - scope for action - interactions. Husum 2015, pp. 419ff., 548-551.
predecessor Office successor
Otto I. Roman-German Emperor
973–983 		Otto III.
This article was added to the list of excellent articles on October 21, 2009 in this version .
personal data
SURNAME Otto II.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Roman-German Emperor (973-983)
DATE OF BIRTH 955
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 983
Place of death Rome