Otto (Magdeburg)

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Otto von Hessen (* 1301 ; † April 30, 1361 in Wolmirstedt ) was Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1327 to 1361 .

Before 1325 Otto was a canon in Münster , Paderborn and Cologne . Otto, son of Landgrave Otto I of Hesse , was already in his early youth by Pope Johannes XXII. , as the grandson of Saint Elisabeth of Thuringia, appointed Archbishop of Magdeburg. On August 8, 1327 he received the pallium from the hands of the bishops of Munster ( Ludwig II of Hesse ), Osnabrück ( Gottfried von Arnsberg ) and Merseburg (Gebhard von Schraplau).

After the assassination of Burchard III. in 1325 by Magdeburg citizens who was over the city imperial ban and the ban imposed. Otto achieved the solution of these penalties, whereby the council and the citizens of Magdeburg on April 26, 1333 for the first time take the oath of homage to the archbishop. In addition, Otto reached an agreement with the Margraviate of Brandenburg , with which there had been border disputes for a long time. Then Otto was able to enlarge the diocese to include the area around Sandau . Furthermore, his tenure was marked by two severe plague epidemics and by a revolt of the local nobility. He was able to counter this uprising with an alliance between the cathedral chapter and the city of Magdeburg.

The Landgraves of Hesse and Otto tried to make his nephew Otto (son of Ludwig the Junker, who was Archbishop Otto's brother) his successor. He was brought up in Magdeburg, but died young, which meant that this succession plan failed. An alleged poisoning attack, which is said to have taken place at the instigation of the abbot of Fulda, is held responsible for the early death.

The Elizabeth altar still stands in the cathedral. It is one of a total of five altars that the citizens had to donate to the cathedral as a token of atonement after the imperial ban on the city was lifted again. There is also the grave slab of Otto v. Hesse received.

Otto is the first Hessian prince who, according to a document from 1330, called himself “Prince by the grace of God”. In 2011, an interdisciplinary team of archaeologists and physicians from Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg was able to use a computed tomography image of a skeleton found in Magdeburg Cathedral in 2009 and a lead plate marked by name to prove that the remains of Otto von Hessen zu Magdeburg were buried in the cathedral.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Radiologists solve the mystery of the cathedral mummy (article in the Volksstimme of October 11, 2011)

Sources / literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Heideke von Erffa Archbishop of Magdeburg
1327–1361 		Dietrich Kagelwit
personal data
SURNAME Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Otto von Hessen (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archbishop of Magdeburg (1327-1361)
DATE OF BIRTH 1301
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1361
Place of death Wolmirstedt