Otto II (Pomerania)

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Otto II (* around 1380 ; † March 27, 1428 ) was a Duke of Pomerania-Stettin from the Greifenhaus .

Life and accomplishments

Otto II was the eldest son of Duke Swantibor I (III) , who ruled in the Pomeranian partial duchy of Pomerania-Stettin , and his wife Anna von Hohenzollern .

When Otto was around 20 years old, his father tried to make him Archbishop of Riga ; this against the will of the Teutonic Order , which supported Johannes von Wallenrode as archbishop. Otto was confirmed by King Wenzel in 1394 and went to Dorpat in 1396 , where he made an alliance with Grand Duke Witold of Lithuania. In the following years, however, the Teutonic Order prevailed, Otto returned to Pomerania and the episode had no consequences for him.

Duke Swantibor, Otto's father, had been governor of Mittelmark , part of the Mark Brandenburg , from 1409 . When Friedrich VI. von Nürnberg, later as Elector of Brandenburg Friedrich I , was appointed by King Sigismund as Supreme Captain and administrator of the brands, but Swantibor retained his office as governor of Central Mark, there were armed conflicts between the two sides. Duke Swantibor himself withdrew in 1412 and left the government to his sons Otto II and Casimir V (VI) . In the Battle of Kremmer Damm (1412) Otto II and his brother Casimir V fought personally against Brandenburg. Duke Swantibor III died on June 21, 1413; Otto II and his brother Casimir V jointly took over the rule in Pomerania-Stettin. The fighting with Brandenburg continued. 1415 procured Friedrich at King Sigismund the imperial ban against Otto II. Kasimir and V.

On December 16, 1415 Otto II and Casimir V made a peace with Friedrich I of Brandenburg in Eberswalde. In exchange for monetary compensation, they renounced the Uckermark , Boitzenburg and Zehdenick . Nevertheless, the fighting with Brandenburg continued with changeable results in the following years. Otto II succeeded in conquering the city of Prenzlau in 1419 , but suffered a devastating defeat in Angermünde in 1420 , as a result of which he lost Prenzlau again. In 1425 Otto II and Casimir V succeeded in taking Prenzlau again by surprise, but they lost it again in 1426.

The imperial immediacy of Pomerania was called into question by Brandenburg. Initially Otto II was only able to receive a loan from King Sigismund in 1417, which was subject to the rights of Brandenburg. However, Otto's brother Casimir V was able to obtain an unrestricted enfeoffment from the later emperor in 1424.

In 1426 Friedrich I laid down rule in Brandenburg in favor of his eldest son Johann . With this the dukes Otto II and Casimir V. They made a peace in 1426, which was supplemented on June 16, 1427 in Templin by an alliance of all Pomeranian dukes with Margrave Johann von Brandenburg.

Otto II died on March 27, 1428. His brother Casimir V continued to rule Pomerania-Stettin alone.

family

Otto II. Was married to Agnes von Mecklenburg , daughter of Duke Johann II. Von Mecklenburg-Stargard . They didn't have any children.

An alleged previous marriage between Otto and a daughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania is occasionally mentioned. According to the historian Martin Wehrmann , this is “probably a rumor” that arose on the occasion of Otto's alliance with Grand Duke Witold of Lithuania.

See also

literature

Footnotes

  1. ^ Martin Wehrmann : Genealogy of the Pomeranian ducal house. Leon Sauniers Buchhandlung Verlag, Stettin 1937, p. 69.
personal data
SURNAME Otto II.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin
DATE OF BIRTH around 1380
DATE OF DEATH March 27, 1428