Otto III. (Pomerania)

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Otto III., From the picture family tree of the griffins by Cornelius Krommeny (1598).

Otto III. (* May 29, 1444 ; † September 7, 1464 ) was Duke of Pomerania-Stettin from the Greifenhaus .

Life

Otto III. was the only son of Duke Joachim the Younger , who ruled in the Pomeranian Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin , and his wife Elisabeth of Brandenburg . After the death of his father (1451), his mother married again in 1453, namely Duke Wartislaw X. von Pommern-Wolgast . The young Otto, heir to Pomerania-Stettin, came to the court of Elector Friedrich II of Brandenburg (1413–1471), his guardian and uncle , to be educated .

As Duke Wartislaw IX. von Pommern-Wolgast died in 1457, he had not only appointed his own sons Erich II and Wartislaw X , Otto's stepfather, as heirs , but also the young Otto. There were inheritance disputes in which Frederick II of Brandenburg supported Otto's inheritance claims and thus found an opportunity to interfere in Pomeranian affairs.

In 1460 Otto was released from the Brandenburg guardianship at the request of the Pomeranian estates and took over as Otto III at the age of 15. the government itself. The most important offices at his court were occupied by Brandenburg-minded people. The disputes over the inheritance of Duke Wartislaw IX. were settled in 1463; Otto received the western part of Pomerania with Stargard in Pomerania .

Otto died of the plague on September 7, 1464 and was buried in the Ottenkirche in Stettin . He was not married and had no offspring. With him, the Stettin line of the Greifenhaus died out, which had started with Duke Otto I (~ 1279–1344).

With the death of Otto III. the Stettin succession dispute began . Elector Friedrich II of Brandenburg wanted to move in and take possession of the Pomeranian partial duchy of Pomerania-Stettin as a settled fiefdom. This was opposed by the dukes of the surviving Wolgast line of the Greifenhaus, Erich II and Wartislaw X., who claimed Pomerania-Stettin for themselves because of the unity of the Greifenhaus and the Duchy of Pomerania.

According to legend, the Stettin succession dispute began right at the grave of Duke Otto: the mayor of Stettin, Albrecht Glinde, gave the deceased a shield and helmet to mark the end of his dynasty. Thereupon a gentleman from Eickstädt jumped into the grave and took out his shield and helmet with the words: "We still have hereditary, born rule, the Dukes of Wolgast, who own the shield and helmet."

See also

literature

personal data
SURNAME Otto III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Pomerania-Szczecin
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1444
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1464