Otto III. (Braunschweig-Lüneburg)

The Brunswick lions (leopards) as the coat of arms of Otto III. (below) in the Ingeram Codex .

Otto III, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg (* around 1296; † August 19, 1352 ) was Prince of Lüneburg from 1330 to 1352 .

Life

Otto was born in 1296 as the second eldest son of Otto the Strict and his wife Mathilde von Bayern and was introduced to the affairs of government by his father as early as 1314. The regulation issued by the father in 1315, according to which the principality after his death under Otto III. and his brother Wilhelm II , was ignored by the brothers and they came to power together in 1330 in the undivided country. The main focus of their rule in the first years was the territorial consolidation of the principality. By acquiring the village of Fallersleben, the counties of Papenheim and Wettmarshagen, they succeeded in significantly increasing their property in the Gifhorn area . Another focus was the political support of the economically emerging cities. The trade in Lüneburg in particular benefited from the making the Ilmenau navigable between Lüneburg and Uelzen and from economic agreements between the Lüneburg princes and the dukes of Saxony-Lauenburg . Otto III. died on August 19, 1352 without leaving an heir, because his only son had drowned as a child in the Ilmenau.

progeny

Otto had the following children from his marriage to Mathilde von Mecklenburg (1293–1358):

1. Mathilde († September 7, 1357) ∞ Count Otto II von Waldeck
2. Otto
3. Elisabeth († February 20, 1386)

literature

• Detailed description of his reign in the biography of Wilhelm II: Paul Zimmermann :  Wilhelm, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, pp. 730-733.

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto II the severity	Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Prince of Lüneburg 1330–1352	Wilhelm