Otto VIII. (Merania)

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Otto VIII. (* 1226 attested; † 19 June 1248 at Niesten Castle ) from the Andechs family was Duke of Merania and (as Otto III) Count Palatine of Burgundy . He was the only son of Duke Otto VII ; his mother was Beatrix von Staufen .

With the death of his father in 1234 he inherited the Duchy of Merania and the Palatinate of Burgundy. In the same year he married Elisabeth von Tirol ; † October 10, 1256, the daughter of Count Adalbert III. from Tyrol ; the marriage remained childless.

At the beginning of his government he was under the tutelage of his uncle, Bishop Ekbert von Bamberg († 1237). After he came of age, he left the administration of the Palatinate County to Count Theobald IV of Champagne in 1235 in order to be able to devote himself entirely to the fight for the (former) Bavarian property against the Wittelsbachers . In 1242 he even pledged the Palatinate County to the neighboring Duke of Burgundy , Hugo IV.

Otto II was buried in the Cistercian monastery in Langheim . Klosterlangheim is now a district of Lichtenfels . Otto II granted Lichtenfels town charter in 1231. His widow Elisabeth married Gebhard IV. In 1249, Count von Hirschberg from 1240 († February 27, 1275).

The title of Duke of Meranien expired with Otto's death, especially since there were no more possessions. The Palatine County of Burgundy went to his sister Adelheid and from her successively to her husbands Hugo von Salins († 1266) and Philipp von Savoyen , then to Otto IV. , Adelheid's son from his first marriage. With Otto, the last generation of the Andechser died out, with his uncle Berthold V , Patriarch of Aquileia, the line died out in 1251 in the male line.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Otto VIII.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Otto III.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Duke of Merania and Count Palatine of Burgundy
DATE OF BIRTH before 1226
DATE OF DEATH June 19, 1248
Place of death Niesten Castle