Otto IV. (Brandenburg)

Coat of arms of Otto IV with the arrow

Otto IV. , "With the arrow" , (* around 1238; † November 27, 1308 or 1309 ) from the house of the Ascanians was Margrave of Brandenburg from 1267 to 1308/09.

ancestry

Margrave Otto IV of Brandenburg depicted in the Codex Manesse (around 1300)

Otto was the second-born son of John I and Sophia of Denmark. His maternal grandparents were Waldemar II and Berengaria of Portugal , his paternal grandparents Albrecht II and Mathilde von Groitzsch .

Otto I.

Judith of Poland

Konrad II (Lausitz)

Elzbieta of Poland

Waldemar I.

Sophia of Minsk

Sancho I. (Portugal)

Dulce of Barcelona

Albrecht II.

Mathilde von Groitzsch

Waldemar II.

Berengaria of Portugal

Johann I.

Sophia of Denmark

Johann II.

Otto IV.

Erich of Brandenburg

Konrad I.

Helene

Regency

After the death of the father in 1266 and his brother Otto III. in 1267 Otto IV came to power together with his brothers and cousins. He emerged as the most dominant of the brothers and cousins. His co-regents of the Mark Brandenburg were until their respective deaths:

• the older brother Johann II. until 1281.
• the younger brother Konrad I until 1304.
• the younger cousin Otto V until 1298.
• the younger cousin Albrecht III until 1300.

In 1269, the Ascanians took Mestwin II , Duke of Pomerania , under feudal rule in the Treaty of Arnswalde . This gave rise to numerous feuds in which Mestwin stood against Brandenburg from 1278.

At Otto's instigation, his youngest brother Erich von Brandenburg was to be elected Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1277 . The Magdeburg von Querfurt family also ran, and as a compromise candidate between the parties, Günther I von Schwalenberg was appointed archbishop. This led to protracted fighting between Otto and the cathedral chapter. In the battle of Frohse Otto was captured by the Magdeburgers and locked in a cage, from which his councilor Johann von Buch bought him with 4000 pounds of silver . The fighting continued under Günther's successor, Bernhard von Wölpe . In 1280 Otto was hit by an arrow near Staßfurt , which he supposedly carried around in his head for a year, which gave rise to his nickname. The exact period is difficult to prove, between “some time” and “many a year” there are different traditions. It was not until 1283 that his brother Erich was able to take up his office as bishop in Magdeburg after Pope Martin IV had given his blessing.

Otto IV led another campaign in 1278 in favor of his cousin Otto V in Hungary on the side of Ottokar II of Bohemia, who in turn was related to Otto V. In 1278 Ottokar lost his life against the German King Rudolf I during the battle of the Marchfeld . Otto V. was intended as guardian for Ottokar's seven-year-old son Wenzel . Rudolf I left the heir to the throne to Otto V in order to nip further disputes in the bud. Otto V held Wenzel hostage in Spandau from 1279 onwards , but as an imperial administrator he did not succeed in drawing significant benefits from Bohemia, which at that time sank in the chaos of fighting and famine. Finally, in 1283, Wenzel was released in exchange for a ransom and cession of territory in Upper Lusatia .

The Rostock Landfrieden , concluded in 1283, was an alliance led by the Hanseatic City of Lübeck with Wismar , Rostock , Stralsund , Greifswald , Stettin , Demmin , Anklam , Bogislaw IV of Pomerania, Wizlaw II of Rügen and Johann von Sachsen-Lauenburg against Brandenburg. Otto and his co-rulers had to cede the conquests in Pomerania in the Treaty of Vierraden in 1284 .

In 1290 there was a conflict within the Ascanians, between the "Johannine" Otto IV. And his "Ottonian" cousin and co-regent Otto V the Tall , who allied himself with the Piasts in Silesia . The dispute, which was even fought armed in 1294, was settled by King Adolf I in 1295 . In that year Otto also made an alliance with Otto II of Braunschweig-Lüneburg.

Otto IV bought the Mark Landsberg in 1291 and the Palatinate of Saxony in 1292 .

In 1296 the Brandenburg Ascanians started a war against Przemysł II , who had occupied the orphaned Duchy of Pomerania since Christmas 1294, which Brandenburg also claimed for itself. Brandenburg was still denied access to the Baltic Sea when Wenceslaus II became King of Poland. In the same year the margrave, who was appointed justice of the peace, had the vineyard castle in Hitzacker destroyed because the robber baron Hermann Ribe attacked merchant trains from here .

In 1298 Otto IV also took part in the deposition of King Adolf I, but not in the subsequent campaign against him.

Further feuds followed against Nikolaus von Rostock and Wizlaw II. Von Rügen and as a result of the Herlingsberg War with the dukes Heinrich and Albrecht von Braunschweig . There were also disputes with the bishops of Brandenburg and Havelberg , which culminated in an excommunication and an interdict .

In 1303 Otto acquired the Lausitz mark from Diezmann von der Lausitz .

Other biography

It is reported that Otto IV is said to have lived according to knightly ideals. Among other things, he is described as "one of the most brilliant and chivalrous princes of his time". His biography also suggests a contentious character. He was also known as a minstrel , seven songs in Upper German dialect have been passed down from him. Critical opinions regard his compositions as little outstanding compared to other contemporary pieces.

family

Otto IV was married twice, but died childless. He married his first wife Heilwig in 1279. Heilwig was a daughter of Count Johann I von Holstein-Kiel . His second wife Jutta married Otto in 1308, she was the widow of Diezmann Margrave of Lusatia and the daughter of Count Berthold VIII von Henneberg . Jutta also survived her second husband and died in 1315.

monument

monument

For the Berlin Siegesallee designed Karl Begas the Monument Group 7 with a still image of Otto in the center, flanked by the side pieces (busts) John of Kröchers called Droiseke , and its liberator John of book. The group's unveiling took place on March 22, 1899. (For picture see monument group 7.)

literature

1. ↑ Reinhard Lebe : Was Charles the Bald really bald? Historical epithets and what's behind them. dtv, Munich 1990, ISBN 978-3-423-30076-6 .
2. ^ Felix Escher:  Otto IV. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 19, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-428-00200-8 , p. 677 ( digitized version ).
3. ↑ Wendland-Lexikon, Volume 2, Lüchow 2008, p. 293.
4. ^ Otto von Heinemann :  Otto IV., Margrave of Brandenburg . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 24, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1887, pp. 659-661.

Web links

Wikisource: Otto IV. (Brandenburg)  - Sources and full texts

• Literature by and about Otto IV. In the catalog of the German National Library

predecessor	Office	successor
Otto III.	Margrave of Brandenburg 1267–1308	Waldemar