Otto of Strasbourg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coat of arms of the bishops of Strasbourg

Otto (Bishop) of Strasbourg († August 3, 1100 ) was a count in Riesgau from the House of Staufer and was raised in 1082 to Bishop and Imperial Prince of Strasbourg . He held office until his death under the rule of Emperor Henry IV (who invested him in 1084 ) and under Popes Clement (III) (who consecrated him), Urban II (to whom he submitted in 1096) and Paschal II.

Otto played a key role in founding and equipping the Staufer family monastery of St. Fides in Schlettstadt . After his submission, he took part in the First Crusade .

Otto is also called Otto von Hohenstaufen or Otto von Staufen in the literature .

Origin and family

Hohenstaufen coat of arms
Mother Monastery of Saint Fides Conques
Saint Fides Sélestat priory church

Otto was the second son of Count Friedrich von Büren , who is considered the progenitor of the Staufer family. His mother was Hildegard von Egisheim (also Hildegard von Hohenlohe ); she was Countess Palatinate in Breisgau and Countess in Riesgau and died of the plague in 1094. Otto's older brother was Friedrich , from 1079 Duke of Swabia and the first Duke of Staufer to rule Alsace as well as Swabia .

Otto's younger siblings were:

  • Count Ludwig, died without descendants;
  • Count Walter, died without descendants;
  • Konrad, died of the plague in 1094;
  • Adelheid, died of the plague in 1094.

Konrad, the youngest brother of Bishop Otto, expressed his wish on the death bed that a church and a convent should be built from his property. In Schlettstadt, for example, the Church of Saint Fides was built based on the model of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and a monastery was built next to it for Benedictine monks who were brought from the Abbey of Sainte-Foy in Conques , where the reliquary of Saint Fides is still located today .

Otto's mother Hildegard, later venerated as a saint , took a special part in this foundation, to which she gave several goods in the wards of Wittisheim and Orschweiler in the year of her death in 1094. Her four sons gave the monastery all the goods they owned in Schlettstadt. The monastery was under the direction of the Conques Abbey; Duke Friedrich owned the bailiwick rights . The act of donation by the four brothers is dated July 23, 1095. Otto also donated the church and the tithe of Fouchy to the Priory of Saint Fides .

Life

Prehistory, career

Before his career as a bishop Otto was involved in the politics of his house, which was one of the most important count families in the Duchy of Swabia. As a partisan of the opposing king Rudolf von Rheinfelden , who exercised nominal rule in Swabia, Bertold the Bearded was withdrawn from the Gaugrafschaft Breisgau in 1077, which he had personally taken over again since his son Hermann joined the monastery , and was transferred to Otto. When the opposing king Rudolf had his son-in-law Berthold II elected Duke of Swabia at a prince's meeting in Ulm , King Heinrich IV deposed Rudolf as the legitimate Swabian duke and transferred the Duchy of Swabia to his son-in-law Friedrich , Otto's older brother, who was named after him built castle on the Staufenberg called "von Staufen". A Staufer and a Bertoldinger (later Zähringer) were enfeoffed with this duchy at the same time.

After the death of his predecessor Theobald in August 1082, at the instigation of his brother Friedrich von Schwaben, Otto was made Bishop of Strasbourg , invested in the spring of 1084 by Emperor Heinrich IV and then consecrated by Pope Clemens (possibly in Rome ).

Partisans of the emperor in the investiture dispute

Like his brother Friedrich Otto stood on the side of Emperor Heinrich IV in the fight against Pope Gregory. He had to lead it against a strong papal party on the Upper Rhine, headed by Count Hugo von Egisheim in Alsace and whose spiritual leaders were the monks of Hirsau . He may have often pursued the same goals and paths with his brother.

He seems to have been less involved in the big questions of imperial politics, since his name is rarely mentioned. In the negotiations of the Mainz Synod in May 1085, which wanted to establish a unity of the German Church by declaring the Pope and all Gregorian bishops deposed and banning the papal counter-king Hermann , he took part at least through envoys, as well as in the Reichstag and the Synod in Mainz during Lent the following year. He can also be found in Verona in 1091 in the wake of the emperor. Shortly before, in September 1089, he had his main opponent, Count Hugo, killed. How far Otto is responsible for Hugo's murder cannot be determined with certainty. Tradition reports that the count was killed by his people in his bedchamber in the presence of the bishop. The party struggles in Swabia and Alsace then came to an end in 1089 with the submission of Berthold von Zähringen . The murder of Hugo was perhaps also the reason for Otto's penitential pilgrimage to Conques in 1090, which was followed by the expansion of the church and family burial founded by his mother.

Submission, crusade and death

A few years later, the area fell under the influence of enthusiasm for the crusade to the Holy Land proclaimed by Pope Urban II on his journey through Italy and France . Otto could not escape the new religious movement either, who until then had been in the obedience of the imperial antipope Clemens III. stayed. At the Synod of Lent in Tours in 1096 he appeared before Pope Urban to win his grace and to be accepted into the community of Gregorian bishops. The Pope accepted Otto's submission and obliged him to take part in the crusade as atonement for his misconduct. Otto joined the group of Lorraine people who moved to Palestine under the leadership of Count Gottfried von Bouillon . Very soon after the conquest of Jerusalem, he seems to have returned home, because already towards the end of 1099 he can be documented again.

Otto received the dignity of imperial prince, which his successors retained until the French Revolution . With this title he signed the deed of foundation of the Abbey of Zinsheim on January 6, 1100. He died a few months later on August 3, 1100.

Individual aspects

The building of castles in Alsace

Hohkönigsburg

As part of the duel between Emperor and Pope, Frederick the One-Eyed was commissioned by his father, Friedrich von Büren, to monitor his enemies in the Rhineland, especially the Archbishop of Mainz . For this purpose he had the castle of Haguenau and the Hohkönigsburg built. The former became the main residence of Friedrich Barbarossa and the latter remains the most visited monument in Alsace today, albeit in the form that Kaiser Wilhelm II had reconstructed in 1865 in the neo-Gothic Wilhelmine style for the purpose of his hardly hushed up policy of re-Germanization and, for better or worse, one of the Landmark of today's Alsace.

The political conditions of the 11th and 12th centuries prompted most of the rulers of the Alsatian small states to strengthen their cities and build castles on the heights of the region. Since the supporters and supporters of the Pope also resided in the west, the counts, prince-bishops and princes began to build new castles from the local red sandstone on the edge of their territory, mostly where the valley narrows and should be blocked as a gate to the country who were suspicious of the castles of opponents who were just as present in the room as cats and mice. In the meantime, this period of fortification still shapes the cultural landscape of modern Alsace.

According to tradition, Otto is said to have built Staufenberg Castle, where the scene with Peter von Staufenberg in the fairy tale of Melusine takes place.

Legislation and coinage

In a certificate from Emperor Heinrich V from 1119, it is noted that Otto had made it easier for the city of Strasbourg to serve the ban wine. The fact that the second Strasbourg city charter was due to his legislative activity is a product of the imagination of later chroniclers, because this codification came into being a century later.

At the end of the 11th century, the dissatisfaction of some economically strong cities or monasteries with the rule of the bishops grew, for example in Metz , Strasbourg , Colmar and Verdun there were first uprisings. The canons of the episcopal churches were recruited from the local or regional nobility and were remote from the urban leadership. Guilds and townspeople endured the rule of the prelates with increasing unease. Bishop Otto is said to have been the first Strasbourg bishop to grant the citizens of the city the right to elect their own councilors for the administration of the city in connection with the termination of his dispute with the cathedral chapter and other feuds in the context of the investiture dispute in the Upper Rhine area.

During the reign of Otto von Hohenstaufen, double-sided coins reappeared in Strasbourg. The old Strasbourg denarius of Werner I von Habsburg already differed from the bracteates , which were very common in the Holy Roman Empire from the middle of the 12th century . Werner's coin showed on the obverse the prelate with a bare head of the bishop or with the skullcap and on the lapel only the name of the prelate; it was replaced by a coin during the tenure of Bishop Otto, which represented the attributes of power more clearly than before. The obverse shows the bishop with a crosier , miter and pallium . The emperor can be seen on the lapel.

Like his predecessors and some of his successors, Otto was a warlike bishop who, as the duke's brother, appeared more like a knight than a priest. He became involved on the side of the emperor and initially supported the imperial antipope Clemens in the schism . His loyalty to the emperor explains why the Strasbourg coins were often mixed during his tenure: the obverse shows the bishop with pileolus , the lapel the emperor. Otherwise, coins from cities and rulers were usually only dedicated to the city or sovereign. The coin minted by Otto shows a two-pointed miter, a scepter , behind the head the bishop's staff can be seen. The motto is ODOICPP (= Odo Episcopus). The emperor is portrayed on the lapel. The cohesion between emperor and bishop is illustrated by the coinage.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Laubenberger: The dukes of Zähringen - rivals of the Hohenstaufen. In: Badische Heimat. My home country. 57th year (1977), No. 2, pp. 162–188 (here: p. 171).
  2. ^ Biographies alsaciennes, letter H in CRDP Académie de Strasbourg
  3. ↑ Jean-Paul Grasser, Une Histoire de l'Alsace, Editions Jean-Paul Gisserot, 1998 - 123 pages, p. 21
  4. ↑ "1082-1100: Otton de Hohenstaufen, évêque de Strasbourg  ". In: Châteaux-forts d'Alsace ( Memento of the original of November 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , chateauxfortsalsace.com, Imaginalsace, 2013, last accessed on July 28, 2014 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.chateauxfortsalsace.com
  5. ↑ Aloys Wilhelm Schreiber , Manuel des voyageurs sur le Rhin qui passent depuis ses sources jusqu'en Hollande, de Bade à la Vallée de la Mourg et à la Forêt noire, aux principaux environs et aux bains de ces contrées , Engelmann, 1831-560 Pages, p. 72
  6. ↑ Cf. Louis Levrault, for the entire section, pp. 222–230

Remarks

  1. ^ Quotation: "Otton de Hohenstaufen, Évêque de Strasbourg au XIe siècle." In: Base Numérique du Patrimoine d'Alsace (BNPA), 2014. Excerpt: “Otton de Hohenstaufen s'engage dans le Schisme en reconnaissant l'antipape Clément III, qui le consacre évêque. Il s'attire les foudres du fougueux Manegold de Lautenbach et du champion de la cause papale, le comte Hugues VII d'Éguisheim-Dabo, neveu de Léon IX, qui s'opposent aux partisans de l'empereur. Otton envahit en 1086 le domaine de Dabo, assiège le château, mais se fait battre par le comte, qui le dépouille de ses insignes épiscopaux. Lors d'une tentative de conciliation au palais de l'évêque, Hugues VII est assassiné » .
  2. ↑ Quotation: «Les Eguisheim prennent le parti du pape, alors que les évêques de Bâle et de Strasbourg, autres grands, embrassent celui de l'empereur. Cela met le pays à feu et à sang et se traduit notamment en 1089 par l'assassinat d'Hugues VI par l'évêque de Strasbourg, Otton de Hohenstaufen. »
  3. ↑ An exchange signed by him on November 8, 1099 in Mainz between Johann , Bishop of Speyer, and Kuno, Bishop of Worms; see. Glöckler page 177.
  4. ↑ Glöckler reports on this reform as follows: At the time of the schism, Bishop Otto tried to win the residents of Strasbourg over to the emperor's party. He therefore allowed them to choose their own representatives for their affairs. Each year twelve people were to be elected from both the bishop's servants and the citizens of the city, one or two of whom ran the business under the name of Master. For the old documents, this master is called Magister civium or civitatis (mayor or city master). In difficult cases the councils should appoint the lay judges. This was the first step towards the municipal regiment and the foundation stone for the free republic of Strasbourg was immediately laid. Otto had this new legislation announced before he moved to the Orient. The meeting of the canons, nobles and noblemen of the city was held in the episcopal palace. Source in French: Strasbourg: la ville au moyen-âge  ; Chapitre 2.4. La lutte de la bourgeoisie contre l'évêque, 2.4.1. Le développement de la ville et le premier statut municipal, encyclopdie-bseditons.fr, last accessed on July 28, 2014.


personal data
SURNAME Otto of Strasbourg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Otto von Hohenstaufen; Otto von Staufen; Otto von Büren (unoccupied)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Bishop of Strasbourg
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century
DATE OF DEATH August 3, 1100