Everything about Otto Ii totally explained
Otto II (
955 –
December 7,
983,
Rome), called
the Red, was the third ruler of the
Saxon or
Ottonian dynasty, the son of
Otto the Great and
Adelaide of Italy.
Biography
Education, first years of reign
He received a good education under the care of his uncle,
Bruno, archbishop of Cologne, and his illegitimate half-brother,
William, archbishop of Mainz. At first only co-reigning with his father, he was chosen German king at Worms in 961, crowned at
Aachen Cathedral on
26 May 961, and on
25 December 967 was crowned joint emperor at Rome by
Pope John XIII.
He married
Theophanu, niece of the Eastern Roman Emperor
John I Tzimisces, on
April 14,
972. After participating in his father's campaigns in Italy, he returned to Germany and became sole emperor on the death of his father in May 973, without meeting any opposition.
Otto spent his reign continuing his father's policy of strengthening imperial rule in Germany and extending it deeper into Italy.
Germany
After suppressing a rising in Lorraine, difficulties arose in southern Germany, probably owing to Otto's refusal to grant the duchy of Swabia to
Henry II of Bavaria. In
974 Henry's mother, Judith, set up a conspiracy against the emperor, which included Henry, Bishop
Abraham of Freising, the
dukes of Bohemia and
Poland, and several members of the clergy and the nobility who were discontented by the previous emperor's policies. The plan was discovered and easily suppressed, however. In the same year, Otto's forces successfully opposed an attempt by
Harald I of Denmark to throw off the German yoke; however, his expedition against the
Bohemians in 975 was a partial failure owing to the outbreak of further trouble in Bavaria. The following year he restored order for the second time in Lorraine and forced Henry II to flee from Regensburg to Bohemia, Bavaria being assigned to his relative
Otto of Bavaria. In
977 the king made another expedition into Bohemia, where King
Boleslaus II promised to return to his earlier allegiance. Also
Mieszko I of Poland submitted. See also
War of the Three Henries).
After Otto had crushed an attempt by Henry to regain Bavaria, King
Lothair of France invaded
Lorraine with an army of 20,000 and occupied the capital
Aachen for five days. Otto retired first to
Cologne and then to
Saxony. His mother, who was of French origin, sided with Lothair and moved to
Bourgogne. In September 978, having mustered 30,000 men, Otto retaliated by invading France. He met with little resistance, but sickness among his troops compelled him to raise the siege of
Paris, and on the return journey the rearguard of his army was destroyed and the baggage seized by the French. An expedition against the Poles was followed by peace with France: Lothair renounced his claim on Lorraine (
980), and in exchange Otto recognized the rights of Lothair's son
Louis.
Italy
Otto therefore felt himself free to travel to Italy. The government of Germany was left to arch-chancellor
Willigis and to duke
Bernard I of Saxony. He was accompanied by his wife, his son, Otto of Bavaria, the bishops of
Worms,
Metz and
Merseburg and numerous other counts and barons. Crossing the Alps in what is today Switzerland, he reconciled with his mother at
Pavia and then celebrated the Christmas of 980 in
Ravenna.
Pope Benedict VI, elected by his father, had been imprisoned by the Romans in
Castel Sant'Angelo, where he'd died in 974. His successor
Boniface VII had fled to
Constantinople and
Benedict VII, former
bishop of Sutri, was now pope. Preceded by Benedict, Otto ceremoniously entered Rome on Easter day of 981.
Otto held in the city a splendid court, attended by princes and nobles from all parts of western Europe. He was next required to punish inroads of the
Saracens on the Italian mainland and, most of all, the aggressive policy of the Sicilian emir
Abu al-Qasim, whose fleet was harassing Apulia and whose troops had invaded
Calabria. In September 981 Otto marched into southern Italy. He was first entangled in the quarrels between the local Lombard princes who had divided the area after
Pandulf Ironhead's death. Otto unsuccessfully besieged
Manso I of Amalfi in
Salerno, but in the end obtained the recognition of his authority from all the Lombard principalities. In January 982 the German troops marched towards the Byzantine Apulia to annex this region as well to the Western Empire.
When Otto moved from
Taranto, he met with a severe defeat near
Stilo in July 982 (in which, among the others, al-Qasim was killed). Without revealing his identity, the emperor escaped on a Greek vessel to
Rossano. He returned to Rome on
November 12 982.
At a diet held at Verona in June 983, largely attended by German and Italian princes, he'd
Otto III confirmed as king of Germany and prepared a new campaign against the Saracens. He also obtained a settlement with the
Republic of Venice, whose help was much needed after the defeat of Stilo. Proceeding to Rome, Otto secured the election of Peter of Pavia as
Pope John XIV.
Just as the news reached him of a general rising of the
Slav tribes on the eastern frontier of Germany, he died in his palace in Rome on
7 December 983. He was survived by the future emperor Otto III and three daughters. He was buried in the atrium of
St. Peter's Basilica, and when the church was rebuilt his remains were removed to the crypt, where his tomb can still be seen.
Otto, who is sometimes called the "Red", was a man of small stature, by nature brave and impulsive, and by training an accomplished knight. He was generous to the church and aided the spread of Christianity in many ways.
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