Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 18.djvu/76

 T H aud vicious spendthrift, who was not the less dangerous because his fiercer passions were concealed beneath an affectation of effeminate dandyism. (H. F. P.) OTH.O I. (912-973), called The Great, Holy Roman emperor, was born in 912. After the death of his father, Henry, king of Germany, he was elected and crowned king in 936 at Aix-la-Chapelle; and he occupied the throne upwards of thirty-six years. His reign was one of the most momentous in mediaeval history, its chief incident being his assumption of the imperial crown, whereby he rendered impossible the growth of a compact German monarchy. Otho was a man of great ambition, stern and resolute ; and soon after his coronation as king of Germany his leading vassals saw that he intended to claim from them something more than nominal allegiance. First he had to suppress a rebellion headed by Eberhard, duke of Franconla, in association with Thankmar, a son of King Henry by a marriage which had been declared invalid. When this insurrection was put down, Thankmar having died, there was a more formidable rising, in which Eberhard secured the alliance of Otho s younger brother Henry, of Giselbcrt, duke of Lorraine, of Frederick, archbishop of Mainz, and of other powerful prelates. The king was again triumphant, and on this occasion he strengthened his position by retaining Franconia in his own hands, and by granting Lorraine to his supporter Conrad, who married Otho s daughter Liudgard. To his brother Henry, whom he pardoned, he gave Bavaria ; and over S vabia, after the death of its duke, he placed his own son Ludolf. His native duchy, Saxony, was entrusted to Count Hermann, called Billung, a brave njble who had distinguished himself in wars on the eastern borders of Germany. Thus all the great offices of the state were held by Otho s kinsmen and friends ; and he exercised more direct control over his subjects than any sovereign, except Charlemagne, had done before him. In wars with the Bohemians, the Wends, and the Danes Otho was not less successful. In 951 he crossed the Alps to help Queen Adelaide, and, having conquered Berengar II., he married her and became king of Lombardy. On his return to Germany his s on Ludolf rebelled against him, and was aided by Duke Conrad, by Archbishop Frederick of Mainz, and by many discontented magnates. In the midst of the struggle Germany was attacked by the Magyars, whom Duke Conrad had summoned to his aid. This common danger led to the establishment of internal peace, and Otho succeeded in defeating the Magyars. When in 955 they returned in greater numbers than ever, he inflicted on them so decisive a defeat that they did not again invade Germany. In 961, in response to the appeal of Pope John XII., Otho returned to Italy to punish his rebellious vassal Berengar ; and on the 2d February 962 he was crowned emperor by the pope, for the deposition of whom he soon after wards summoned a council. At this time Otho remained two years in Italy, and a later visit extended over six years, during which he not only maintained his authority in Lom bardy, but sought to assert it in southern Italy. In Germany his policy was directed chiefly to the strengthening of the church, which wa& to act as a counterpoise to the influence of the secular nobles. He died on the 7th May 973, at Memleben, and was buried in Magdeburg, which he had made the seat of an archbishopric. See Kopke and Dummler, Kaiser Otto der Grosse, 1876. OTHO II. (955-983), Holy Roman emperor, son of Otho I. and Adelaide, was born in 955. In the lifetime of his father he was twice crowned, in 961 as king of Germany, and in 967 (at Rome) as emperor. He became sole ruler after the death of Otho I. in 973. Early in his reign he had to suppress a great conspiracy organized by his cousin, Duke Henry of Bavaria ; and at the same time he was repeatedly attacked by Harold, king of the Danes. In 978, when his authority had been in some measure re-established, he was confronted by a new danger, for Lothair, king of France, suddenly invaded Lorraine. Otho hastily assembled an army, drove Lothair from Lorraine, and pushed on to Paris, which he unsuccessfully besieged. In the treaty by which peace was concluded, France formally recognized the right of Germany to Lorraine. Otho next went to restore order in Rome, from which Pope Benedict VII. had been expelled by Crescentius. In southern Italy Otho (who, in virtue of his wife, Theophano, claimed Apulia and Calabria) waged war with the Saracens, and defeated them in a great battle. On the 13th July 982, however, he himself was defeated, and was very nearly taken prisoner. At a diet in Verona, attended by German and Italian princes, his son Otho, three years of age, was chosen to be his suc cessor, and arrangements were made for a new campaign in the south. On the 7th December 983 Otho II. died, leaving the empire in a state of confusion, the Danes and the Wends, encouraged by his defeat, having risen against German supremacy. Although warlike and impetuous, Otho II. was a man of refined and scholarly tastes, which had been carefully cultivated by his mother. See Giesebrecht, Gcschichtc dcr dcutschcn Kaiscrzcit. OTHO III. (980-1002), Holy Roman emperor, son of Otho II. and Theophano, was born in 980, and crowned king of Germany at Aix-la-Chapelle in 983. After his coronation his kinsman, Duke Henry of Bavaria, who had been imprisoned by Otho II. in Utrecht, made his escape and seized the young king, in whose name he proposed to govern the empire. His pretensions were resisted, however, and he agreed to submit on condition of being reinstated in his dukedom. During Otho s minority public affairs were administered, with the aid of Willegis, archbishop of Mainz, by his mother Theophano, his grandmother Adelaide, and his aunt Matilda, sister of Otho II. and abbess of Quedlinburg. Otho was a dreamy and imaginative youth of brilliant talents, which were carefully developed by Gerbert, the greatest scholar of the age. In 996, when Otho was declared to have reached his majority, he went to Rome, where Crescentius had made himself supreme. After the death of Pope John XV. Otho caused Bruno, who was related to the Saxon dynasty, to be elected to the holy see ; and by him (Gregory V.) Otho was crowned emperor on the 21st May 996. After Otho s departure Crescentius again rose, drove Gregory V. from Rome, and set up an anti-pope. Otho immediately returned, and Crescentius, with twelve of his supporters, was executed. On the death of Gregory V., Otho s tutor, Gerbert, archbishop of Ravenna, was appointed pope ; and, in part through his influence, the emperor began to form great plans, deciding to make Rome the centre of the secular as well as of the spiritual world. At the approach of the year 1000, when it was commonly supposed that the earth was about to be destroyed, Otho returned to Germany and made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St Adalbert at Gncsen. Afterwards, in Aix-la-Chapelle, he entered the vault in which the body of Charlemagne sat upon a throne, and took away the golden cross which hung on the mighty emperor s breast. In 1001 Otho went back to Italy for the purpose of carrying out his far-reaching schemes ; but popular disturbances in Rome compelled him to quit the city ; and on the way to Ravenna, where he proposed to wait for a German army, he died at Paterno, near Viterbo, on the 21st January 1002. See Wilmans, Jahrbiichcr des dcutschcn Rcichs untcr Kaiser Otto III. ; Giesebrecht, Gcschichte dcr deutschcn Kalserzeit.