Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/743

 OTHO OTHO II. 729 OTHO, Marcus Salvins, a Roman emperor, born A. D. 32, died in April, 69. His family traced its origin to the kings of Etruria. His father, Lucius Otho, held many places of honor and trust under Tiberius. During the early years of Nero's reign Marcus Otho was his intimate associate in various excesses and debaucheries ; but Nero's love for Poppoea, whom Otho had seduced from her husband, caused a coolness between them, and Otho was virtually ban- ished by an appointment as governor of Lusi- tania, where he remained ten years. He was afterward active in opposition to Nero, and aided in placing Galba on the throne, A. I). 68. As a reward for this service, he expected to be named Galba's successor, but the latter adopt- ed Piso Licinianus. .This disappointment and his heavy debts made him desperate ; and he said publicly that if he were not emperor soon he would be ruined. He accordingly conspired among the guards, who proclaimed him empe- ror, and put Galba to death, after a reign of seven months. But a few days before this event the legions in Germany had proclaimed Vitellius emperor, and Otho was scarcely seat- ed upon the throne when he was called upon to oppose this new claimant. After an offer of a large sum to Vitellius to relinquish his claim, which was refused, he marched against him with an army, and defeated his forces in three battles; but in a general engagement near Bedriacum, between Mantua and Cre- mona, the army of Otho was completely de- feated after a hard-fought battle. Otho him- self was not upon the field, and when the news was brought to him, he settled all his affairs with great deliberation and then committed suicide, having reigned only 95 days. OTHO I., the Great, a German emperor, born in 912, died at Memleben, Thuringia, May 7, 973. In spite of strong opposition to him in his own family, he succeeded his father, Henry the Fowler, and was crowned at Aix-la-Cha- pelle in 936. His whole reign of 36 years was a constant series of long and bloody wars. After quieting the opposition to himself, he was engaged in a struggle from 938 to 950 with Boleslas, duke of Bohemia, who was finally subdued and obliged to reinstate the Christian religion. He was also involved in a war with the dukes of Bavaria and Franconia, in which he was triumphant ; and he strength- ened his authority still more by conferring the duchy of Swabia upon his son Ludolph, that of Bavaria upon his brother Henry, and that of Lorraine upon his son-in-law Conrad, count of Worms. No less successful against foreign enemies, he made the Slavic tribes trib- utary as far as the Oder, and drove back the Danes, who had invaded Germany, and com- pelled their king to acknowledge his authority. In 946 he undertook a journey to France to aid his brother-in-law Louis (Outremer) against Hugh the Great, count of Paris, and, compo- sing the differences between the king and his vassals, received as a reward all of Lorraine that was still in French hands. Invited by Ade- laide of Burgundy, the beautiful widow of Lo- thaire of Italy, whose throne had been usurped by Berenger II., he crossed the Alps in 951, defeated Berenger, took Pavia, was crowned king of Lombardy, married Adelaide, and re- turned to Germany. But on account of Otho's affection for his wife, and for Henry, duke of Bavaria, the enemies of both, headed by Lu- dolph, his son by his first wife (Eadgith, sister of the English king Athelstan), and by Conrad, duke of Lorraine, raised a civil war, which was not quelled till 954. In the mean time the Hungarians had invaded Germany, and, re- newing their incursions in 955, besieged Augs- burg, and were defeated (Aug. 10) on the Lechfeld near that city with terrible slaugh- ter. Berenger revolting, Otho again passed over into Italy, was crowned king of that country by the archbishop of Mentz, and on Feb. 2, 962, was crowned emperor of the West by Pope John XII. The pope after his depar- ture breaking his allegiance, Otho hastened again to Italy, and called a council which de- posed John, and chose in his place Leo VIII. The Romans having soon after expelled Leo and recalled John, Otho returned, besieged and took Rome, deprived Benedict V., the succes- sor of John, of his popedom, and reinstated Leo. His plan of forming an alliance with the Greek empire, by marrying his son Otho to Theophania, daughter of Romanus II., having been defeated by the obstinacy of the Byzan- tine court, Otho invaded lower Italy, defeated the Greeks, and took Apulia and Calabria. The new emperor of the East, John Zimisces, hereupon consented to an alliance. Soon after- ward Otho died in the height of his fame. See Vehse'sZefow Otto'sdes Grossen (Dresden, 1872). OTHO II., a German emperor, son of the pre- ceding, born in 955, died in Rome, Dec. 7, 983. He was crowned king of Rome during the life- time of his father (961). He ruled Germany for a time under the guardianship of his moth- er, but finally retired from court, and a civil war sprang up, in which he was opposed by his cousin Henry, duke of Bavaria, assisted by Harald, king of Denmark, and others. Otho defeated Henry in 977, and gave Bavaria to his nephew Otho, duke of Swabia. The French king Lothaire having invaded Lorraine in 978 and taken Aix-la-Chapelle, Otho collected an army, drove back the invaders, and in the pursuit overran Champagne and marched to Paris, a suburb of which he burned. Civil war having broken out in Rome, he crossed the Alps in 980, repressed the dissensions there, and then marched into lower Italy with the intention of wresting from the Greeks Apulia and Calabria. For a time he was successful, and took Naples, Salerno, and in 982 Taranto ; but on July 13 of that year he was defeated at Basantello in Calabria by the Greeks, who had called to their aid the Saracens of Italy. Otho himself narrowly escaped. While meditating another expedition he died.