Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/744

 730 OTHO III. OTIS OTHO HI., a German emperor, son of the preceding, born in 980, died at Paterno, near Viterbo, Jan. 23, 1002. When three years old he was crowned king of Germany, and during his minority the government was administered by his mother Theophania, his grandmother Adelaide, his aunt, and the archbishop of Mentz. During his reign Germany was the scene of constant tumults and wars. Henry, duke of Bavaria, gained possession of his person, but was forced by the other princes of the empire to restore him to his mother. In 984 Lorraine was invaded by Lothaire, king of France, who did not succeed in effecting anything. In 996 Otho went to Italy, repressed the insurrection of Orescentius, placed one of his relatives, Bruno, on the papal throne under the name of Gregory V., and on May 21 was by him crown- ed emperor. After his departure Orescentius renewed his insurrection, and drove out Greg- ory. Otho returned in 998 and put Crescen- tius to death, and in 1000 made a pilgrimage to the grave of St. Adalbert, at Gnesen in Poland, and there founded an archbishopric. Visiting Italy again in 1001, he was compelled to leave Borne by the people, and shortly afterward died of fever, or according to some of poison. With him the male branch of the Saxon line became extinct. He was succeeded by Henry II. OTHO IV., a German emperor, born in 1174, died May 19, 1218. He was the son of Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria, and of Matilda, sister of Richard Coeur de Lion. His youth was passed at the court of England. In 1197 the emperor Henry VI. of the house of Hohenstaufen died, and left his crown to his son Frederick II., then an infant. Otho was at that time duke of Saxony, and, supported by the Guelphs, he claimed the imperial throne. His claim was opposed by Philip of Swabia, who had the support of the Ghibellines. A civil war ensued, which ended after eight years by the flight of Otho to England, and Philip held the throne till 1208, when he was assas- sinated. Otho thereupon returned, was recog- nized as emperor, and was crowned at Rome by Pope Innocent III. in 1209. The pope made it a condition of this coronation that Otho should relinquish in favor of the church the nomi- nation to certain benefices; but the emperor violated his oath, and was excommunicated by the pope and formally deposed by the German princes. The rightful heir Frederick, then king of Naples and Sicily, was elected in his place. A second civil war now began, and the alliance of Otho with John, king of England, added to his enemies the king of France, Philip Augustus, by whom he was beaten at the bat- tle of Bovines in 1214. In 1215 he marched against Waldemar, king of Denmark, who had formed a league with Frederick. He captured Hamburg, but a sentence of excommunication having been issued against him, he was no longer able to carry on the war, and retired to his hereditary estates in Brunswick. His life was published by Langerfeldt in 1872. OTHO I. (OTTO FEIEDEIOH LTJDWIG), king of Greece, second son of Louis I., king of Bava- ria, born in Salzburg, June 1, 1815, died in Bamberg, July 26, 1867. In his 17th year he was invited by the Greeks, who had then recently achieved their independence, to fill their throne; and the proposition being ap- proved by Great Britain, France, and Russia, in a treaty concluded in London in May, 1832, and ratified soon after by the king of Bava- ria, the young prince accepted the offer, and on Feb. 6, 1833, entered Nauplia, accompanied by several officers of state who were to have the control of public affairs until he attained the age of 20. In June, 1835, he assumed the reins of government, and in the succeeding year was married in Germany to the princess Amalie of Oldenburg. The Bavarian minis- ters to whom he committed the management of the kingdom soon became unpopular, and as early as 1836 the people began to manifest their discontent by open rebellion. On the day of his arrival with his consort at the Pi- raeus, Feb. 14, 1837, he signed a decree remov- ing some of the most obnoxious foreigners from office, and substituting the Greek lan- guage for the German in official documents. In other respects the government continued to be despotic; and in September, 1843, the Greeks surrounded his palace, and compelled him to form a cabinet in which his native subjects should be properly represented, and to call a national assembly to frame a consti- tution. The latter instrument was promul- gated in the ensuing March, the Bavarian min- isters were sent home, and an auspicious era seemed about to dawn upon Greece. The re- actionary tendencies of the king and his advi- sers soon interfered with these prospects ; at- tempts were made to abridge the concessions granted, which the people resisted; ministry after ministry essayed without success to carry on the government. On the breaking out of the eastern war in 1853 the Greeks so strong- ly manifested their hostility to the Porte that an allied army of English and French was stationed at the Pira3us, and a new ministry, distasteful to the king and queen, who were also warmly attached to the Russian policy, was forced into office. The people, perceiving in this an attempt to infringe the royal pre- rogative and insult the national dignity, were partially reconciled to their sovereign, and the unpopular ministers were obliged to retire. On the conclusion of the war the popular en- mity toward the king again broke out. After several unsuccessful insurrections, the people finally organized a provisional government in Athens, which declared the throne vacant ; and on Oct. 27, 1862, Otho returned to Bavaria. OTIS, Harrison Gray, an American statesman, nephew of James Otis, born in Boston, Oct. 8, 1765, died there, Oct. 28, 1848. He graduated at Harvard college in 1783, studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. In 1796 he was elected from Boston to the state legislature,