Otto III, Young Dreamer, Holy Roman Emperor. Otto III, King of Germany - All the monarchies of the world Otto 3 and his imperial reforms

The main land of the emperors, in the city of the apostles and martyrs, where the pope and the emperor were supposed to occupy their posts in full agreement and mutual understanding. “Child's play” - contemporaries already called such ambition, controlling the world from the very center. Trying to implement the utopian plan to recreate the Roman “world empire” centered in Rome, Otto III was constantly in Italy.

Regency of Empress Theophano

The news of the death of Otto II came to Aachen at the time when two bishops, a German and an Italian - Willigis of Mainz and John of Ravenna - solemnly crowned the baby Otto with a royal crown on Christmas Day. No one argued about the right of inheritance: the state unity that was established in the last three reigns were in close connection with the interests of many; it was not easy to neglect her. The only question was who should be the guardian and regent during Otto’s childhood - his mother Theophano or the closest relative of the late emperor. After some hesitation and whispering on the part of one of the closest relatives of the reigning house, the empress’s party gained the upper hand with the help of one of the most important spiritual dignitaries of the empire - Willigis, Archbishop of Main (Willigis was the son of a simple peasant from Lower Saxony; the astute Otto was able to distinguish him among the clergy, and Otto II century contributed to his elevation to the highest clergy) and Theophano was appointed ruler until King Otto came of age. Theophano's rules were reasonable, and Theophano's regency, which passed quite peacefully and calmly, thereby honors the subtle political tact and flair of this young Greek princess. His grandmother, Abbess Matilda Quedlinburgska, took part in raising the royal baby. Where the interests of the dynasty were at stake, these women easily agreed with each other, although otherwise they did not always get along. The main leader in state affairs was Archbishop Willigs of Mainz, and the main educator of the young king was Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, one of the most energetic political figures of his time.

One of the important tasks of the regency during the childhood of King Otto II was to maintain peaceful relations with the West Frankish state, where a change of dynasty took place. Lothair III died in the city, and the next year his son Louis V died. The only descendant of the Carolingian house was Charles, to whom Otto II gave Lower Lorraine as a fief in the city. This feudal dependence on the German emperor made Charles hated by the West Frankish nobility, especially since he was married to the daughter of a simple serviceman. That is why the majority of the nobility elected as king the most powerful of the West Frankish nobles, Hugo, Duke of France, otherwise known as Hugo Capet (r.).

But Charles had his own supporters, and a long struggle ensued between the rivals, which ended with Charles being treacherously captured, handed over to Capet, and soon died in custody. New King his reasons to be cautious in relation to the East Frankish state, and therefore relations between neighbors developed quite satisfactorily for Feofano. To some extent, it even turned out to be beneficial for her that the West Frankish bishops from the party of Hugo Capet went over to the opposition to the papal throne: this was strengthened by ties between Rome, Italy and the Saxon dynasty, which constantly took care of supporting church unity. But the young and intelligent ruler did not live long: she died in the city, and the Dowager Empress Adelheida hurried from Italy, where she was in charge of government, to replace the ruler. Four years later, the young king, who was 15 years old, took part in one of the campaigns against the Slavs, and then took over the administration of affairs.

Years of independent rule

It is difficult to say anything outstanding about this unfortunate young man, who ascended the throne at the age of 15 and died at 22. He had a pleasant appearance, possessed rare abilities and received an excellent education for those times. Having begun to govern the state at a fairly young age, he was rapidly subjected to the infatuation of youth, showing himself to be so unreasonably hopeful about his imperial power, then suddenly moving on to self-destruction. He was too young to take his situation naturally and overcome the uncertainty to which he was subjected to various influences.

His first trip to Rome was successful. The pope had just died, and the Roman ambassadors met Otto III in Ravenna. He, probably listening to someone's advice, pointed them to his close relative Bruno, son of the Duke of Carinthia, as a candidate, and this 26-year-old youth was elected pope under the name of Gregory V. He crowned Otto emperor in Rome, after which he returned to Germany. During his journey home, he surrendered to the influence of one of the ascetics of that time, Bishop Adelbert of Prague (He was still a very young man - originally from the Czech Republic, from a noble family. Before joining the monks, Jon was called Vojtech), who spent his life in fasting and prayer and strived torment and suffering for the faith of Christ. Soon after this, he was indeed tortured to death by the pagan Prussians, to whom he stubbornly preached Christianity. Even after his death, Otto III treated him with sincere respect and built churches in different places in the state in honor of Adelbert, who was canonized by the Western Church. A little later, another spiritual dignitary appeared among those close to the young emperor, the direct opposite of Adelbert. This was Archbishop Herbert of Reims, a Frenchman, a man at that time of high vision, who was constantly busy with fantastic plans for church and political reforms, which he managed to convey to the young emperor. Meanwhile, the young Pope Gregory V began reforms in the internal structure of the Western Church in the spirit of ideas that were persistently carried out in society by the religious party, which managed to establish itself well in the Aquitaine monastery of Cluny, founded in 910. Pope Gregory V persistently fought against the French bishops and against King Robert, who ascended the throne after the death of Hugo Capet, because Robert did not want to break off a marriage that was not permitted by church law. With such energetic actions, the young pope aroused against himself one of the parties among the Roman nobility, which, having come to power, elected a new pope during the life of Gregory V.

Otto had to go on a second campaign through the Alps in 997. He returned Pope Gregory to Rome, forcing the rebels to surrender the fortress of St. Angela, they took refuge, and executed 12 organizers of the rebellion. Gregory convened a local council, in the presence of which, on his orders, the antipope's episcopal clothes were torn, then they put him backwards on a donkey and drove him through the streets of Rome to ridicule and shame. Soon after this, Pope Gregory died, the emperor chose him to succeed Herbert, who had shortly before been appointed Archbishop of Ravenna. Under the name Silvestri II, Herbert ascended the papal throne. During his second stay in Italy, Otto persistently indulged in torture of the flesh in the spirit of St. Adelbert and his many Italian followers. With such a religious exercise he combined fantastic political plans. For example, he spoke of restoring the “Roman Republic” and, as Roman Emperor, remained on the Aventine Hill in Rome. At that time, he surrounded himself with purely Byzantine ceremonial, dressed in fancy clothes, wore a robe embroidered with apocalyptic images and signs of the Zodiac, introduced the government of Rome in a new way and distributed new titles to everyone, and awarded himself the title of “king of kings.” Vestiarii and protiestairii, logothetes and archilogothetes appeared, Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim was exalted by the Byzantine title “primiscrinia”. Both the emperor and the pope obviously nurtured the idea of building Rome in the sense of a world capital and were able to act together in this direction: it seems that these people, highly thoughtful only about themselves, already had the idea of liberating the Holy Sepulcher from the power of the infidels.

At the end of 999, Otto returned to Germany shortly after the death of his grandmother, the widowed Empress Adelheid. He immediately headed to Gniezno, where the remains of St. Adalbert, almost worth their weight in gold, bought from the Prussians. The church structure of Poland, where one archbishopric and seven bishoprics were established, was closely connected with these visits to Gniezno. Duke Boleslav, who understood how this young emperor should be received, arranged a wonderful meeting and did not skimp on flattery. The emperor came up with a classic title for him too, calling him “a friend and ally of the Roman people.” At the same time, he freed his hands to take active action in church affairs, in which the Polish prince tried to get rid of German influence, replacing priests with Italians and Czechs.

From Poland, Otto headed to Aachen and here descended into the tomb of his illustrious predecessor Charlemagne. He took with him from there only one tooth of Charles in the form of a relic and six months later he again hurried to Italy. The Lombard principalities, as he became convinced, were increasingly slipping away from his power; in Rome, he was in danger from the violent population, which rebelled against Otto because he did not take his side in the civil strife with the town of Tibur (Tivoli), with which the Romans had long been at enmity. Having solemnly reconciled with the rebels, Otto set off for Ravenna, moving along the way from military preparations to pious exercises and educational conversations. In May 1001, he reappeared under the walls of Rome, where the wind managed to turn in the other direction, but did not enter the city, but went to Benevento, which submitted to him, and moved back to Ravenna, in the vicinity of which a small community of pious hermits settled on a small island . One of them, St. Romuald, with whom Otto communicated especially often, sought to force the young emperor to renounce the world. However, the young man dreamed of something else - he sent ambassadors to Constantinople to ask for the hand of one of the Greek princesses. Currently, the plans of Otto's Italian policy aroused discontent among the German nobility: the princes began to gather and enter into negotiations with each other that were dangerous for the emperor. Even the devoted servant of the Saxon house, Archbishop Willigis, did not hide his extreme irritation. An endless dispute ensued between him and Bernward of Hildesheim over the monastery of Gandersheim, located on the border of the Mainz and Hildesheim dioceses. Bernvarda, Otto's former tutor, was currently greatly interested in his ideas, which Willigis looked at from the point of view of a healthy public policy. The emperor decided to refer the discord of the German bishops to the discussion of the council, which he decided to convene in the vicinity of Spoleto. However, the council did not take place, showing to what extent the importance of imperial power was being undermined. The general respect for the pope was no less shaken, and in Germany Sylvester’s papal-imperial policy met open condemnation among the clergy. Gradually the guy became convinced that he had completely lost his internal connection with the people. He again went to Rome, and since the gates of the Eternal City, again gripped by indignation, were not opened to him, he settled in the vicinity of Rome, in the castle of Paterno, on Mount Soract (Monte Sorato).

Here on January 23, 1002 Otto III died after a short illness. The spiritual and secular dignitaries who were present accepted his last will. They were forced to hide his death until they pulled up their small army to the castle: it was necessary to transport the body of Emperor Otto to Germany through areas agitated by the uprising and full of a rebellious spirit. This was not achieved without difficulty. In Germany, by the will of the emperor, his remains were buried in Aachen. A year later, Sylvester also died, having been installed as pope by Otto and, after Otto’s death, managed to make peace with the population of Rome.

Emperors Holy Roman Empire 800-1806

800		814		840		843		855		875		877		881		887		891
	Charles I the Great		Louis I the Pious		-		Lothar I		Louis II		Charles II the Bald		-		Charles III the Fat		-

891		894		896		899		901		905		915		924		962		973		983
	Guy Spoletsky		Lambert		Arnulf of Carinthia		-		Louis III the Blind		-		Berengar I		-		Otto I the Great		Otto II the Red

983		996		1002		1014		1024		1027		1039		1046		1056		1084		1105		1111		1125		1133		1137		1155
	-		Otto III		-		Henry II Saint		-		Conrad II		-		Henry III		-		Henry IV		-		Henry V		-		Lothar II		-

1155		1190		1197		1209		1215		1220		1250		1312		1313		1328		1347		1355		1378		1410
	Frederick I Barbarossa		Henry VI		-		Otto IV		-		Frederick II		-		Henry VII		-		Louis IV of Bavaria		-		Charles IV		-

1410		1437		1452		1493		1508		1519		1530		1556		1564		1576		1612		1619		1637

The fact that Otto III was only three years old when he was crowned on the German throne, and was still a teenager when he began to rule as emperor, aroused the interest of his contemporaries, but what was most surprising was the outcome of his reign. His short but fruitful six-year reign changed the face of the empire in the eyes of Europeans - instead of an instrument of German domination, the state began to resemble a federation that respected the rights of the non-German countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

For medieval European society with its high moral principles, very young kings surrounded by equally young courtiers and advisers were not new. Aristocrats often assumed high positions at a young age due to the death of their predecessors. And it was for this reason that they also could not count on staying in power for a long time. Most of the newly elected Holy Roman Emperors were under twenty-five years of age at the time of their accession to the throne, which was par for the course, since they had to be in good physical shape and quickly adapt to circumstances. These wandering rulers spent their lives in the saddle, trying to hold on to their lands, which stretched from North Sea to the Mediterranean shores.

Ottonids

Otto belonged to the Saxon ruling dynasty of the Ottonids. German aristocrats elected his father Otto I, Duke of Saxony, as German king in 936, and in 962, when the history of the Holy Roman Empire begins, he was crowned and became emperor. Saxony became rich when silver deposits were discovered in the Harz at the beginning of the 10th century. In addition, rent payments, tribute, serfs and slaves from the conquered Slavic tribes flowed there in a stream. Wealth allowed the Ottonids, the first German dynasty to become an imperial power on a European scale, to develop a unique royal policy. Their journeys through their domains were accompanied by elaborate ceremonies, solemn processions and festivals. The Saxon army, dressed in helmets and armor, was well armed, which contributed to the offensive operations. There was no trace left of the clumsy soldiers in straw headdresses, and the Saxons had no equal in sword fighting.

Otto I's decisive victory over the Hungarians at the Battle of Lech (955) secured his right to the imperial crown. After military successes in Lombardy, his power extended to southern Italy. The appearance of the Germans there led to a clash with Constantinople: the Byzantine emperors still defended their rights to this region. In 972, a year before his death, Otto I arranged the marriage of his son and heir to the Greek princess Theophano, niece of Emperor John Tzimiskes. This calmed Byzantium a little, but during the reign of Otto II, armed confrontation in Southern Italy resumed. It so happened that the son born from this marriage showed a deep understanding of his both Byzantine and Saxon roots.

Childhood of Otto III and his regents

As a boy, Otto III asked his French mentor Herbert of Aurillac to cultivate in him “the Greek subtlety that glimmers like a coal under the ashes of my Saxon immaturity.” His other mentors, the Greek John Philagfos and the Saxon Bernward, supplemented the education of the young king with a mixture of Greek and Roman, Saxon and Frankish ideas about the world. When Otto was only three years old, his twenty-eight-year-old father died after a ten-year reign (973-983), and the archbishops of Ravenna and Mainz immediately crowned the boy German crown- this happened on Christmas Day 983. Otto III was especially influenced by the dreams of Charlemagne and the Carolingians about a European Christian empire. Theophano ruled the empire on behalf of Otto until his death in 991. She was succeeded by Adelheide, the grandmother of Otto III and the widow of Otto I, who ruled until the boy grew up and took the helm of power. While still a teenager, Otto tried to reconcile the eastern Byzantine traditions with Western Catholics and reform the institution of the papacy, at the end of the 10th century. going through difficult times. Pope John XII, who crowned Otto I, was an ignorant sensualist who died in the arms of his mistress, and Pope John XV was called a weak-willed protege of the Crescentii, the Roman aristocratic family.

After the death of John XV, Otto appointed his confessor Bruno, also the grandson of Otto I, as pope. Bruno ruled under the name Gregory V, and after him Otto appointed his mentor Herbert, who took the name Sylvester II, pope. Both popes shared their patron's desire for intellectual and spiritual renewal, a process that was already underway in the west of the continent, where the monastic-led reform movement was gaining more and more supporters. However, Otto believed that the papacy needed a firm guiding hand to achieve these goals. He remembered Justinian, Byzantine emperor VI century, which stood at the origins of the revival of the Eastern Roman Empire and returned the Italian provinces lost during the invasion of the barbarians.

Therefore, Otto depicted himself on the imperial seals as a Greek bashpes, a big-bearded king, fully understanding the importance of iconography and symbolism. Otto's shoes were strewn with symbolic images of eagles, dragons and lions, that is, animals associated with imperial power. In big church holidays he wore dalmatics, ecclesiastical vestments, usually made of silk, brocade or velvet. Otto's dalmatic was embroidered with golden eagles. On his festive vestment there were 365 bells, one for each day of the annual cycle of movement celestial bodies, since Otto ruled in the name of cosmic harmony. These innovations indicate the influence on Otto of Byzantine ceremonies with their craving for a clear ritual designation of a person’s rank. Following his example, the same strict observance of rituals was introduced at the papal court, and vestments and symbolism were now given great importance.

Otto's new titles

Realizing the importance of titles, Otto in 1000 began to call himself “servant of Jesus Christ,” a year later changing this title to “servant of the apostles.” The change was important if we remember that Constantine chose for himself the title “equal to the apostles.” In other words, now Otto declared himself the vicar of St. Peter and, therefore, the legal ruler of the lands subject to the papal throne. Behind this was the publication of a false document from the 8th century, known as the “Donation of Constantine,” in which the emperor allegedly granted the popes rights to lands and spiritual and temporal power. It is important that this document was used to substantiate the papal claims to the appointment of secular rulers in Western Europe. Otto performed an important service for the papacy by returning to it some of the northern Italian lands mentioned in the Donation. However, this act was only a personal favor to Herbert. Otto unequivocally stated that, as emperor, he was the supreme ruler not only of these lands, but also of any others that Constantine could give to the heirs of St. Petra. The papacy, he emphasized, ruled its lands ineptly, and as a result, having lost most of its hereditary possessions, it resorted to fraud in order to seize the imperial lands.

Otto’s idealized ideas about Rome as the “capital of the world” gave way to realistic views: his eyes seemed to be opened to the disorder that reigned there around the year 1000. He believed that Rome should be a city of emperors, not popes. Dominion over Italy, a revived Rome and control of the papacy - this was Otto's policy in Italy. However, no less ambitious were his plans for the German core of the empire and the role of the church.

German Imperial Church

The German Imperial Church was Otto's creation, and he used it to consolidate his power over the often capricious nobility. In addition, it served as an instrument for the eastern expansion of the Ottonids. Missionary dioceses formed in Poland, Bohemia, Moravia and Hungary were outposts of church centers in Mainz and Magdeburg, Salzburg and Passau. They were part of the policy of forced Germanization, as well as centers of colonization of the eastern lands under Ottonid rule. The imperial patronage of the church in the East served as an impetus for the revival of architecture and applied arts, and in addition, it was intended to renew Charlemagne’s attempts to cope with the Slavs, who did not stop raiding the eastern borders of the empire along the Elbe River.

Otto's visit to Aachen

To honor the memory of Charlemagne, in 1000 Otto visited Aachen. He was aware that Charlemagne had failed to assimilate Slavic population and that for the final push to the East the German core of the empire lacked the resources. He also thought that from a strategic point of view it was a mistake, since conquered hostile peoples could gain the support of Byzantium. Therefore, Otto abandoned missionary work and began to pursue a policy of federalization in the eastern territories. He still expected these lands and their rulers to respect his imperial title, but they now enjoyed the rights of internal autonomy, and the empire began to represent a freer structure than the rigid model of Otto I, which demanded unquestioning obedience.

Otto's generosity towards Poland

In Poland, Otto created an autonomous archbishopric in Gniezno and three suffragan dioceses in Kolberg, Krakow and Breslau. His generosity even extended to the point that he returned to the Polish rulers the tribute they had previously paid to the emperor. These gestures convinced the Poles that they could join the Latin West without becoming Germanic, and deeply influenced the Hungarian prince Stephen, who was at the time engaged in a struggle for supreme power with other Hungarian aristocrats. Stefan married Gisela, the sister of the Bavarian Duke, to bring Hungary closer to the West. Supported by Otto, he chose to submit to Rome when it came to baptizing the country, which had recently been pagan. It is not surprising that in December 1000 he ascended the throne as Stephen I, the first Hungarian king, and accepted the crown sent to him by the Pope. Otto considered himself Peter's viceroy, and this changed his view of both the papacy and imperial power. When he died at the age of 21, his empire was a synthesis of European cultures. The results of his reign influenced the religious loyalty, fidelity to dynastic principles and the political will of future generations of Europeans.

Tton succeeded his early deceased father at the age of only three years. The early childhood of the new sovereign would have been a great misfortune for the country if his mother, Feofano, a woman of rare abilities, had not taken part in state affairs and if the majority of German dukes and powerful nobles had not remained faithful to the ruling dynasty. And yet it was not without turmoil and unrest. died in Italy. Feofano was also there, whom he declared regent before his death. Meanwhile, the little emperor's cousin was in Germany and immediately began to act in his own interests. As a close relative, he began to seek custody of little Otto. Archbishop Varin of Cologne, who had Otto with him at that time, gave him the boy, and Henry kept him for more than a year. Only after the combined efforts of friends of the imperial house in July 984, at a congress in Rere, was he forced to hand over Otto to his mother and grandmother Adelaide. In the same year, at the Congress of Worms, complete agreement was reached; Henry and his friends swore an oath of allegiance. The following year they handed over, he was completely satisfied with this and henceforth remained faithful to his nephew.

Otto received the most thorough education. Already from an early youth, he discovered an extraordinary thirst for knowledge and absorbed such a mass of information that he amazed his contemporaries. The priests, in whose hands all his upbringing was, instilled in him, on the one hand, the highest idea about his future calling, and on the other, extraordinary piety and thoughtful mysticism, so characteristic of his melancholic nature. These two opposing forces began to fight early in his young soul. The immediate and essential attracted him little. Presiding over congresses, managing the current affairs of the board, traveling back and forth across poor, half-wild Germany, reconciling rude vassals, chasing the Wends in their impenetrable forests and swamps - all this seemed inexpressibly boring and low to Otto. He is with early years dreamed of settling in Italy, in a country of education and refined culture, and dreamed of recreating the great Roman Empire. He treated his compatriots with arrogance and contempt. Their simplicity and naivety seemed to him unbearably barbaric.

When Otto was sixteen years old, his grandmother, the elderly Empress Adelaide (after Theophano's death in 991, she became regent of the state), expressed a desire for him to assume the imperial crown. In February 996, Otto went to Rome for the first time, accompanied by an army consisting of all German tribes. On May 21, the day of the Ascension of the Lord, the pope, the first German on the papal throne, crowned Otto imperial crown. During this trip, the emperor met the Archbishop of Reims Herbert, the most learned man of his time. In the spring of 997, he came to Otto in Magdeburg. The most famous scientists from all over Germany gathered here then. They spent whole days in debates and conversations. Otto himself played an important role in them. The emperor was distracted from these learned studies by news of unrest in Italy: the Romans expelled the pope from the city and gave power to the patrician John Crescentius. He placed his protege on the papal throne.

At the end of 997, at the head of a large army, Otto entered Italy for the second time. In Pavia, he celebrated Christmas with the pope, and then approached Rome through Ravenna. The Romans offered no resistance to him. Crescentius locked himself in the Castle of St. Angel, the antipope fled to Campania. Soon German horsemen caught him, gouged out his eyes, cut off his nose, ears, tongue and brought him to Rome in this form. Here, after new humiliations, he was thrown into prison. Crescentius defended himself in the castle for some time, but on April 26, the besiegers smashed the walls with machines and took the castle by storm. Crescentius himself was beheaded, and his 12 closest associates were crucified on crosses. The surrounding barons were subjugated with inexorable severity, and the entire papal region was again handed over.

After this, Otto went on pilgrimage to southern Italy. He visited Monte Cassino, prayed at the tomb of the Apostle Bartholomew, ascended Mount Gargan barefoot and lived there for some time among the monks, leading an ascetic lifestyle. On way back he visited Gaeta, where Saint Nile lived in a hut, and prayed with him. In February 999, my father died. Otto came to Rome and elevated his friend Herbert to the papal throne, who took the name. Otto decided not to return to Germany for now and made Rome his residence. It seemed that the time had come to realize his childhood dream: to restore the Roman Empire in all its splendor and power and turn Rome into the center of the entire Christian world. The emperor, however, did not dare to settle among the ruins of the Palatine, which had once been the seat of the Augustans, but built himself a palace on the Aventine. Here he tried to recreate the pomp and ceremony of a Byzantine palace. He appeared before his subjects in strange clothes, long forgotten in Italy - in a robe decorated with images from the Apocalypse. He dined separately from his courtiers at a special table on a raised platform. According to the custom of ancient emperors, he added to his title the titles of Saxon, Roman and Italian. The ranks of Roman consuls and senators, as well as Roman citizens, which had no meaning in the new situation, were restored. He also introduced many Byzantine titles: master, comita, protovestaria. City government in Rome was entrusted to the patrician and the prefect. Otto tried to restore the judicial customs of antiquity and replace German law with Roman law. He wanted to introduce this same right throughout the empire in the future.

In December 999, Otto went to Germany. In 1000 he visited Poland and made a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Adalbert in Gniezno. From Poland he went to Aachen and ordered the crypt to be broken open because he wanted to see his body. There were many other matters that the sovereign should have dealt with, but Otto was not in the mood for them. Having learned about new unrest in Italy, he hurried beyond the Alps. Otto never returned back to Germany. The emperor spent the rest of the summer in Lombardy, waiting for the heat to subside - his health was upset. In October he moved to Rome and settled in his palace on the Aventine. He still cherished great dreams, but reality mercilessly destroyed them.

In 1001 the city of Tivoli rebelled. The Romans had long been at enmity with its inhabitants and hoped that the emperor would severely punish them for their rebellion. But Otto only ordered the destruction of part of the city wall. This leniency outraged the Romans, they took up arms and besieged Otto in the Aventine Palace. The emperor had very few soldiers, but, inflamed with anger, he wanted, with a sacred spear in his hand, to lead his small detachment against the rebels and break through their ranks to his army. His companions persuaded him not to rush. Soon Bishop Bernward managed to bring the Romans to reason. They opened the gates, let the Germans into the city and came to the emperor with an expression of submission. Otto spoke to them from the tower, reproaching them for their ingratitude. His words made such an impression that the Romans seized the two main leaders of the rebellion and dragged them half naked to the feet of the emperor. But the momentary impression dissipated, the rebellious speeches of stubborn opponents of German rule produced new uprisings. The emperor was deeply saddened and in despondency, together with the pope, left the ungrateful city on February 16. Rome began to be ruled by Count Gregory of Tusculum, who had received many favors from Otto, but now rebelled against him. Bernward and went to Germany to gather a new army. The emperor stopped in Ravenna and lived here for more than two months, completely devoting himself to prayers and ascetic deeds, which he performed in the company of the hermit Saint Romuald and Abbot Odilon.

Otto III then went to Venice. Conversations with the wise Doge Orseolo made a great impression on him and somewhat changed his state of mind. Otto took off the hermit's sackcloth, put on a military cloak and announced near Trinity new trip to Rome The townspeople locked the gates in front of the emperor and demanded concessions from him; he did not want to give in to them in anything. The war dragged on. Otto lived in the castle of Paterno at the foot of Mount Soracte, walked from there under the walls of Rome and throughout the Roman Campania, devastating everything with fire and sword; reached Beneventa and Salerno. But that was where his exploits ended. The change of happiness seemed to awaken with new strength in the emperor's soul there are his religious and mystical inclinations. He returned to the hermit Romuald and for whole weeks, with the exception of Thursday, he spent days and nights in prayers and hot tears. Romuald convinced Otto to completely renounce the world and devote himself entirely to serving God. But the emperor answered: “First I want to defeat my enemies and enter Rome in triumph, and then I will return to you in Ravenna.” “If you go to Rome, you will no longer see Ravenna,” answered Romuald. His words, as befits the speeches of a saint, turned out to be prophetic. However, in the second half of December the emperor left Ravenna.

At the same time, German bishops and their vassals came to him. But almost none of the secular princes followed his call. In Germany, they had long looked with displeasure at Otto’s anti-national course of action, His obvious contempt for his people, the visible decline of the state, empty splendor and vanity, to which the people of the north were so little inclined - all this hardened minds and aroused general murmur. The majority of dukes and princes not only refused to support the emperor, but even formed a vast conspiracy to overthrow him from the throne and install a more worthy one on him. These terrible news were not slow to reach Otto. Depressed in spirit and body, suffering from a severe fever, he locked himself in Paterno. From its walls he could see rebellious Rome. But not only this city, the whole country rebelled against him: Campania and all of southern Italy rebelled against the Germans, the delivery of food supplies was very difficult; Otto's companions and he himself suffered severe hardships and denied themselves the most necessary things. At this critical moment, Bishop Heribert of Cologne arrived with a strong German detachment. The appearance of a faithful vassal somewhat consoled the dying emperor. Before his death, Otto showed extraordinary faith and submission to fate; he died on January 23, 1002 in the arms of Pope Sylvester with firm confidence in the correctness of his aspirations.

Otto III was not married; he was succeeded by the king's son and great-grandson.

Otto III Otton 3 Career: Rulers
Birth: Italy, 980 - 23.1
King since 983, emperor since 996. Son of Otto II. Until Otto Ill came of age (995), his mother Theophano (until 991) and grandmother Adelheid were his regents. Trying to implement the utopian plan to recreate the Roman world empire centered in Rome, Otto III was constantly in Italy.

The news of the death of Otto II came to Aachen at the time when two bishops, a German and an Italian - Willigis of Mainz and John of Ravenna - sublimely crowned the baby Otto with the royal crown on Christmas Day 983. No one argued about the right of inheritance: state unity, established in the last three reigns were in close connection with the interests of very many; it was not easy to shake him. The only question was who should be the guardian and regent during Otto’s childhood - his mother Theophano or the closest relative of the late emperor. After some hesitation and machinations on the part of one of the closest relatives of the reigning house, the party of the dowager empress gained the upper hand with the help of one of the most important spiritual dignitaries of the empire - Willigis, Archbishop of Mainz [Willigis was the son of a simple peasant from Lower Saxony; the insightful Otto I was able to distinguish him among the clergy, and Otto II contributed to his elevation to the highest spiritual rank.] and Theophano was appointed ruler until King Otto came of age.

Theophano ruled wisely, and Theophano's regency, which proceeded quite peacefully and peacefully, does honor to the subtle political tact and instinct of this young Greek princess. His grandmother, Abbess Matilda of Quedlinburg, had some influence on the upbringing of the royal baby. Where the occupation concerned the interests of the dynasty, these women easily agreed with each other, although otherwise they did not always live in harmony. The main leader in state affairs was Archbishop Willigis of Mainz, and the main educator of the young king was Bishop Bernward of Hildesheim, one of the most energetic political figures of his time.

One of the important tasks of the regency during the infancy of King Otto III was to maintain peaceful relations with the West Frankish state, where a change of dynasty took place. In 986, Lothair III died, and the next year his heir Louis V. The only offspring of the Carolingian house was Charles, to whom Otto II gave Lower Lorraine as a fief in 977. This forced servitude from the German emperor made Charles hated by the West Frankish nobility, especially since he was married to the daughter of a simple service man. This is why the majority of the nobility elected as king the most powerful of the West Frankish nobles, Hugo, Duke of France, otherwise known as Hugo Capet (987).

But Charles had his own followers, and a long battle ensued between the rivals, which ended with Charles being treacherously captured, handed over to Capet, and soon died in custody. The new king had his reasons to be cautious in relation to the East Frankish state, and due to the fact that relations between the neighbors developed extremely satisfactorily for Theofano. Moreover, to some extent it turned out to be beneficial for her that the West Frankish bishops from the party of Hugo Capet became in some opposition to the papal throne: this strengthened the connection between Rome, Italy and the Saxon dynasty, which consistently cared about maintaining church unity. But the young and intelligent ruler did not live long: in 991 she died, and the Dowager Empress Adelheida hurried from Italy, where she was engaged in administrative affairs, to replace the ruler. Four years later, the young king, who was 15 years old, took part in one of the campaigns against the Slavs, and then took over the management of affairs.

Otto received the most thorough education. Already from an early youth, he discovered an extraordinary thirst for knowledge and absorbed such a mass of information that he amazed his contemporaries. The priests, in whose hands all his upbringing was, instilled in him, on the one hand, the highest idea about his future calling, and on the other, extraordinary piety and thoughtful mysticism, so characteristic of his melancholic nature. These two opposing forces began to fight early in his young soul. The immediate and essential attracted him little. Presiding over congresses, managing the current affairs of the board, traveling back and forth across poor, half-wild Germany, reconciling rude vassals, chasing the Wends in their impenetrable forests and swamps - all this seemed inexpressibly boring and low to Otto. From an early age, he dreamed of settling in Italy, in a country of education and refined culture, and dreamed of recreating the great Roman Empire. He treated his compatriots with arrogance and contempt. Their simplicity and naivety seemed to him unbearably barbaric.

When Otto was sixteen years old, his grandmother, the elderly Empress Adelaide (after Theophano's death in 991, she became regent of the state), expressed a desire for him to assume the imperial crown. In February 996, Otto went to Rome for the first time, accompanied by an army consisting of all German tribes. On May 21, the day of the Ascension of the Lord, the pope, the first German on the papal throne, crowned Otto with the imperial crown. During this trip, the emperor met the Archbishop of Reims Herbert, the most learned man of his time. In the spring of 997, he came to Otto in Magdeburg. The most famous scientists from all over Germany gathered here then. They spent whole days in debates and conversations. Otto himself played an important role in them. The emperor was distracted from these learned studies by news of unrest in Italy: the Romans expelled the pope from the city and gave power to the patrician John Crescentius. He placed his protege on the papal throne.

After this, Otto went on pilgrimage to southern Italy. He visited Monte Cassino, prayed at the tomb of the Apostle Bartholomew, ascended Mount Gargan barefoot and lived there for some time among the monks, leading an ascetic lifestyle. On the way back, he visited Gaeta, where Saint Nile lived in a hut, and prayed with him. In February 999, my father died. Otto came to Rome and elevated his friend Herbert to the papal throne, who took the name. Otto decided not to return to Germany for now and made Rome his residence. It seemed that the time had come to realize his childhood dream: to restore the Roman Empire in all its splendor and power and turn Rome into the center of the entire Christian world. The emperor, however, did not dare to settle among the ruins of the Palatine, which had once been the seat of the Augustans, but built himself a palace on the Aventine. Here he tried to recreate the pomp and ceremony of a Byzantine palace. He appeared before his subjects in strange clothes, long forgotten in Italy - in a robe decorated with images from the Apocalypse. He dined separately from his courtiers at a special table on a raised platform. According to the custom of ancient emperors, he added to his title the titles of Saxon, Roman and Italian. The ranks of Roman consuls and senators, as well as Roman citizens, which had no meaning in the new situation, were restored. He also introduced many Byzantine titles: master, comita, protovestaria. City government in Rome was entrusted to the patrician and the prefect. Otto tried to restore the judicial customs of antiquity and replace German law with Roman law. He wanted to introduce this same right throughout the empire in the future.

Otto III then went to Venice. Conversations with the wise Doge Orseolo made a great impression on him and somewhat changed his state of mind. Otto took off his hermit's sackcloth, put on a military cloak, and near Trinity he announced a new campaign against Rome. The townspeople locked the gates in front of the emperor and demanded concessions from him; he did not want to give in to them in anything. The war dragged on. Otto lived in the castle of Paterno at the foot of Mount Soracte, walked from there under the walls of Rome and throughout the Roman Campania, devastating everything with fire and sword; reached Beneventa and Salerno. But that was where his exploits ended. The change in happiness seemed to awaken his religious and mystical inclinations with renewed vigor in the emperor’s soul. He returned to the hermit Romuald and for whole weeks, with the exception of Thursday, he spent days and nights in prayers and hot tears. Romuald convinced Otto to completely renounce the world and devote himself entirely to serving God. But the emperor answered: “First I want to defeat my enemies and enter Rome in triumph, and then I will return to you in Ravenna.” “If you go to Rome, you will no longer see Ravenna,” answered Romuald. His words, as befits the speeches of a saint, turned out to be prophetic. However, in the second half of December the emperor left Ravenna.

Otto III was not married; he was succeeded by the king's son and great-grandson.