OTTO
355
OTTO
Ludolph had forfeited their duchies. Meanwhile the
Magyar hordes surrounded Augsburg. Bishop Ulrich
liproically defended the threatenetl city. In the great
battle on the Lechfelde in 955, the Hungarian array
wa.s compli'tely routed by Otto, who had advanced
to the defence of the city. By this victory he freed
Germany finally from the Himgarian peril. It marked
a crisis in the history of the Magyar race, which now
became intlependent and founded an empire with
definite boundaries. It also caused Otto to realize
that his great object of preventing the participation
of power with the duchies was not attainable by force
or through the prestige of his kingly rank. He at
once endeavoured to obtain a strong support from the
Cierman Church throughout the empire.
The Ottonian system, a close alliance of the German reahn with the Church, was begun. Charlemagne, too, had carried out the great conception of unity of Church and State, but the ecclesiastical idea had given a religious colouring to Prankish statemanship, whilst Otto planned a State Church, with the spiritual hier- archy a mere branch of the interior government of the realm. In order to solve this problem Otto was first constrained to permeate the Church with new spiritual and moral life and also free himself from the dominion of the lay aristocracy. His own deeply religious na- ture was his best guarantee, iconic jiart of the sjiirit of asceticpietywhichdistinguisheillii.siiiotlicr, Mathilda, was found also in the son; and his brother Bruno, later Archbishop of Cologne, as the clever representa- tive of ecclesiastical views, also exercised a great in- fluence upon the king's religious dispositions. The close union of Church and State had an equally salu- tary effect upon both of the powers concerned. By granting the Church such royal domains as were not in use, the State could devote its revenues to military purposes. For the united realms this situation was likewise rich in blessings, since under the protection of the bishops, commerce and trade were developed on the great ecclesiastical estates, and the lower classes received from the Church protection against the nobles. The kingdom everywhere retained suprem- acy-over the Church: the king could nominate bishops and abbots; the bishops were subject to the royal tribunals; and synods could only be called with the royal approval. The German court became the cen- tre of religious and spiritual life. In the so-called Ottonian renaissance, however, women were chiefly concerned, led by the women of the royal family: Mathilda, Gerberga, Judith, Adelaide, andTheophano. Quedlinburg, founded by Otto in 936, was an influen- tial centre of culture But this Ottonian system de- pended upon one premise: if it were to benefit the State, the king must control the Church. As a matter of fact, the supreme authority over the German Church was the pope. Yet Otto's policy of imperial- ism was rooted in the recognition of the above premise. The conr|Upst of Italy should result in the subjection of the highest ecclesiastical authority to German roy- alty. (Jtto was consequently obliged to make this campaign; and the much discussed question of the motive dictating the imperial policy is resolved. The unworthy John XII was at that time reigning in Rome. He was the son of Alberieh, the Tyrant of Rome, whose covetous glances were directed towards the E.xarchate and the Pentapolis. A rival in these as- I)irafions rose in the person of Berengarius who en- deavoured to extend his rule ov(T Rome. Otto com- pliefl with the pope's request for aid, which exactly suited his projected church policy. He had previously cau.sed his son Otto, a minor, to be elected and anointed king at the Diet of Worms in 961. He left his brother Bruno, and his natural son, Wilhelm, re- gents in Germany, and journeyed over the Brenner and thus to Rome, where he was crowned emperor on 2 Feb., 962. On this occasion the so-called Ottonian privilege was conferred, whose genuineness has been
frequently, though unjustly, attacked. In its first
part this privilege recalls the Pactum Illudovici of 817.
It confirms the grants which the Church received from
the Carlovingians and their successors. The second
part goes back to the Constitution of Lothair (824),
according to which the consecration of kings should
not be permitted before swearing allegiance to the Ger-
man ruler. When Otto marched against Berengarius,
Pope John entered into treasonable relations with the
emperor's enemies; whereupon Otto returned to Rome
and forced the Romans to take an oath never to elect
a pope without his own or his son's approval. John
was deposed and a layman, Leo VIII, placed upon the
papal throne. Then Berengarius was defeated in his
turn and carried a prisoner to Bamberg. Once more
Rome, always in a state of unrest, rose in arms. The
exiled pope, John, forced his supplanter to flee. But
John died in 964, and the Romans elected a new
pope, Benedict V. The emperor energetically restored
order and Leo was reinstated in his position. It was
already apparent that the emperor really controlled
the papacy which occupied the position of a mere link
in the German constitution. The Ottonian system
was of the greatest significance to Germany in her posi-
tion towards the secular powers. How greatly the
German King was strengthened through the close
alliance between Church and State and how it en-
lianccil till' prestige of the empire, is evident from the
[iriigrcss iliat Tcutonism and Christianity were mak-
ing in .Slav territory. Otto chose Magdeburg, for
which he had a special attachment, as the local centre
of this new civilization, and raised it to an arch-
bishopric.
Recurring disorders now recalled him to Rome. The pope whom he had chosen, John XIII, found an- tagonists in the Roman nobility. The emperor per- formed his duties as protector of the Church with stern justice and punished the turbulent nobles. John XIII then crowned his son. Otto, emperor. As a logi- cal consequence of his imperial policy, he now openly avowed his intention of acquiring Lower Italy. His supremacy would be absolutely safeguarfled if he suc- ceeded in gaining possession of the southern part of the peninsula. Otto, however, finally abaniloncd the war in the south. His son's prospect of obtaining a Byzantine princess for his bride turned the scale against it. The old German axiom of legitimacy, which was once more honoured in this marriage, was destined later on to revenge itself bitterly.
Otto was buried at Magdcbing. His contempo- raries compared his tremendous pliysical strength to that of a lion. He was a Saxim through and through. In his youth he had learned all the arts (jf tin- profes- sion of arms. Though subject to violi-iit Hts of tem- per, and conscious of his power and genius, he prayed as devoutly as a child. A shrewd calculator, always convincing and always toiling, he correctly estimated the importance of dililoniatic muulial imis, lie was a keen ob,s(TV<'r and pos.s.'.Kscd a liii.' kno« j,,!;;,. ,,f hu- man nature which always rnalilid liini to select the proper persons for important offices in the govern- ment.
KorKK AND DoXNir.ER, Jnhrhiirhrr <{s >l<iitsrhcn Rciches unter
Of.. /, ,„ r;,-., , fT. iliii, I-;:;s;, T\;-,ri:r >M. lirMMi.KH, Kaiser
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Mi-
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m/ KuUur (Pro-
Friedrich von
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Kampers.
otto II, King of the Germans and Emperor of
Rome, son of Otto I and Adelaide, b. 955; d. in Rome,
7 Dec, 983. In 961 he was elected king at Worms, and
