OTTO
359
OTTO
to the Holy Land. The part of the army entrusted to
Otto was completely annihilated, and he himself re-
turned lioiiic after undergoing the severest privations
and facins t lie greatest dangers. Otto was to have ac-
eompanicil Kmperor Frederiek on his mareh into Italy
in n.W, hut n-maincd hrhind on acrcmnt of ill-licaltli.
He went t(i Knuirc to attrnd the general eliaptcT iif his
oi-der, antl died while revisiting the monastery of Mori-
inonil.
In addition to a short fragment of a history of Hilde- brand (edited by Goldast, "Apologia pro Henrico IV ", Hanover, 1611, ISsqq.), two historical worksbyOttoof Freising are extant, the so-called " Chronicle " (Chroni- con sen rerum ab initio mundi ad sua usque tempora 1146 libri VIII) and the "History of Emperor Fred- erick " (Gesta Friderici I imperatoris usque ad 11 56 libri II). The "Chronicle", dedicated to the cleric Isin- grim (perhaps .\bbotofOttobeuren), is a universal his- tory in eiglit books based in the main on the great medie\-al clironicles, especially on Ekkehard, but also on the diurch histories of Rufinus and Orosius. Otto's work , however, is by no means a chronicle in the sense of its predecessors. He himself did not call it a chronicle, but gave it the title of " De duabus civitatibus", since, as he asserted, he did not wish merely to enumerate the different events but to combine, as in a tragedy, a picture of the evil which abounded in his time. For this purpose he adheres closely to St. Augustine's teaching of two states, especially as elaborated in the "De Civitate Dei", though he also used the ideas of Orosius concerning the misery of the world. Although the doctrine of the two states as it appears in Otto's historical work can be variously interpreted, he un- doubtedly wished to represent the conflict between the civitas Dei (City of God) and the civitas diaboli (City of the Devil), between the children of God and the ciiies Bahylonur inimdiijue amatores (citizens of Baby- lon and lovers of the world). Evidently his belief is, that after Christ the conflict between the mundane state of Babel and the Divine state of Israel changeil into a conflict between Christianity and paganism or heresy. After the complete victory of Christianity, however, he treats almost exclusively of the civitas Dei, which then merges into the Church. Nevertheless, he is compelled to represent it in its earthly admixture as a corpus admixtuni, in which the chosen ones must live and act side by side with the outcasts. Guided by these views, he gives a narrative in the first seven books extending from the creation of the world to the year 1 146, while the eighth book depicts the Antichrist, the Second Coming, the Resurrection of the Dead, the Last .ludgment, the end of the mundane state, and the beginning of the Divine state. Thus, through a unifying conception, he succeeded in repri'senting the entire range of history as a connected whiile, l>y which he becuime, if not the first, certainly the most impor- tant representative of the medieval philosophy of his- tory. The work, which was spread in many manu- scripts, was first published in 1515 in Strasburg {ex adihus M. Schureri). Wilmans issued a critical edi- tion of it in "Monumenta Germ. Scriptores", XX (Hanover, 1868), pp. 115-301, and a German tran.sla- tion of the sixth and seventh books was publisheil in Leipzig (LSSl, 1894).
Otto began his second historical work, "Gesta Frifl- erici", almost ten years after the completion of his "Chronicle". But he could not finish it, and at his death entrusted the continuation of it to his chaplain Rahewin. Of course he had command of excellent, re- liable sources, and therefore could reproduce verbatim a number of extremely important documents. ."M- though a unifying thought is not so apparent in this work, it is not difficult to perceive that Otto here de- sired to prove that happiness in this world depends upon the harmonious co-operation of Church and State. Throughout the "Gesta" he endeavours to show that a happy state of peace followed the termina-
tion of the conflicts between the emperor and the pope
at Frederick's accession to the throne. And even
though the feeling for the world's misery (the so-called
pessimism of Otto, or rather of the Middle Ages — ef.
Hauck, "Kirchengeschichte", IV, 479 sqq.), which
donunates his "Chronicle", crops up repeatedly, a
spirit of "cheerful buoyancy" pervades the entire
work, and the dramatis personie are depicted more
freely and with greater self-confidence. In the first
book he d<'seribes the events from the beginning of the
dis]Kites between the empire and the papacy under
Henry IV to the death of Conrad III. In the second
he relates the history of the years of peace (1152-6).
The "Gesta Friderici", therefore, is an extremely im-
portant work, despite the fact that the author himself
could not give it the final polish. It is notable both as
to form and content, though it cannot be ex-pected to
fulfil all the requirements of modern standards. The
first edition was published at Strasburg in 1515; Wil-
mans published a critical edition of it in " Monumenta
Germ, Scrijitores", XX (Hanover, 1868), pp. 347-415,
and a German translation of it appeared in Leipzig
(1SS3, 1,S94).
PoTTHAST, Bibl. hist. med. am, II (Berlin, 1896), 885-7, contains many bibliographical references: Wattenbach, Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen im Mittdalter, II (Berlin, 1S94), 271-9; Bern- HEIM, Der CharakttT Otlo^ iirn! sriner Werki' in Milleil.des Instituts fiiT iisierr. Geschirit' '■>! ^i. ,,,:.! \l i|ss:,i, I •! Hashaoen, OHo von Freising als < ' ■' - ■■' ■ A ■ r^hliker (Leipzig,
1900); Hauck, A,' ■ - , \\ ,|,,.ipzig, 1903),
476-85; ScHMiD LI N,;».' j. ■-.// ,..' ";.//, , I,. ,iiiolit. Weltan- schauung Ottos von Frti^iiig (Freiljurj^. I'.MKi),
PaTEICIDS SCHL.^CiER.
Otto of Passau. — All we know of him is in the ineliii'e c)l his work, in which he calls himself a member of the I'raiieiscan ( )rder, at one time lector of theology at Basle, antl says that he finished his writing on 2 (1) Feb., 1386, dedicating it to all the "friends of God ", both clerical and lay, male and female, and begs for their prayers. According to Sbaralea ("Suppl. Script. Franciscan! ordinis", Rome, 1806, 571) he was a native of Flanders and belonged to the Franciscan province of Cologne. His book bears the title "Die vierundzwanzig alten oder der guldin Tron der minnen- den seelen". He introduces the twenty-four ancients of Apoc, iv, 4, and makes them utter sentences of wisdom by which men can obtain the golden throne in eternal life. The sentences are taken from Holy Scripture, the Fathers, Scholastics, and from those heathen authors, "whom the Church does not con- demn". He thus enumerates 104 "masters", among whom are also some of the mystics, as Hugo and Rich- ard of St. Victor. He generally gives accurate quota- tion of his sources though he also draws from some not specified, e.g.. St. Elizabeth of Schonau. He tries to remain on strictly Catholic ground, but sometimes loses himself in dogmatical intricacies and quibbles. To be plain and intelligible he frequently uses trivial expressions. He writes on the nature of God and of man, on their mutual relation, on the requisites for perfection: contrition, confes.sion, and penance; on internal and external life, purity of mf)f ives, shunning idleness, love of God and of the neighbour, the neces- sity of faith, and the grace of God. He speaks of the Scrii)tures as the storehouse of Divine wisdom and urges the faithful to read them. In speaking of con- templative life he insists that none can reach it with- out spending time in the active service of God and man. The term "friends of God" he explains ac- cording to John, XV, 15, and speaks of prayer, humility, obedience, spiritual life, virtues and vices, and shows Christ as the model of all virtues. The longest chap- ters, eleven and twelve, he devotes to the Holy Eucharist and to the Blessed Virgin. The last chap- ters treat of death and t+re future life. The number of • manuscript copies of the book (about forty) bears evidence of the estimation in which it was held. It found its way to all "friends of God" in the south of
