Otto III of Saxony Holy Roman Emperor [6121] 24
- Born: Jul 980
- Died: 21 Jan 1002 at age 21
- Buried: Aachen Cathedral, Aachen, Germany
 Cause of his death was sudden fever.
General Notes:
http://www.hull.ac.uk/php/cssbct/cgi-bin/gedlkup.php/n=royal?royal07219
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_III,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
Has ancestry chart in Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_monarchs
Crowned as Emperor, Otto III put down the Roman rebellion and installed his cousin as the Pope Gregory V , the first Pope of German descent. After pardoning Crescentius II and leaving the city, Crescentius II again rebelled against the Emperor, violently unseating Gregory V and installing John XVI as Pope (997-998). A synod of the Western bishops held in 997 at the Imperial capital in Italy, Pavia, decided in Gregory V's favour and excommunicated John.
Otto III returned to the city in 998, reinstalled Gregory V, and executed Crescentius II.
John XVI fled, but the Emperor's troops pursued and captured him, cut off his nose and ears, cut out his tongue, broke his fingers and blinded him, that he might not write, and publicly degraded him before Otto III and Gregory V. At the intercession of Saint Nilus the Younger, one of his countrymen, his life was spared: he was sent to the monastery of Fulda, in Germany, where he died about 1001.
When Gregory V died in 999, Otto III installed Sylvester II as the new Pope. Otto III's actions throughout his life further strengthened Imperial control over the Catholic Church .
Medical Notes:
Returning to Rome in 1001, Otto III faced a rebellion from the Roman aristocracy which forced him to flee the city. While marching to reclaim the city in 1002, however, Otto III suffered a sudden fever and died in a castle near Civita Castellana at the age of 21. With no clear heir to succeed him, his early death threw the Empire into political crisis.
Noted events in his life were:
• Crowned: King of Germany, 24 Dec 983. was crowned King of Germany in 983 at age of three shortly after his father's death in southern Italy while campaigning against the Byzantine Empire and the Muslim Emirate of Sicily .
• Acceded: Holy Roman Emperor, 996. was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 to his death in 1002.
|
