According to Thietmar of Merseburg, the initiative for the imperial diet that elected Otto III came from the princes: "all our princes came sorrowfully together after receiving the evil tidings [from Italy] and unanimously demanded to see [the emperor]."[4] The "evil tidings" concerned Otto II's defeat at the battle of Crotone in July 982.[4] Otto's itinerary between his defeat at Crotone and the diet at Verona is poorly known. It has been argued that he returned to Germany and held a preliminary diet in Mainz in February–March 983 in preparation for the major diet at Verona, but scholars do not universally accept this theory.[5]
The diet of Verona was attended by magnates from both Germany and northern Italy.[6][7] In the words of Thietmar, "the emperor's son was elected lord by all" (filius inperatoris ab omnibus in dominum eligitur).[8] Although its main purpose was the election of Otto III as co-ruler, the diet dealt with other matters as well. The magnates promised troops for Otto II to renew the campaign in southern Italy.[6] They also selected new dukes of Bavaria and Swabia, since Duke Otto I, who had held both duchies, had died.[9]
Otto III became the first German king who was a minor. His election also represented the continuation of the Ottonian dynasty, established by his grandfather, Otto I.[2] It was the only election held in Italy in the history of the Holy Roman Empire and the only one with substantial Italian participation.[3][9] Germany and Italy had only been united under a single crown since 951.[9] The events of 983 suggest that Otto II's policy was to unify the German and Italian kingdoms into a single empire.[7] The election of Otto III assured stability during Otto II's projected long absence from Germany.[10]
Otto II sent Otto III to Germany for his coronation, while he remained in Italy. Otto III was consecrated and crowned at Aachen on 25 December 983 by Archbishops Willigis of Mainz and John X of Ravenna in a joint German–Italian ceremony.[9][10] Otto II had died in Italy on 7 December, but his death was not known in Aachen at the time of the coronation.[10]
The election of 983 was not wholly undisputed. In 984, Otto III's uncle, Henry the Quarrelsome, attempted to usurp the kingship, but the German magnates recognized Otto.[2][11][12][13] There is likewise little to indicate that Otto was widely recognized as king in Italy during his minority in Germany.[14] Despite Otto II's death, Otto III remained only a king until his imperial coronation by Pope Gregory V in Rome in 996.[12]
Althoff, Gerd (2003) [1996]. Otto III. Translated by Phyllis G. Jestice. Pennsylvania State University Press.
Collins, Roger (1999) [1991]. Early Medieval Europe, 300–1000. Macmillan Education.
Jestice, Phyllis G. (2003). "Translator's Note". Otto III. Pennsylvania State University Press. pp.vii–viii.
Müller-Mertens, Eckhard (1999). "The Ottonians as Kings and Emperors". In Reuter, Timothy (ed.). The New Cambridge Medieval History. Vol.3: c.900 – c.1024. Cambridge University Press. pp.233–266.
Reuter, Timothy (1991). Germany in the Early Middle Ages, c. 800–1056. London: Longman.
Uhlirz, Mathilde (1950). "Der Fürstentag zu Mainz im Februar–März 983". Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung. 58 (JG): 267–284. doi:10.7767/miog.1950.58.jg.267. S2CID164040296.
Wilson, Peter (2016). Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
Adelaide of Italy, also called Adelaide of Burgundy, was Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Emperor Otto the Great; she was crowned with him by Pope John XII in Rome on 2 February 962. She was the first empress designated consors regni, denoting a "co-bearer of royalty" who shared power with her husband. She was essential as a model for future consorts regarding both status and political influence. She was regent of the Holy Roman Empire as the guardian of her grandson in 991–995.
Theophanu was empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Emperor Otto II, and regent of the Empire during the minority of their son, Emperor Otto III, from 983 until her death in 991. She was the niece of the Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes. She was known to be a forceful and capable ruler. Her status in the history of the Empire in many ways was exceptional. According to Wilson, "She became the only consort to receive the title 'co-empress', and it was envisaged she would succeed as sole ruler if Otto II died without a son."
Otto III was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto II, called the Red, was Holy Roman Emperor from 973 until his death in 983. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto II was the youngest and sole surviving son of Otto the Great and Adelaide of Italy.
Willigis was Archbishop of Mainz from 975 until his death as well as archchancellor of the Holy Roman Empire.
Rudolph III, called the Idle or the Pious, was the king of Burgundy from 993 until his death. He was the last ruler of an independent Kingdom of Burgundy, and the last male member of the Burgundian group of the Elder House of Welf.
Thietmar, Prince-Bishop of Merseburg from 1009 until his death, was an important chronicler recording the reigns of German kings and Holy Roman Emperors of the Ottonian (Saxon) dynasty. Two of Thietmar's great-grandfathers, both referred to as Liuthar, were the Saxon nobles Lothar II, Count of Stade, and Lothar I, Count of Walbeck. They were both killed fighting the Slavs at the Battle of Lenzen.
Herman II was a member of the Conradine dynasty. He was Duke of Swabia from 997 to his death. In 1002, Herman unsuccessfully attempted to become king of Germany.
Henry III, called the Younger, a member of the Luitpolding dynasty, was the first Duke of Carinthia from 976 to 978, Duke of Bavaria from 983 to 985 and again Duke of Carinthia from 985 to 989.
Memleben Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Memleben on the Unstrut river, today part of the Kaiserpfalz municipality in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The convent, now ruined, was established by Emperor Otto II and his consort Theophanu about 979.
Eckard I was Margrave of Meissen from 985 until his death. He was the first margrave of the Ekkehardinger family that ruled over Meissen until the extinction of the line in 1046.
Matilda, also known as Mathilda and Mathilde, was a German regent, and the first Princess-Abbess of Quedlinburg. She served as regent of Germany for her brother during his absence in 967, and as regent during the minority of her nephew from 984.
Liutgarde of Saxony, a member of the Ottonian dynasty, was Duchess of Lorraine from 947 until her death by her marriage with Duke Conrad the Red. She and Conrad became progenitors of the Salian dynasty.
Otto I, traditionally known as Otto the Great, was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henry the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim.
Henry II, also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler of the Ottonian line. As Duke of Bavaria, appointed in 995, Henry became King of the Romans following the sudden death of his second cousin, Emperor Otto III in 1002, was made King of Italy in 1004, and crowned emperor by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014.
The German–Polish War consisted of a series of struggles in 1003–1018, between the Ottonian king Henry II of Germany and the Polish Piast ruler Bolesław I the Brave. The locus of conflict was the control of Lusatia, Upper Lusatia, as well as Bohemia, Moravia and Slovakia. The fighting ended with the Peace of Bautzen in 1018, which left Lusatia and Upper Lusatia as a fief of Poland, and Bohemia became a duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.
The motto Renovatio regni Francorum was used by several monarchs of the Carolingian, Widonid and Ottonian dynasties in the 9th through 11th centuries. It served to emphasise the importance of the ethnic Franks and the Frankish tradition in the multinational empires of the Carolingians and Ottonians.
John X, known as Giovanni da Besate or Giovanni Vincenzo, was the archbishop of Ravenna from 983 until 998.
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, also called miribilia mundi, despite his short life, is a historical figure who attracts considerable scholarly attention as well as inspires numerous artistic and popular depictions.
Theophanu (955–991) was a Byzantine princess who became Holy Roman Empress through marriage to Emperor Otto II. As the trusted political partner of her husband and later the regent of her young son Otto III, she left a remarkable legacy as one of the most powerful female rulers of the Ottonian era as well as of the Holy Roman Empire's history in general. Her reign is associated with the exchange of political, religious and cultural ideas and international activities between the Western Empire and the East, including the Byzantine Empire as well as the Slavic countries. Although the empress's personal role in some aspects of these processes is a subject of debate, she is often depicted in historiography and artistic portrayals as a cultured, spirited woman who had to adapt to a difficult situation after her husband's death and whose political vision was unfulfilled due to the early deaths of herself and her son. This image is also influenced by the masculine posture she adopted in her lifetime as coimperatrix and even imperator.
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