OTHO II., surnamed Ritfus, "the red," son of Otho I., was b. in 955, and succeeded his father in 973. For a time Otho was content to rule under the regency of his mother, the empress Adelheid; but differences havina- arisen between them, through the head. strong and ambitious inclinations of the young monarch, his mother withdreW from all share in the administration, and left him to the exercise of his own will, which soon brought hint into collision with the great vassals of the crown. Civil war broke out rawer the leadership of Henry II. of Bavaria, who formed a secret alliance against the young emperor with Harold, king of Denmark, and Micislav of Poland, and for a time fortune inclined to the side of the rebels; but Otho's astuteness circumvented their designs, and after defeating Henry, and depriving him of his duchy, he marched ag.ainst the Danish king, Nvlio had been making successful incursions into Saxony. Otho's first attack on the Dannevirke having proved of no avail, he retired, vowing that he would return before another year and force every Dane to forswear paganism. Otho kept 11 is promise, returning to the the following year, when, according to the old chroniclers, acting by the advice of his ally, Olaf Trygvesen of Norway, he caused large quantities oetrees, brush-wood, and stubble to be piled up against the Dannevirke, and set on fire, and this drove away the defenders, and destroyed their fortifications. The defeated Harold was soon overpowered by the superior numbers of the Germans, and compelled to receive baptism, as the badge of his defeat. The next scene of war was Lorraine, which the French king. Lothaire, had seized as a former appanage of his crown; but here, after a partial defeat, Otho succeeded in reasserting his power; and not content with this advantage, devastated Champagne, pursued and captured Lothaire and advanced upon Paris, one of the suburbs of which he burned. Scarcely was this war
ended when the disturbed condition of Italy called across the Alps. his pres ence put a stop to the insurrection at Milan and Rome, where he re-established order; and having advanced into lower Italy, he defeated the Saracens, drove back the Greeks, and having re-established his supremacy in Apulia and Calabria, which he claimed in right of his wife, Theophania, Made himself master of Naples and Salerno, and finally of Tarentum, in 982. The Greek emperor, alarmed at the successful ambition of Otho, called the Saracens again into Italy, who gave him battle with overwhelming num bers. The result was the total defeat of the emperor, who only escaped from the hands of the victors by plunging with his horse into the sea, and at the risk of his life, to a ship. Unluckily it was a Greek ship, and Otho was virtually a prisoner; but as the vessel neared ROSS41110, a friendly port, he contrived to escape by a ennui»; stratagem. Otho now hastened to Verona, where a diet was held, which was unmet. onsly attended by the princes of Germany and Italy, and at which his infant son. Otho, was recognized as his successor. This diet is elderly memorable for the confirmation by Otho of the franchises and privileges of the republic of Venice, and the enactment of many new laws, which were added to the celebrated Longobard code. Otho's death at Rome, at the close of the same year, 983, arrested the execution of the vast prep arations against the Greeks and Saracens, which had been planned at the diet of Verona, and left the empire embroiled in wars and internal disturbances. See Giese brecht's Jahrbfieher des Deutseken Reielts enter tier Ilarrschaft, Kaiser Otho's II. (Berl. 1840).