8/15/2012

August 15: HRE Otto III

On this day in the year 1000, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III isolated himself in a hermit's cell outside Rome for two weeks, preparing for the new millennium. An eclipse in 968 had led Otto to grow up convinced that the world was entering the end times. A devout young ruler, he sought to restore the original Roman Empire in accordance with the medieval concept of a Last World Emperor (see July 9).

The Holy Roman Empire was centered in Germany, but four years earlier Otto III had marched down to Italy, and near-bloodlessly saved the papacy from a threat by the strongmen of the Crescentii family in Rome. He was named king of Italy, and ruled from there before dying in 1002 at the age of 21.