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invaders. The Magyar menace is
ended . T hey will not invade the
German realm agai n.
Otto can now r ightfully claim the
title "protector of Europe." He is
widely viewed as another Charles
Marte!, who stopped t he Is lamic
Saracen advance in Western Eu–
rope in A.D. 732.
Meanwhi le, the Papacy contin–
ues in tragic decline. Sergius 111
(904-911) gains the Papal chai r
through murder and lives openly
with the prostitute Marozia. Their
illegítimate son becomes Pope J ohn
XI
(931 -935). Under Pope John
Xll
(955-964), the Lateran palace
becomes a literal brothel.
Rome, and all ltaly, are in chaos.
Pope John
XJI
appeals to Otto to
restore order to the pení nsula and to
assist him against his adversaries. In
961 Otto sweeps into ltaly and
defeats the enemies of the Pope.
Pope J ohn recogn izes Otto's
position in Europe by crowning him
Holy Roman Emperor on February
2, 962. Not since that historie
Christmas Day in A.D. 800, when
the Western Roman Empire was
restored by the coronation of Char–
lemagne, has an event of such mag–
nitude occurred.
Wcstern Europe again has an
Emperor! Charlemagne's Empire is
revived in an alliance between
Empcror and Chu rch. With the
support of the Church, Otto reigns
suprcme th roughout Western
Christendom over the German
Reich,
or Empire.
The year 962 marks the restora–
tion of the imperial tradition. Later
historians will view it as the begin–
ni ng of what would later be otficial–
ly styled t he
Sacrum Romanum
Imperium Nmionis Germanicae–
the " Holy Roman Empire of the
German Nation." (The full term
will not be officially applied until
the 15th century.)
Throughout the Middle Ages,
the imperial t itle and Ger.man king–
ship will remain indissolubly
united.
lt
will be the kings of the
Germans,
crowned by the Pope,
who will henceforth be named Holy
Roman Emperors. Germany is the
heart and core-the
power center–
of the Empíre.
The octagonal imper ial crown of
the Holy Roman Empire is made
especially for the coronation of Otto
10
in 962. For centu ries to come, it
will be the very
symbo/
of the con–
cept of European unity.
Stabilizing lnfluenc e
Shor tly after his coronation, Otto
issues h is controversia!
Privilegium
Ottonianum,
ordering Pope J ohn to
take an oath of obedience to hi m.
The Pope rebels, and conspires with
Otto's enemies.
Late in 963 Otto calls a council at
St. Peter's in Rome, which deposes
John for conspiracy and miscon–
duct. Otto's own candidate ís elect–
ed Pope in his place.
Otto believes ít ís his duty to pre–
serve and strengthen Church insti–
tut ions. He seeks to use the Church
as a stabilizing influence in Europe.
But he also wants the Church
The Empire is
thereafter regarded as
God's chosen
political organization
over Westero
Christendom. The
Church at Rome is viewed
as God's chosen
instrument in religious
matters.
subordínate to the authority of the
Empi re.
Otto now seeks an alliance
between the Eastern and Western
Reman Empires. He negot iates with
Eastern Emperor Nicephorus 11
Phocas of the city of Constantinople,
but the talks are unsuccessful.
Otto's son, however, later mar–
r íes T heophano, daughter of East–
e r n Emperor Romanus
ll.
H is
alliance with the Byzantine prin–
cess leads to the Eastern Emperor 's
recogni t ion of Otto in 972.
On May 7, 973, Otto the Great
dies and is buried in Magdeburg.
He leaves a peaceful and secure
Empíre. Hís son Otto II (973-983)
succeeds hím.
Jo int Heads
Otto 1Il-son of Otto
JI
and
Empress Theophano- is crowned
as German k ing at Aachen la te in
983 . He ís but 3 years old, so his
mother and grandmother serve as
regents.
The king comes of age in 994.
Two years later he answers an
appeal by Pope John XV and puts
down a rebellion in Italy. By the
time he reaches Rome, the Pope is
dead. Otto then secures the election
of his cousin, Bruno of Carinthía,
as Pope Gregory
V.
He is the first
German Pope.
On May 21, 996 , Otto is
crowned Holy Roman Emperor by
Gregory. O tto makes Rome the
administ rative center of the Ero–
pire and spends mucb of his time
there. In 998 O tto sets on his sea!
the inscription,
Renovatio imperii
Romanorum-"Restoration
of the
Empíre of the R omans." Roman
ideals are still strong in Western
Europe.
Otto realizes that the united
Europe he and his dynasty have
envisioned must have a worthy reli–
gious head. The Papacy must be
raised to a posítion of European
esteem. I ts influence must be
revived.
When Pope Gregory V dies in
999, Otto nominates his former
teacher, the scholar Gerber t of
Aurillac. Gerbert becomes Pope,
with the name Sylvester
rr.
H e is
the first French Pope.
Both Sylvester and Otto dream
of an Empire in which Emperor
and Pope would serve as joínt heads
of a unified entity. Gerbert strives
to raise the reputation of t he P apa–
cy throughout E u rope. He de–
nounces sorne of his unworthy pre–
decessors as "monsters of more
than human in iquity," and as
"Antichrist, sitting in the temple of
God a nd playing the part of
God."
Otto hopes for a harmonious
alliance of future Emperors and
Popes. But it is not to be so.
Schism
Henry 11 ( 1002-1024) is the last of
the Saxon rulers of Germany. At
his death, Conrad
ll ,
duke of Fran–
conia, receives the imperial crown.
Conrad 1I (1024-1039) is the
first Franconian or Salían German
Emperor. His reign begins what
later historians will call the great
períod of tbe H oly Roman Empi re.
The
PLAIN TRUTH