When Otto von Brunswick was born in 1175 or 1176 as the third son of Henry the Lion and his wife Mathilde of England, he did not have a glorious future ahead of him. His father, the Guelph duke, was put on trial a short time later. In 1180, Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa imposed an imperial ban on Henry the Lion, and the family fled into English exile. There, Otto grew up under the care of his childless uncle, King Richard the Lionheart, and enjoyed a courtly upbringing. When his family returns to Brunswick, he stays in England.
King Richard the Lionheart apparently has big plans for his nephew, he transfers the county of Yorkshire to him and tries to arrange a marriage that is favorable in terms of power politics. When the plan fails, he enfeoffs Otto with the French county of Piotou and appoints him Duke of Aquitaine. Together with his uncle, Otto fights as an army leader against France.
The German Emperor Heinrich VI died in 1197, followed by a power struggle over the successor. A majority of the German princes chose Philipp von Staufen as king, while others around the archbishop of Cologne opposed this decision and named an anti-king. The choice fell on Otto, who was crowned in Aachen in July 1198.
Power struggle ends with coronation
Purple silk with gold embroidery:This is what the imperial coat Otto IV wore looked like.Which of the two kings can prevail and gain the favor of the Pope? Otto and Philipp fight for the succession to the throne for years, the latter achieves a military victory in 1206, but then fate plays the decisive role:Philipp is murdered in 1208, the way is clear for Otto. On October 4, 1209, Pope Innocent III. him in Rome to the German Emperor. However, this alliance did not last long. When Otto tries to conquer Sicily, he provokes the resistance of the Pope. The conflict culminated in Otto's excommunication in November 1210 and ended in 1214 with his military defeat.
In 1215 the Hohenstaufen Friedrich II became the new emperor. Otto's influence is now limited to his North German heritage:Brunswick and the castles in the Harz mountains. There he withdraws. In 1218 Otto died childless in the Harzburg and was buried in the Collegiate Church of St. Blasii, today's cathedral. The graves of Otto's parents and his first wife Beatrix are also in the church that Henry the Lion had built. Otto remains the only Welf to ever ascend the German imperial throne.