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Otto IV

Type Figure Region Holy Roman Empire Time c. 1175–1218 Also known as Otto of the Welfs

A Welf, King of Germany (1198–1215) and Holy Roman Emperor (1209–1215); son of Henry the Lion, he dealt with England's Richard I and France's Philip …

Timeline

  1. c. 1175–1198Brunswick · SaxonySon of Henry the Lion and Matilda of England, he grew up in Brunswick after his father's exile by Frederick I; in the 1190s he was Count of Poitou, allied with England's Richard I against France, and took part in the post-Third Crusade reorganization of Western European power.
  2. 1198–1209Cologne · RhinelandElected King of Germany at Cologne in 1198, opposing Hohenstaufen Philip; he married Philip's daughter Beatrice in 1201 to seek reconciliation, and after Philip's assassination in 1208 the situation at first favored him, though differences persisted between the papal and princely alliances.
  3. 1209–1218Rome · LazioCrowned emperor in Rome in 1209, but decisively defeated by France's Philip II at Bouvines in 1214, losing the Welf base in western Germany; deposed by Pope Innocent III in 1215, he died in the Harz in 1218, and the German throne ultimately passed to Hohenstaufen Frederick II.

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