OTTO II, EMPEROR and King of Germany. — Crowned emperor in Rome in 967, while his father was still alive, he succeeded him at the age of 18. More educated than his father, but sensual, vain, and despotic, he shared all his ambitious dreams; yet he lacked both the energy and the political sense necessary to realize them.
He allowed himself to be carried along by events and suffered repeated setbacks. Swabia, and especially Bavaria—backed by Bohemia—turned against him; the King of Denmark attacked him. He also met with rebuffs from France in 978, and King Lothair nearly captured him at Aachen. Otto II responded by vainly invading France almost as far as Paris; but after his defeat at Soissons, he was forced to come to terms with the King of France. All this time was lost in attempting to bring the rebellious Romans back into obedience, who had risen under the Crescentii, who had strangled the imperial pope BENEDICT VI. His arrival in Rome and his agreement with BENEDICT VII (980–981) led Otto II to believe he could realize his father’s ambitions, especially after he married the Byzantine THEOPHANO. Taking as his pretext the struggle against the Saracens, he vainly attempted to win over the Greeks of southern Italy. On 13 July 982, the infidels inflicted a severe defeat upon him at Stilo in Calabria, the repercussions of which sparked a two-pronged offensive—by the Slavs and the Danes—on the Elbe. But Otto II, driven by his blind ambition, indulged in the reckless dream of conquering Sicily. Death overtook him on 7 December 983, cutting short his designs.