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• W343191722 abstract "REVIEWS 183 Gerd Althoff, Otto III, trans. Phyllis G. Jestice (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press 2003) xii + 215 pp. The English-speaking reader is now offered access to a noteworthy modern biography of one of the widely-discussed, and controversial, historical figures of the tenth century, Otto III (b. 980, king of the Germans 983–1002, emperor 996–1002). As the author of this study (originally published in German in 1996) emphasizes in the preface to the English edition, he has consistently avoided creating “a subject where the sources have not seemed to provide enough grounds for doing so.” Consequently, unlike his predecessors who have written extensive, yet largely hypothetical, accounts of the short but memorable reign of Otto the Great’s grandson, Althoff prefers to present us with a concise analysis of the relatively scarce sources in light of some of the recent directions of research in Germany. In large degree this biographical study follows the lines of Althoff’s previous work on those structures which framed the political and social life of Ottonian Germany and which he himself refers to as patterns of tradition. Since we do not have any source which would allow us to conjecture about the real motives behind Otto III’s (or any of his contemporaries’) longterm goals or on some illusionary, in Althoff’s view, general trends in his policy , the reasonable approach to his reign is to try to place his deeds within the already existing patterns of ceremonial and ritual acts, ways of building and dissolving social networks, or models for solving or mediating conflicts. The challenge to the researcher is that, because of the lack of theoretical works or any kind which would bring insights upon Otto’s own understanding of his duties, ambitions and resources, one has to interpret them only on the basis of an evaluation of the historical events as they have been presented in the existing sources. Yet these sources belong either to the field of hagiography, or to specific historical narratives, like the Chronicle of Thietmar of Merseburg, which have a concrete agenda and reflect a clearly defined, and biased, perspective (27–28). Althoff himself warns against too strong a reliance upon the interpretation of events. In his own words, “a biographical study like this one easily succumbs to the temptation of assuming the reasons behind historical events, implicitly if necessary, on the basis of historical facts”(16). In a comprehensive presentation of the available historiography on Otto III, the author challenges the tendency to fill the gaps between, and behind, the various pieces of evidence with hypothetical explanatory schemes which would bring the broken narrative into a single coherent plan. His own approach is founded upon the acceptance that “policies to intensify rule are foreign to such [as the rulers of the tenth century would share] a political understanding” (25). He is convinced that Otto III did not pursue any particular policy of acquiring more authority and enlarging his sphere of action; therefore where previous scholars would see discontinuity between his unrealistic dreams and breaks with a Saxon/German tradition, Althoff sees a continuity in the ways problems were perceived, formulated , and addressed, and in the rules that the emperor had to subscribe to in order not to antagonize the other holders of secular and ecclesiastical authority. In this sense, the reader may pay special attention to the comparison between Otto III and his immediate successor Henry II (146–148). To Althoff tenthcentury Germany does not know any institutions proper, but is subjected to an “entire system of rules, customs, and usages evolved that lay at the base both of REVIEWS 184 royal activities and of public communication and interaction” (16–17). Therefore , the reign of an emperor shall be analyzed in view not of the acquisition, or loss, of institutionalized authority, but of his ability to make the best of the advantages that the existing system of rules offers him in order to preserve the peace, exert justice and enlarge the territorial domain of the church (see in particular , Otto’s self-identification as “enlarger [dilatator] of the Church” [120]). Yet, Althoff has to conduct his research based on the same material..." @default.
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• W343191722 date "2004-01-01" @default.
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• W343191722 title "Otto III by Gerd Althoff" @default.
• W343191722 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/cjm.2004.0055" @default.
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