OTTO III SUCCEEDED to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire at the age of three, which did not give him a promising start. He was crowned at Aachen on Christmas Day 983, soon after the premature death of his father, Otto II. The child was promptly seized by the warlord of Bavaria known to history as Henry the Quarrelsome, but after a few months Henry surrendered the little boy to his mother, Theophano, who effectively ruled the empire (her name was sometimes masculinised to Theophanius in official documents) until her death in 991.Theophano was a beautiful and strong-minded ...

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