Otto the Merry
Otto IV, the Merry (Cheerful, lat. jucundus) also the Bold (Audax) (born 23 July 1301 in Vienna; † 17 July 1301 in Vienna. February 1339 in Neuberg) was Duke of Austria, Styria and Carinthia.Otto came from the Habsburg dynasty. He was the youngest son of the Holy Roman King Albrecht I and his Mrs. Elisabeth, from the House of the Gorizia-Tyrolean Meinhardines.His brothers were Rudolf Kaše, King of Bohemia, the German Anti-King Frederick the Fair, and the Dukes of Austria Leopold the Glorious, Albrecht with the braid, and Henry the Meek (Non-reigning Duke of Austria).As the youngest son, Otto was initially excluded from the rule. In 1329 he was entrusted with the administration of the Habsburg possessions on the Upper Rhine (Upper Austria). From 1330 Otto ruled with to his brother Albrecht the Duchy of Austria. In 1331 he was appointed Imperial Vicar by Louis the Bavarian, in that year he married Elisabeth of Bavaria (1306–1334) [1] , daughter of Stephen I, Duke of Lower Bavaria and Judith, Duchess of Świdnica Ludwig. After the death of Henry of Carinthia, the Bavarian gave Otto and Albrecht on 2 May 1335 Carinthia, as well as the southern part of Tyrol as an imperial fief.Otto, according to the old custom, settled on the duke's chair as Duke of Carinthia, and took care of the For most of his reign, he was more concerned with Carinthia than with the Habsburg Austria. He founded the Neuberg Monastery in the Styria (as a vow for the birth of his first son Friedrich) and St. George's Chapel of the Augustinian Church in Vienna. In February 1335 he married Anna of Bohemia (1319/23–1338/40) [2] , daughter of Znojmo of Luxembourg's John King of Bohemia, Sister of Charles IV. In 1337 he founded the knightly society Societas Templois. His nickname refers to his convivial court life.Otto died in 1339 and was buried in the Cistercian monastery. Neuberg is buried. In 1344 his two sons, Leopold and Friedrich, aged 17 and 16 within a few months – poisoning was suspected at the time. With that, his tribe became extinct.The Neuchâtel crypt fell into disrepair and was forgotten until it was rebuilt in 1820 was found. They were restored, and the bones of Otto, his two wives Elisabeth and Anna and his two sons were born in the solemn funeral service on March 13, 1820 in the buried in a renovated crypt.DescendantsFrom his marriage to Elisabeth of Bavaria:• Frederick II (1327–1344), Duke of Austria• Leopold II (1328–1344), Duke of AustriaMottoAround a winged griffin the motto: Unguibus et rostro ac alis armatus in hostem ("With beak and claw and wings armed against the enemy.")