Spoke 11: The Biblewheel and The 11th Century - Otto Orseolo Doge of Venice

Spoke 11: The Biblewheel and The 11th Century

Otto Orseolo Doge of Venice

Otto was named after Otto III going back to the close of the 10th century. Otto meant wealth which is the meaning of the Hebrew word for 10 'ashir/'ashar as Nathan describes David in his parable in 2Samuel 12. But as Otto Orsoleo lives through the 11th century Otto marries Giovani Orseolo to the Niece of Basil II, Maria Argyra (one of the many political marriages of the 11th century):

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/632826185165607404

Otto Orseolo

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Otto Orseolo
Pietro II & Otto Orseolo
Doge of Venice
In office 1008–1026
Personal details
Born	c. 992
Died	1032

Otto Orseolo (Italian: Ottone Orseolo, also Urseolo; c. 992−1032) was the Doge of Venice from 1008 to 1026. He was the third son of Pietro II Orseolo and Maria Candiano, whom he succeeded at the age of sixteen, becoming the youngest doge in Venetian history.^[1]

Early life

When the Emperor Otto III sojourned in Verona and granted many privileges to Venice in the March of Verona, he requested Pietro to send his third son to Verona, where the Emperor acted as his sponsor at his confirmation.^[2] In the Emperor's honour, he was given the name Otto. In 1004, Pietro Otto, in the company of his eldest son and co-doge Giovanni, traveled to Constantinople, where Giovanni married the niece of Basil II, Maria Argyra, and Otto received several honorific titles.^[3]

After Giovanni's sudden death (1006), Pietro raised Otto to the dogeship with him. He then made a testament, giving the majority of his wealth to the poor and the Church, and retired to a monastery, leaving Otto the government. When Pietro finally died in 1008, he left Otto sole doge at the meager age of sixteen.^[4] Soon after the death of his father, in 1009, Otto married a daughter of the newly Christian and newly crowned Géza of Hungary and Adelaide. She was called Grimelda or Gizella (989-992 - d. 1026).^[5] Because the Chronicon Venetum of John the Deacon ends in Otto's reign, it is necessary to rely on later chronicles.^[4] According to the chronicler (and doge) Andrea Dandolo, writing from a vantage point three centuries ahead, Otto was:

Catholic in faith, calm in purity, strong in justice, eminent in religion, decorous in his manner of life, well-endowed with wealth and possessions, and so filled with all forms of virtue that he was universally considered to be the most fitting successor of his father and grandfather.^[4]

Reign and deposition (1008–26)

Scandal marked much of Otto's reign, as he showed a clear inclination toward nepotism with the elevation of several relatives to positions of power. In 1017, Vitale Candiano, the Patriarch of Grado, died and Otto appointed his elder brother (Pietro's second son), Orso, already Bishop of Torcello, to the vacant patriarchate.^[6] Otto then filled the vacant Torcello with his younger brother Vitale. These actions lost him the support of the people, though they did not yet clamour for his removal from office. The denunciations of Poppo of Treffen, the Patriarch of Aquileia, incited the Venetians to expel Otto and the patriarch of Grado from Venice, whence they took refuge in Istriafrom 1022 to 1023. But in that latter year, Poppo sacked the patriarchal palace and church in Grado and the Venetians recalled Otto and Orso.^[6]

In 1024, Pope John XIX confirmed Orso's right to hold Grado and confirmed the patriarchal rights of his see vis-à-vis Aquileia. However, Otto continued to use church appointments to his own personal and familial advantage and the enemies of the Orseoli in Venice, with popular support, moved to depose him in 1026. They arrested him, shaved his beard, and banished him to Constantinople.^[7] There he was well received by Constantine VIII, the uncle of his sister-in-law, who repealed trade privileges previously granted to the Republic under Pietro II. Not for nothing had Otto built up a good rapport with the emperors of Europe: the Holy Roman Emperor Conrad IIlikewise revoked Venetian trade privileges in response to his deposition. His father-in-law Stephen I of Croatia, at the instigation of Otto's son Pietro, attacked the coastal cities of Dalmatia, capturing several from Venice.^[7]

Death in exile (1032)

Meanwhile, the Venetians had grown sick of Otto's successor, Pietro Barbolano, and they deposed him in turn (1032). Vitale of Torcello went to Constantinople to seek out his brother to reassume the ducal throne, while Orso of Grado took the government in his own hands in the interim.^[7] Vitale arrived in the Byzantine capital to find Otto on the verge of death and he died before he could return to Venice. Orso resigned the temporal power as soon as news reached Venice, while a relative, Domenico,^[8] tried to usurp the throne. He failed and the Venetians turned to one Domenico Flabanico to be their doge.

Otto's son Pietro later succeeded Stephen as King of Hungary. Otto had two daughters, Frozza Orseolo and Felicia Orseolo, who married Nicolo Bembo. Their daughter Elena Bembo married Zuane Michiel, son of Vitale Michiel and Felicia Elena Cornaro, and their son was Domenico Michiel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Orseolo

Comparing 1Kings the 11th Book  with the 11th Century

1Kings 16 - Listen 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jehu the son of Hanani against Baasha, saying, 2 Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel; and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; 3 Behold, I will take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. 4 Him that dieth of Baasha in the city shall the dogs eat; and him that dieth of his in the fields shall the fowls of the air eat. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Baasha, and what he did, and his might, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 6 So Baasha slept with his fathers, and was buried in Tirzah: and Elah his son reigned in his stead. 7 And also by the hand of the prophet Jehu the son of Hanani came the word of the LORD against Baasha, and against his house, even for all the evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, in provoking him to anger with the work of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam; and because he killed him. 8 In the twenty and sixth year of Asa king of Judah began Elah the son of Baasha to reign over Israel in Tirzah, two years. 9 And his servant Zimri, captain of half [his] chariots, conspired against him, as he was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza steward of [his] house in Tirzah. 10 And Zimri went in and smote him, and killed him, in the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned in his stead. 11 And it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his throne, [that] he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth against a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends. 12 Thus did Zimri destroy all the house of Baasha, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake against Baasha by Jehu the prophet, 13 For all the sins of Baasha, and the sins of Elah his son, by which they sinned, and by which they made Israel to sin, in provoking the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 14 Now the rest of the acts of Elah, and all that he did, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 15 In the twenty and seventh year of Asa king of Judah did Zimri reign seven days in Tirzah. And the people [were] encamped against Gibbethon, which [belonged] to the Philistines. 16 And the people [that were] encamped heard say, Zimri hath conspired, and hath also slain the king: wherefore all Israel made Omri, the captain of the host, king over Israel that day in the camp. 17 And Omri went up from Gibbethon, and all Israel with him, and they besieged Tirzah. 18 And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king's house, and burnt the king's house over him with fire, and died, 19 For his sins which he sinned in doing evil in the sight of the LORD, in walking in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin which he did, to make Israel to sin. 20 Now the rest of the acts of Zimri, and his treason that he wrought, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 21 Then were the people of Israel divided into two parts: half of the people followed Tibni the son of Ginath, to make him king; and half followed Omri. 22 But the people that followed Omri prevailed against the people that followed Tibni the son of Ginath: so Tibni died, and Omri reigned. 23 In the thirty and first year of Asa king of Judah began Omri to reign over Israel, twelve years: six years reigned he in Tirzah. 24 And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. 25 But Omri wrought evil in the eyes of the LORD, and did worse than all that [were] before him. 26 For he walked in all the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin, to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger with their vanities. 27 Now the rest of the acts of Omri which he did, and his might that he shewed, [are] they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 28 So Omri slept with his fathers, and was buried in Samaria: and Ahab his son reigned in his stead. 29 And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. 30 And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that [were] before him. 31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him. 32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him. 34 In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest [son] Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.