Otto of Greece

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Otto
Όθων
Regent
Josef Ludwig von Armansperg (1832–1835)
Prime Ministers
See list
BornPrince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria
(1815-06-01)1 June 1815
Salzburg, Austrian Empire
Died26 July 1867(1867-07-26) (aged 52)
Bamberg, Kingdom of Bavaria
Burial
Theatinerkirche, Munich
Spouse
Catholicism
Signature
Styles of
Otto I of Greece
Reference style
His Majesty
Spoken styleYour Majesty

Otto (Greek: Όθων, romanized: Óthon; German: Otto Friedrich Ludwig von Wittelsbach; 1 June 1815 – 26 July 1867) was a Bavarian prince who ruled as King of Greece from the establishment of the Kingdom of Greece on 27 May 1832, under the Convention of London, until he was deposed in October 1862.

The second son of

absolute monarch
. Eventually, his subjects' demands for a constitution proved overwhelming, and in the face of an armed (but bloodless) insurrection, Otto granted a constitution in 1843.

Throughout his reign, Otto was unable to resolve Greece's poverty and prevent economic meddling from outside. Greek politics in this era were based on affiliations with the three Great Powers that had guaranteed Greece's independence, Britain, France and Russia, and Otto's ability to maintain the support of the powers was key to his remaining in power. To remain strong, Otto had to play the interests of each of the Great Powers' Greek adherents against the others, while not irritating the Great Powers. When Greece was blockaded by the British Royal Navy in 1850 and again in 1854, to stop Greece from attacking the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean War, Otto's standing amongst Greeks suffered. As a result, there was an assassination attempt on Queen Amalia, and finally, in October 1862, Otto was deposed while in the countryside. He died in exile in Bavaria in 1867.

Early life and Ascension

Further information: Ioannis Kapodistrias and Augustinos Kapodistrias

Otto was born as Prince Otto Friedrich Ludwig of Bavaria at

imperial dynasties of Komnenos and Laskaris. His father was a prominent Philhellene, and provided significant financial aid to the Greek cause during the War of Independence
.

Otto was a child of delicate health and temperament, with a slight stutter and a passion for the piano.

Classical Greek and Latin by classical scholar and passionate Philhellene Friedrich Thiersch, who was the first to suggest the young prince as a candidate for the throne of the emerging nation. Thiersch's suggestion was supported by Jean-Gabriel Eynard, a major financial benefactor of the Greek independence movement and friend of Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greece's governor.[3]
Otto's name therefore entered the discourse surrounding Greek independence, both within Greece and abroad.

At the end of Greek War of Independence, the three Great Powers formulated the

London Protocol of 1832
therefore finally recognized Greece as a fully independent state, with Otto as its king.

"The Entry of King Otto in Athens" by Peter von Hess, 1839

The Great Powers extracted a pledge from Otto's father to restrain him from hostile actions against the Ottoman Empire. They also insisted that Otto's title would be "King of Greece", rather than "King of the Hellenes", because the latter would imply a claim over the millions of Greeks then still under Turkish rule. Not quite 18, the young prince arrived in Greece with 3,500 Bavarian troops (the Bavarian Auxiliary Corps) and three Bavarian advisors aboard the British frigate HMS Madagascar. Although he did not speak Greek, he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by adopting the Greek national costume and Hellenizing his name to "Othon" (some English sources, such as Encyclopædia Britannica, call him "Otho"). Thousands lined the docks of Nafplio to witness his arrival, including many heroes of the revolution such as Theodoros Kolokotronis and Alexandros Mavrokordatos. His arrival was initially enthusiastically welcomed by the Greek people as an end to the chaos of the prior years and the beginning of the rejuvenation of the Greek nation.[8] A year later Greek poet Panagiotis Soutsos evoked the scene in Leander, the first novel to be published in independent Greece:[9]

O King of Greece! Old Greece bequeathed the lights of learning to Germany, through you Germany has undertaken to repay the gift with interest, and will be grateful to you, seeing in you the one to resurrect the firstborn people of the Earth.

Early reign

Otto's reign is usually divided into three periods:[by whom?]

The Bavarian advisors were arrayed in a Regency Council, headed by Count Josef Ludwig von Armansperg, who, in Bavaria as minister of finance, had recently succeeded in restoring Bavarian credit, at the cost of his popularity. Von Armansperg was the President of the Privy Council and the first representative (or Prime Minister) of the new Greek government. The other members of the Regency Council were Karl von Abel and Georg Ludwig von Maurer, with whom von Armansperg often clashed. After the king reached his majority in 1835, von Armansperg was made Arch-Secretary, but was called Arch-Chancellor by the Greek press.

Map showing the original territory of the Kingdom of Greece, as laid down in the treaty of 1832 (in dark blue)

Britain and the Rothschild bank, who were underwriting the Greek loans, insisted on financial stringency from Armansperg. The Greeks were soon more heavily taxed than under Ottoman rule;[10] as the people saw it, they had exchanged a hated Ottoman rule for government by a foreign bureaucracy, the "Bavarocracy" (Βαυαροκρατία).

In addition, the regency showed little respect for local customs. As a

better source needed
]

Popular heroes and leaders of the Greek Revolution, such as generals

Yiannis Makriyiannis, who opposed the Bavarian-dominated regency, were charged with treason, put in jail and sentenced to death. They were later pardoned under popular pressure, while Greek judges who resisted Bavarian pressure and refused to sign the death warrants (Anastasios Polyzoidis and Georgios Tertsetis
, for instance), were praised as heroes.

Otto's early reign was also notable for his moving the capital of Greece from

Gustav Eduard Schaubert and Stamatios Kleanthis to complete this task.[13] At that time, Athens had a population of roughly 4,000–5,000 people, located mainly in what today covers the district of Plaka in Athens.

Men of the Royal Gendarmerie Corps
which was established after the enthronement of Otto in 1833

Athens was chosen as the Greek capital for historical and sentimental reasons, not because it was a large city. At the time, it was a town consisting of only 400 houses at the foot of the

National Gardens of Athens (1840), the National Library of Greece (1842), the Old Royal Palace (now the Greek Parliament Building, 1843), and the Old Parliament Building
(1858). Schools and hospitals were established all over the (still small) Greek dominion. Due to the negative feelings of the Greek people toward non-Greek rule, historical attention to this aspect of his reign has been neglected.

During 1836–37, Otto visited Germany, marrying a beautiful and talented 17-year-old,

better source needed
]

Due to his having overtly undermined the king, Armansperg was dismissed from his duties by King Otto immediately upon his return from Germany. However, despite high hopes on the part of the Greeks, the Bavarian Rudhart was appointed chief minister, and the granting of a constitution was again postponed. Otto's attempts to conciliate Greek sentiment through efforts to enlarge the frontiers of his kingdom, for example by the suggested acquisition of Crete in 1841, failed in their objective and only succeeded in embroiling him in conflict with the Great Powers.

Parties, finances and the church

Main article:
Early Greek Parties
Personal coat of arms of Otto

Throughout his reign, King Otto found himself confronted by a recurring series of problems: partisanship of the Greeks, financial uncertainty, and ecclesiastical disputes.

Greek parties in the Othonian era were based on two factors: the political activities of the diplomatic representatives of the

Great Powers Russia, United Kingdom and France and the affiliation of Greek political figures with these diplomats.[citation needed
]

A romantic portrayal of Otto in Evzonas uniform, in front of ancient Greek ruins, by Gottlieb Bodmer

According to Richard Clogg, the financial uncertainty of the Othonian monarchy was the result of

  1. Greece's poverty;
  2. the concentration of land in the hands of a small number of wealthy "primates" like the
    Mavromichalis family of Mani
    ; and,
  3. the promise of 60,000,000 francs in loans from the Great Powers, which kept these nations involved in Greek internal affairs and the Crown constantly seeking to please one or the other power to ensure the flow of funds.[11]

The political machinations of the Great Powers were personified in their three legates in Athens:

Gabriel Catacazy (Russian Empire), and Sir Edmund Lyons (United Kingdom
). They informed their home governments on the activities of the Greeks, while serving as advisers to their respective allied parties within Greece.

King Otto pursued policies such as balancing power among all the parties and sharing offices among the parties, ostensibly to reduce the power of the parties while trying to bring a pro-Othon party into being. The parties, however, became the entree into government power and financial stability.

The effect of his (and his advisors') policies was to make the Great Powers' parties more powerful, not less. The Great Powers did not support curtailing Otto's increasing absolutism, however, which resulted in a near permanent conflict between Otto's absolute monarchy and the power bases of his Greek subjects.[10]

Otto found himself confronted by a number of intractable

Orthodoxy
, but Orthodox believers were found in all three parties. Once he rid himself of his Bavarian advisers, Otto allowed the statutory dissolution of the monasteries to lapse.

By tradition dating back to the Byzantine era, the king was regarded by the Church as its head.[citation needed] On the issue of the Church's Autocephaly and his role as king within the Church, Otto was overwhelmed by the arcana of Orthodox Church doctrine and popular discontent with his Catholicism[10] (while the Queen was Protestant).

Portrait of Otto by Joseph Karl Stieler

In 1833, the regents had unilaterally declared the Autocephaly of the

Protestant
missionaries who established schools throughout Greece.

Otto with Amalia on a ride through Athens

Tolerance of other religions was over-supported by some in the English Party and others educated in the West as a symbol of Greece's progress as a liberal European state. In the end, power over the Church and education was ceded to the Russian Party, while the king maintained a veto over the decision of the Synod of Bishops. This was to keep balance and avoid discrediting Greece in the eyes of Western Europe as a backward, religiously intolerant society.[10]

Catholic communities had been established in Greece since the 13th century (Athens, Cyclades, Chios, Crete). Jewish communities also existed in the country, those arriving after the

Apostle Paul.[15]
Muslim families were still living in Greece during Otto's reign, since hostility was mainly against the Ottoman state and its depressive mechanisms and not against Muslim people.

3 September 1843 Revolution

Main article: 3 September 1843 Revolution

Although King Otto tried to function as an absolute monarch, as Thomas Gallant writes, he "was neither ruthless enough to be feared, nor compassionate enough to be loved, nor competent enough to be respected."[16]

A painting representing the 3 September 1843 Revolution

By 1843, public dissatisfaction with him had reached crisis proportions and there were demands for a Constitution. Initially Otto refused to grant a Constitution, but as soon as Bavarian troops were withdrawn from the kingdom, a popular revolt was launched.

On 3 September 1843, the infantry, led by both Colonel

General Yiannis Makriyiannis, assembled in Palace Square in front of the Palace in Athens.[11]
Eventually joined by much of the population of the small capital, the crowd refused to disperse until the king agreed to grant a constitution, which would require that there be Greeks in the Council, that he convene a permanent National Assembly and that Otto personally thank the leaders of the uprising.

Left with little recourse now that his German troops were gone, King Otto gave in to the pressure and agreed to the demands of the crowd over the objections of his opinionated

queen. This square was renamed Constitution Square (Greek: Πλατεία Συντάγματος) to commemorate (through to the present) the events of September 1843—and to feature many later tumultuous events of Greek history.[17]
Now for the first time, the king had Greeks in his Council and the French Party, the English Party and the Russian Party (according to which of the Great Powers' culture they most esteemed) vied for rank and power.

The king's prestige, which was based in large part on his support by the combined Great Powers, but mostly the support of the British, suffered in the

Foreign Secretary, sent the British fleet to blockade the port of Piraeus with warships to exact reparation for injustice done to a British subject.[18]

Crimean War

See also:
Epirus revolt of 1854
Otto in traditional Greek clothing.

The Great Idea (Μεγάλη Ιδέα), the irredentist concept that expresses the goal of reviving the Byzantine Empire, led him to contemplate entering the Crimean War on the side of Russia against Turkey and its British and French allies in 1853; the enterprise was unsuccessful and resulted in renewed intervention by the two Great Powers and a second blockade of the Piraeus port, forcing Greece to neutrality.

The continued inability of the royal couple to have children also raised the thorny issue of succession: the 1844 constitution insisted that Otto's successor had to be Orthodox, but as the king was childless, the only possible heirs were his younger brothers, Luitpold and Adalbert. The staunch Catholicism of the Wittelsbachs complicated matters, as Luitpold refused to convert and Adalbert married Infanta Amalia of Spain. The sons of Adalbert, and especially the eldest, Ludwig Ferdinand, were now considered the most likely candidates, but due to the issue of religion, no definite arrangements were ever made. [19]

In 1861, a student named

better source needed
]

Exile and death

Main article:
23 October 1862 Revolution

While Otto was visiting the

Great Powers urged King Otto not to resist, and the king and queen took refuge on a British warship and returned to Bavaria aboard (the same way they had come to Greece), taking with them the Greek regalia which they had brought from Bavaria in 1832. In 1863 the Greek National Assembly elected Prince William of Denmark, aged only 17, King of the Hellenes under the regnal name of George I
.

lithograph
Otto in Bavaria, 1865

It has been suggested that had Otto and Amalia borne an heir, the king would not have been overthrown, as succession was also a major unresolved question at the time.[21] However, the Constitution of 1844 made provision for his succession by his two younger brothers and their descendants.[citation needed]

Otto died in the palace of the former bishops of

Theatiner Church in Munich. During his retirement, he would still wear the Greek traditional uniform, nowadays worn only by the evzones (Presidential Guards). Αccording to witnesses,[who?] Otto's last words were "Greece, my Greece, my beloved Greece."[22]

Archives

Otto's letters to his sister, Princess Mathilde Caroline of Bavaria, Grand Duchess of Hesse, written between 1832 and 1861, are preserved in the Hessian State Archive (Hessisches Staatsarchiv Darmstadt) in Darmstadt, Germany.[23]

Otto's letters to his father-in-law, Augustus, Grand Duke of Oldenburg, written between 1836 and 1853, are preserved in the Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv in Oldenburg, Germany.[24]

Honours

He received the following honours:

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. ^ "Salzburger Schlosskonzerte website". Salzburger-schlosskonzerte.at. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
  2. ISBN 1905159129
    .
  3. ^ Driault, Edouard; Lheriter, Michel (1926). Histoire diplomatique de la Grece de 1821 a nos jours [The Diplomatic History of Greece from 1821 to the Present] (in French). Les Presses Universitaires de France. pp. 81–82.
  4. ISBN 978-960-213-108-4
    .
  5. S2CID 163571443
    .
  6. ^ Christopoulos & Bastias 1976, p. 542.
  7. ISBN 9780241312841
    .
  8. ISBN 9781107444515
    .
  9. ^ Soutsos, Panagiotis (1834). Ο Λέανδρος [Leander]. Nafplio. p. 130.
  10. ^ a b c d Petropulos, John A. (1968). Politics and Statecraft in the Kingdom of Greece. Princeton University Press.
  11. ^
    ISBN 0-521-32837-3
    .
  12. ^ Dean Karayanis, Catherine Karayanis, Regional Greek Cooking, Hippocrene Books, 2008, p. 262.
  13. ISBN 0-609-80815-X
    .
  14. ISBN 978-1-85702-469-2
  15. ^ Bowman, "The Jews of Greece", 421–422 Archived 2 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ISBN 0-340-76336-1
  17. ISBN 960-87186-0-0
  18. ^ Pacifico was a Jew of Portuguese nationality, merchant and the Portuguese Consul in Athens, who accidentally was also a British citizen because he was born in Gibraltar. After a robbery in his shop he asked for compensation from the Greek state, but nobody paid attention to him, not even the Portuguese government. Finally, he asked for help from the British ambassador, and his case was turned into the blockade of the port of Piraeus by the British Fleet.
  19. ^ Jelavich 1961, pp. 126–127.
  20. ^ Brekis, Spyros (2003). Ίστορια της Νεώτερας Ελλάδος [History of Modern Greece] (in Greek).
  21. ISBN 0-7509-2147-1
  22. ^ Gallant 2015: 142–143; 2016: 73
  23. ^ "Briefe an Großherzogin Mathilde von ihrem Bruder Otto, König von Griechenland".
  24. ^ "Schreiben König Ottos I. von Griechenland an seinen Schwiegervater Paul Friedrich August". Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv Oldenburg.
  25. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern: 1833. Landesamt. 1833. p. 7.
  26. ISBN 978-2-35077-135-9
    .
  27. ^ Guía de forasteros en Madrid para el año de 1844. En la Imprenta Nacional. 1844. p. 74.
  28. ^ Sergey Semenovich Levin (2003). "Lists of Knights and Ladies". Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-called (1699–1917). Order of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine (1714–1917). Moscow.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  29. ^ Sveriges och Norges statskalender (in Swedish). 1866. p. 433. Retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org.
  30. ^ Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ernannte Ritter" p. 20
  31. ^ Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1837), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 13
  32. ^ Hessen-Darmstadt (1866). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Hessen: für das Jahr ... 1866. Staatsverl. p. 8.
  33. ^ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  34. ^ Boettger, T. F. "Chevaliers de la Toisón d'Or – Knights of the Golden Fleece". La Confrérie Amicale. Retrieved 25 June 2019.
  35. ^ Staat Oldenburg (1865). Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für ... 1865. Schulze. p. 25.
  36. ^ H. Tarlier (1854). Almanach royal officiel, publié, exécution d'un arrête du roi (in French). Vol. 1. p. 37.
  37. ^ Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen: 1865/66. Heinrich. 1866. p. 3.
  38. ^ Cibrario, Luigi (1869). Notizia storica del nobilissimo ordine supremo della santissima Annunziata. Sunto degli statuti, catalogo dei cavalieri (in Italian). Eredi Botta. p. 110. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
  39. ^ Bille-Hansen, A. C.; Holck, Harald, eds. (1867) [1st pub.: 1801]. Statshaandbog for Kongeriget Danmark for Aaret 1867 [State Manual of the Kingdom of Denmark for the Year 1867] (PDF). Kongelig Dansk Hof- og Statskalender (in Danish). Copenhagen: J.H. Schultz A.-S. Universitetsbogtrykkeri. p. 2. Retrieved 16 September 2019 – via da:DIS Danmark.
  40. ^ Staat Hannover (1865). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1865. Berenberg. pp. 37, 73.
  41. ^ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1864), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 12
  42. ^ Almanacco di corte. p. 30.
  43. ^ Württemberg (1866). Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Württemberg: 1866. p. 30.
  44. ^ Napoli (Stato) (1857). Almanacco reale del Regno delle Due Sicilie: per l'anno ... Stamp. Reale. p. 405.

Bibliography

External links
Otto of Greece
Born: 1 June 1815 Died: 26 July 1867
Regnal titles
New title King of Greece
1832–1862 		Succeeded byas King of the Hellenes
Titles in pretence
Loss of title — TITULAR —
King of Greece
1862–1867 		Succeeded by
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