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emjaybeeworld · 4 years ago

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ADELAIDE AND OTTO (Part 4) A Mostly True Love Story

Someone called her name down the castle hall outside her room. Louder and louder the excited voice echoed through the hallway. The sounds of running footsteps stopped with a banging on her door. A loyal subject carried an arrow with a message tied to it. With trembling fingers she unfastened the paper. It was from Otto. He said that he was tied up in urgent affairs and had to remain behind in Germany. He was sending his son to rescue her. Adelaide’s heart raced. Otto hadn’t been defeated. It wasn’t him! The note said that he wanted to discuss her offer. She read and reread the message, but try as she might, she could ascertain no hidden meanings or affection. She consoled herself with the certainty that he would still come for her and that he was interested in her bargain. She would wait until then.

When Liuthold returned to his father’s court, Otto was furious. Not only had Lute disobeyed his orders but he’d lost the campaign. His men were superior in every way and they should have been able to handily bring Adelaide back to him. Instead, a good number of his finest were lost due to his son’s ineptitude.

Otto abruptly walked away from his urgent affairs of state, calling together a vast army that he headed up personally. He fought at their head like a glorious golden lion, spreading terror be-fore him. Word traveled ahead of his advance that Otto himself led his men, dispatching anyone in his path. His powerful forces paralyzed the Italians with fear and they surrendered in steadily increasing numbers as the German king moved deeper into Italy. By the time they arrived at the archbishop’s castle of Adelaide’s refuge, all resistance had ceased.

As desperately as Otto wanted to see Adelaide, he had one last thing to accomplish. He wanted first to retake the royal city from the usurpers so that he could return her legacy to her. This act, he hoped, would not only place her other suitors in an inferior light but soften her heart toward him. He had arrived prepared to handle any contingency involving Adelaide, determined to make no more miscalculations. With most of his forces he headed off for Pavia where 60,000 Italian troops waited to do battle with him. Those he left behind were commanded to find Adelaide and bring her to him in Pavia.

As he arrived at the fortress walls in Pavia, the Italians, disgusted with Berengarius and Willa, refused to follow the commands of their hated king and queen. They dropped their weapons, opened the gates to the City, and welcomed Otto, cheering him on as their conquering hero. Pavia was his without the loss of a single life.

Adelaide and her escort rode in to the deafening cheers of her subjects. Otto waited impatiently for her at the castle gate. She pulled her prancing mare to a halt. His eyes consumed her waif-like face and emaciated figure clothed in plain dress. Despite the horrors she’d suffered, strength and serenity shone through her enormous eyes. No one in the intervening years had measured up to the lovely young queen. She was the reason that he hadn’t remarried. He’d yearned for her and no one else could fill the void.

Adelaide’s breath deserted her at the sight of the golden, leonine man striding toward her like a bright, avenging angel, flanked on each side by men bearing an uncanny resemblance to him. No smile hovered on his lips, nothing to indicate his mood. He watched her gravely as he approached her mount. A knight in her escort dismounted and took her suddenly disquieted mare by the bit. If only Otto would give her some indication of what he was thinking. Instead, he studied her like one would a book, shadows chasing across his cerulean eyes. Was that regret she saw? Her heart plunged to her toes. Try as she might, she couldn’t divine his intentions. Hiding her embarrassment, she raised her chin higher, determined to see her way through the painful tableau of her creation.

A gentle smile tugged at the corners of Otto’s mouth. Without breaking eye contact, he gestured widely to the city and palace at his back and, in a loud voice, announced to the assembly that their lawful queen had returned to reclaim her kingdom. By his authority and the might of his armies, he would enforce her reign. The Italians erupted in joyous pandemonium.

The king reached up to a bemused and speechless Adelaide. Taking her by the waist, he lifted her up and off the horse as if she weighed no more than a feather. His eyes never left hers.

A raspy clearing of throat broke Otto’s concentration. With a start, he turned and introduced her to the men at his side, his two brothers. Henry, the Duke of Bavaria, had joined forces with his brother to fight for Adelaide. Bruno, the archbishop of Cologne, had accompanied them as well. Adelaide bowed slowly and gracefully before each man, straightening to kiss them on the cheek and thank them for their part in her rescue. Henry and Bruno were struck dumb. Over the back of her head, Otto grinned knowingly at his lugubrious brothers’ uncharacteristic lack for words.

Otto waited patiently. Adelaide took a deep breath, steeling herself. She turned and faced him. The deepest curtsy and show of respect she offered the king. She sank down to the ground on her knees and, taking his left hand, laid her cheek against the back of it. Tears tracked down her face as she thanked him for deliverance. Then, with head down as if in offering, she whispered brokenly that she was Otto’s to do with as he pleased, now and forever.

Overcome, the great king raised Adelaide to her feet. Hands gripping the curve of her waist, he dropped to one knee in the dirt; and, in front of all the people, humbly asked Adelaide to marry him. Forgetting their audience, Adelaide leaned over to place gentle kisses on his forehead and cheeks. Her tears of joy splashed on his handsome, upturned face as she hiccupped and gasped, struggling to pull air into her lungs. His beloved Adelaide had finally lost her celebrated poise. The big king rose to his full height, crushing Adelaide in his mighty arms. He whirled her around; and, setting her back on the ground, unceremoniously kissed her in front of the world. His long wait for her had ended.

Otto signalled his brother, the archbishop to come forward. Bruno performed the marriage ceremony there in the outdoor courtyard with the King’s army and the city’s inhabitants as wit-nesses. The people shared in the festivities, happy for their beloved queen, and thrilled to be delivered at last from the cruel tyranny of King Berengarius and Queen Willa.

King Otto freed King Berengarius and Willa on the condition that they abandon their wickedness. If they did not, he told them that he would come for them and harsh justice would be swiftly dealt to them.

Within the year, Liuthold formed a conspiracy with two dukes—one of whom was his sister’s husband. The three captured Otto, wresting egregious concessions and partitions of land. The enterprising Otto escaped without assistance. He called his army together and, with the aid of his brother Henry, chased the three men down. He nullified his agreement with the three dukes, because, as he said, an agreement coerced by force was no agreement at all. As was his habit, he was lenient, only stripping the guilty parties of their titles and holdings.

Liuthold lost his standing in the royal family and his right to succeed his father as king of Germany, as well as the dukedom to Suabia; Otto’s son-in-law died bravely in battle trying to redeem himself for his disloyalty to Otto; and nothing was heard of the third duke again.

Soon thereafter, the Papacy struck a deal with King Otto to make him Holy Roman Emperor. King Otto controlled a vast amount of Europe. The Papacy had no control over Germany’s revenues and taxation. Concerned over the breadth and scope of Otto’s control and the accumulation of taxes that the Pope felt belonged to the holy see, the title of Holy Roman Emperor was dangled in front of Otto as bait. Otto took the bait, but pulled the Papacy in the lake and drowned it. He was no puppet to be controlled by the Papacy. He controlled the papacy and insisted on appointing his own bishops to ensure the integrity of the church. He would not allow the church to impose unjust taxation on his kingdom.

The Pope turned on Otto, appointing a new emperor. Otto chased the new emperor off and appointed a new Pope. He then convened an assembly of nobles and bishops to confirm his appointment and defrock the corrupt pope. The confirmation was made and the former Pope fled. Never had the church been treated with such impunity.

Although Emperor Otto’s empire may not have been as large and sweeping as Charlemagne’s, he was more powerful because of his independence and insistence on separation of church and state.

Before long, word reached Emperor Otto that Berengarius and Willa were again terrorizing their subjects. Troops were dispatched and pair was recaptured.

Otto brought the former queen in shackles to Empress Adelaide for judgment. Adelaide was now the most powerful woman in the world. When Adelaide mildly remonstrated with the captive for her crimes, the former queen spat, "The only crime with which I reproach myself is that I didn’t kill you when I had you in my power." Adelaide rose and walked down to the unrepentant creature. She gently unshackled the woman, demonstrating no fear of someone who had nearly destroyed her. Then she signalled the guard to return the prisoner to her husband.

At Otto’s command, the former king and queen were transferred to an unknown location. Berengarius and Willa died in jail. No one marked the date and time of their passing and no one mourned them. Adalbert, their son lost his fortune and holdings as a result of incompetence. Adelaide asked for and received custody of his two daughters. She adopted them and raised them as her own.

Together, Otto and Adelaide had five children. They built churches and monasteries; they were dedicated patrons of the arts. They issued laws in the interest of their people and passed down decrees to protect them. They were benevolent and kind; their judgments were fair and merciful. When the celebrated pair died, their subjects grieved deeply.

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