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Otto IV, the Merry (German: der Fröhliche), a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria and Styria from 1330, as well as Duke of Carinthia from 1335 until his death. He ruled jointly with his elder brother Duke Albert II.
Otto was born in the Austrian capital Vienna, the youngest son of King Albert I of Germany and Elizabeth of Carinthia, a member of the House of Gorizia-Tyrol (Meinhardiner). His elder brothers were Rudolf III, who became King of Bohemia in 1306, Frederick the Fair, elected King of the Romans in opposition to Louis the Bavarian in 1314, the Austrian dukes Leopold I and Albert II as well as Henry the Friendly.
From 1329 onwards, Otto administrated the original Habsburg possessions in Swabia (Further Austria). In 1330, he and his brother Albert II were enfeoffed with the Austrian duchy. Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor since 1328, also vested Otto with the title of an Imperial vicar. In February he developed close ties with the mighty House of Luxembourg by secondly marrying Anna of Bohemia, daughter of King John the blind and sister of future emperor Charles IV, in the Moravian royal city of Znojmo.
Otto died at Neuberg Abbey at the age of 37. His sons and titular successors Frederick II and Leopold II died shortly afterwards in 1344 (presumably poisoned), and the line became extinct. |
