to the church and aided the spread of Christianity in many ways. According to one of the chroniclers of the time, he was given the epithet of the "Red" when in 981 he invited the most troublesome of the Roman families to a banquet, and proceeded to butcher them at dinner. More sympathetic chroniclers said that it was due to his reddish complexion. In fact, Otto is much more likely to have inherited the epithet from his half-uncle Conrad the Red, who died the year he was born and from whom he is also likely to have inherited some property. Family and children Otto II was a member of the Ottonian dynasty, which ruled Germany (and later the Holy Roman Empire) from 919 to 1024. In relation to the other members of his dynasty, Otto II was the grandson of Henry I, son of Otto I, father of Otto III, and a first-cousin once removed to Henry II. Otto II had only one known wife. On 14 April 972, Otto II married Theophanu, a Byzantine princess of the Phokas family who was the cousin of reigning Byzantine Emperor John I Tzimiskes. The two had at least five children: Adelheid I, Abbess of Quedlinburg and Gandersheim, born 973/974, died 1045. Sophie I, Abbess of Gandersheim and Essen, born October 975, died 1039. Matilda, born summer 978, died 1025; who married Ezzo, count palatine of Lotharingia. Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor, born end June/early July 980. A daughter, a twin to Otto, who died before October 8, 980. Ancestry See also Kings of Germany family tree. References Bibliography Comyn, Robert. History of the Western Empire, from its Restoration by Charlemagne to the Accession of Charles V, Vol. I. 1851 Duckett, Eleanor (1968). Death and Life in the Tenth Century. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Norwich, John J. (1991). Byzantium: The Apogee. London: BCA. Sismondi, J. C. L. History of the Italian Republics in the Middle Ages. 1906 External links Tomb of Otto II in St Peter's Basilica |- |- |- |- 955 births 983 deaths 10th-century Holy Roman Emperors 10th-century kings of Italy Ottonian dynasty 10th-century Saxon people Burials at St. Peter's Basilica Sons of emperors