‘Most illustrious king of kings’. Evidence for Ottonian kingship in the Otto III prayerbook (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 30111) (original) (raw)

The young emperor Otto III (983-1002) has a reputation for great piety, recorded in various accounts written soon after his death. Recent scholarship has shown how much these descriptions of the devout young king owe to literary convention and clerical expectation. It is argued here that the evidence of the prayerbook (Munich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 30111) made for the young ruler suggests that attempts were made to educate him in the practice of daily personal devotions. Further, it is suggested that the prayerbook is much more in line with contemporary practice than has previously been thought, as revealed in other prayerbooks of the period. The Munich prayerbook, it is suggested, provides evidence that a reality underlies the descriptions of the young ruler's anxious piety.