What we may think of today as a table fork wasn't introduced into Western Europe until the year 972, when Theophano Sklereina, the Byzantine wife of the Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II, produced one at a banquet, astonishing her guests.
In 972 the wife of Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II scandalised her dinner guests by using one on her plate while cutting up meat.
His grandson
Otto II was the first to take the fortress' name as his own, adding "Count of Habsburg" to his title.
In the third book, Widukind takes the perspective of the royal court beginning with Otto I's selection of his son Liudorl as his successor in 946, and extended it at some point to include the succession of
Otto II instead in 973.
Apparently, almost 300 years of history were made up so that Roman Emperor
Otto II could place himself in history on the year 1000AD.
The fiction revolves around Theophanu ("Thea"), who is brought across the Mediterranean from Constantinople as a twelve-year-old bride for the son of emperor Otto I,
Otto II, then "co-imperator." The year is 972, and she is lacking the languages she will need in her new life (Latin, German).
This was particularly the case after the disastrous end of the regime of
Otto II, when his widow, the Byzantine princess Theophanu, served as co-regent of Germany with Adelheid on behalf of her child, Otto III.
One of the most common is
Otto II, which is based upon propylene glycol dinitrate augmented by 2-nitrodiphenylamine and dibutyl sebacate.
For his hero Ottone, Pallavicini drew inspiration from incidents in the lives of two historical characters: Otto I (the 'Great'), King of Germany from 936 to 973, crowned emperor at Rome in 962; and his son
Otto II, elected as his successor in 961, crowned co-emperor in 967, and sole ruler from 973 to 983.
The Emperor died and his son
Otto II continued to pour out German blood and wealth seeking the double goal of a purified papacy and a Roman crown.
Holy Roman Emperor Otto I wanted a Byzantine princess for his son,
Otto II. After negotiations, which lasted about five years, Theophano arrived in Italy in 972.
He was crowned at Aachen on Christmas Day 983, soon after the premature death of his father,
Otto II. The child was promptly seized by the warlord of Bavaria known to history as Henry the Quarrelsome, but after a few months Henry surrendered the little boy to his mother, Theophano, who effectively ruled the empire (her name was sometimes masculinised to Theophanius in official documents) until her death in 991.Theophano was a beautiful and strong-minded Byzantine princess, who regarded the westerners with whom her lot was cast as primitive barbarians.