Otto II (Duke of Braunschweig-Göttingen)

While still a minor, Otto II inherited from his father Otto I as Prince of Göttingen . Until King Wenceslas IV recognized him as an adult in 1398, he was under the tutelage of his cousin Frederick I, Prince of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel . His father left his financially and politically unstable country. Unlike his warlike father, Otto II was a peace-loving ruler. He managed to put things in order in the country's politics, but he could not solve financial problems. To maintain law and order, he entered into an alliance with other cities in the region, such as Uslar , Zezen and Handersheim, to fight the powerful robber barons . In 1407, together with the inhabitants of Göttingen, he managed to storm the castle in Und , and he also made the lords of Adelbsen, Hardenberg and Schweicheldt respect public order.

Around 1408, Otto married Agnes (d. January 16, 1471), daughter of the Landgraf Hermann II of Hesse . He was engaged to her sister Elizabeth, but she died before the wedding. Otto and Agnes had two daughters: Elizabeth, who died in childhood, and Margarita, who married the Duke Heinrich of Schleswig in 1425.

Due to constant financial difficulties, he repeatedly had to borrow money from his cousins, the princes of Wolfenbüttel; in return, he promised them inheritance rights of Göttingen as early as 1395. When Frederick I of Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttelsky died in 1400, Otto had to sign an inheritance agreement with his surviving brothers Bernhard I and Henry I. However, Otto's financial situation worsen. Already in 1435 he left the government and gave freedom to cities and estates.

The sons of Henry I, William the Victorious and Henry the Peaceful, because of the constant conflicts, decided to divide their principality in 1432. They also shared the locks that Otto gave them as a collective loan. When a dispute arose between Heinrich and Wilhelm about sovereignty in Göttingen, Otto sided with Henry. In 1441, he occupied the castle in Münden . After lengthy negotiations and pressure exerted by King of Germany Albrecht II , the dispute was settled in 1442: Otto retained the city and castle of Uslar, and his wife received Münden, Dransfeld and Siechelstein. Zezen and Gundersheim were separated from the Principality of Braunschweig-Göttingen and annexed to the possessions of Henry, the Principality of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel. Wilhelm, in turn, received from Henry and the Dukes of Luneburg, as compensation, the right to rule Braunschweig-Göttingen until Otto's death.

Duke Otto II retired to Uslar, where he lived in solitude for more than 20 years before his death in 1463. Since he did not leave a male heir, the line of the Princes of Braunschweig-Göttingen at the Welsh house was cut short with his death. The Principality of Göttingen passed to William the Victorious and from 1495 became part of the Principality of Kalenberg.

• Dietrich Denecke and Helga-Maria Kühn (eds.): Göttingen. Geschichte einer Universitätsstadt , 3 vols., Vol. 1, Göttingen, 1987, ISBN 3-525-36196-3
• Edgar Kalthof: Geschichte des südniedersächsischen Fürstentums Göttingen und des Landes Calenberg im Fürstentum Calenberg 1285–1584 , Verlag Otto Zander, Herzberg (Harz) -Pöhlde, 1982, ISBN 3-923336-03-9

• The house of guelph