Otto, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen
Otto, Duke of Brunswick and Lunenburg (Grubenhagen) (1320 – 1 December 1398) was the fourth and last husband of Joan I of Naples. He also held the title of Prince of Taranto nicknamed as Otto the Tarantine.
Biography
He was the eldest son of Henry II (c. 1289 - 1351) and his first wife Jutta of Brandenburg.
In 1353, he married his first wife Violante of Vilaragut, a daughter of Berengar de Villaragut and widow of James III of Majorca. There were no children from this marriage. By 1372, Otto was a widower.
On 25 September 1376, Otto married his second wife Queen regnant Joan I of Naples. The groom was fifty-six years old and the bride about forty-eight. He became King consort but again there were no children.
The so-called Western Schism started in 1378 with the election of two rival Popes, Urban VI of Rome and Clement VII of Avignon. Joan supported Clement VII and allied herself with his main supporter Charles V of France. With no further hope of having natural children of her own, Joan chose to strengthen her alliance with France by adopting Louis of Anjou, younger brother of Charles V, as her heir.
Urban VI proceeded to have Joan proclaimed deposed in 1381. He named her second cousin Charles of Durazzo as his candidate for the supposedly vacant throne. Charles spend the following months gathering his army within Kingdom of Hungary and then marched against the Kingdom of Naples. Otto led the Neapolitan army in battle but was defeated.
Otto was exiled from Naples and would never return. Joan was strangled in prison in the Castle of San Fele on 12 May 1382. Charles of Durazzo became King Charles III of Naples while Louis of Anjou became a rival candidate for his throne.
Otto survived Joan by at least sixteen years but never remarried. He died childless at Foggia and was succeeded by his first cousin, once removed Erich, Duke of Brunswick-Grubenhagen, previously Duke of Einbeck.
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