A very different 11th century- What if Otto III survives?

There have been few European figures who died young with as much promise as Otto III Augustus, Emperor of the Romans. Otto, half Saxon, half Byzantine, was brought up by his Byzantine mother Theophano to see himself as a true Basileus, as God's vice regent on Earth. In 994, at the age of just fourteen he crushed the Slavs in battle, and in 997, at seventeen, he marched on Rome and imposed Popes as he pleased. In 1002, he requested a marriage to young Zoe, the favourite niece of the great Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II, and Zoe was despatched to Italy. Tragically though, Otto died before they could meet.

What if Otto survived for another thirty years, and Zoe gave him children? Would he be able to impose a Byzantine style of rule over fractitious East Francia and Italy? Would he be able to continue the firm subordination of the Papacy to the Emperor? How would this affect the major trends of the eleventh century such as the rise of the Normans, the Reconquista, and the decay of the Eastern Roman Empire?

Discuss.
 
There have been few European figures who died young with as much promise as Otto III Augustus, Emperor of the Romans. Otto, half Saxon, half Byzantine, was brought up by his Byzantine mother Theophano to see himself as a true Basileus, as God's vice regent on Earth. In 994, at the age of just fourteen he crushed the Slavs in battle, and in 997, at seventeen, he marched on Rome and imposed Popes as he pleased. In 1002, he requested a marriage to young Zoe, the favourite niece of the great Eastern Roman Emperor Basil II, and Zoe was despatched to Italy. Tragically though, Otto died before they could meet.

What if Otto survived for another thirty years, and Zoe gave him children? Would he be able to impose a Byzantine style of rule over fractitious East Francia and Italy? Would he be able to continue the firm subordination of the Papacy to the Emperor? How would this affect the major trends of the eleventh century such as the rise of the Normans, the Reconquista, and the decay of the Eastern Roman Empire?

Discuss.

I'm not really sure. I suppose it's possible for someone as young and dynamic as Otto III to reform the East Francian Empire to a much more centralized state much like the Capets in and Alfred the Great and his successors had done in France and England respectively (Britain as a political entity did NOT exist for those who don't know this). Also, because he's so young, you can fill in his personality in a way a TL writer sees fit.

He could do a number of reforms to maintain control over East Francia if he was as intelligent as I think he was. He could spread out the possessions of the nobles across East Francia much like William the Conqueror later did in England IIRC. This would mean that nobels don't have a single power base and have to travel continuously to their disconnected lands. This is also an idea:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seneschal#The_administrative_s.C3.A9n.C3.A9chal_in_France

Use these as a check on the nobles while also switching them around from one region to another so they can't create a powerbase of their own. Obviously they would be called different in East Francia, but I'm hust using seneschal for the purpose of this thread to not confuse anyone. I'm not sure if East Francian/German control over the Popes can continue since someone is bound to pop up and protest against this use of the church by the Emperors as a political ploy although it might not be as bad as the Investiture Controversy if Otto III and his successors play their cards right, especially if they can get support from other European monarchs who don't want the Pope messing in their affairs.

What's also going to be interesting ITTL is the fact that Otto III as married to a Byzantine prinses which will cause significant butterflies in foreign politics. Maybe a permanent restoration of the Western Roman Empire recognised by Constantinople, perhaps more East Francian involvement in the eastern Meditteranean through their outlet in the Adriatic, maybe also earlier and more contact for the bulk of Europe with the Muslim civilizations with their more advanced knowledge of the Ancient world, chemistry, biology etc.?

He has enough time to do so since he's so young. Charlemagne had lived to the age of 72 so Otto III might be able to get old as well although I don't know much about his health. Secondly, the Emperors were relatively firmly in power up until the 12th century so no need to rush.
 
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