Otto VIII, Count of Hoya (1530 – 25 February 1582 at Hoya Castle in

Hoya, Germany Hoya () is a town in the Nienburg (district), District of Nienburg, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the left and right bank of the Weser, approx. 20 km north of Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Nienburg, and 15 km southwest of Verden ...

) was the last ruling Count of Hoya.

Life

Otto was the third son of Count Jobst II and his wife Anna of Gleichen. At first, he was

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

and Verden. After the childless death of his older brother Albert II in 1563, Otto VIII and his brother Eric V, took up government of the county. Otto married in 1568 to Agnes of Bentheim-Steinfurt, the widow of Count John II of Rietberg, who was also the mother of Armgard, who was the wife of Otto's brother Eric. After Eric also died childless in 1575, Otto ruled the county alone. "Otto, Count of Hoya and Burghausen," signed the

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (; ; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its two parts (''Epitome'' and ''Solid Declaration''), makes up ...

of 1577, and the

Book of Concord ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard recognized as authoritative by many Lutheran church bodies since the 16th century. It consists of ten creeda ...

of 1580.See the

, pp. 16 and 764 Otto VIII died childless on 25 November 1582 at Hoya Castle. He was buried in the church of St. Martin in Nienburg; his tomb is located in the hall below the tower. With his death, the House of Hoya died out, and the county fell back to the

Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg The Duchy of Brunswick and Lüneburg (), commonly known as the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg or Brunswick-Lüneburg, was an imperial principality of the Holy Roman Empire in the territory of present day Lower Saxony. In 1235, Otto I, Duke of ...

as a possession of Frederick Ulrich first and then of William August.

References

* Heinrich Gade: ''Historisch-geographisch-statistische Beschreibung der Grafschaften Hoya und Diepholz'', Nienburg, 1901 * Wilhelm Hodenberg (ed.): ''Hoyer Urkundenbuch'', Hannover, 1848–1856 * Bernd Ulrich Hucker: ''Die Grafen von Hoya'', Hoya, 1993 * Museum Nienburg: ''Die Grafschaften Bruchhausen, Diepholz, Hoya und Wölpe'', Nienburg, 2000

Footnotes

Counts of Hoya 1530 births 1582 deaths 16th-century German nobility Burials at St. Martin Church, Nienburg {{Germany-noble-stub