ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY.

Otto and Innocent in happier times.

ON THIS DAY in 1210, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV was excommunicated by Innocent III, who had always resented Otto for being one Roman numeral ahead of him. This setback made the Roman Emperor somewhat less holy, and he was forced to turn to his uncle King John of England, whose support, curiously enough, did not make him any more holy in the least.