Otto (died 944), son of Count Ricwin and a Liudolfing, was the

Count of Verdun The County of Verdun was a sovereign medieval county in the Duchy of Lower Lorraine. County The rulers of the sovereign County of Verdun styled themselves as Counts by the grace of God.Duke of Lorraine The rulers of Lorraine have held different posts under different governments over different regions, since its creation as the kingdom of Lotharingia by the Treaty of Prüm, in 855. The first rulers of the newly established region were kings of ...

by appointment.

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Francia, East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the olde ...

appointed him to Duke. Otto was a relative of the emperor, hence both his name and his appointment to high office. He is sometimes referred to as Otto I because another

Otto Otto is a masculine German given name and a surname. It originates as an Old High German short form (variants ''Audo'', ''Odo'', ''Udo'') of Germanic names beginning in ''aud-'', an element meaning "wealth, prosperity". The name is recorded fro ...

later ruled over

Lower Lorraine The Duchy of Lower Lotharingia, also called Northern Lotharingia, Lower Lorraine or Northern Lorraine (and also referred to as '' Lothier'' or '' Lottier''

. Sometime between 940 and 942, Otto was appointed duke and given the guardianship over Henry, son of

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

, the first duke of Lorraine. He died not long afterward, and his ward Henry died soon after that.

Sources

*Bernhardt, John W. ''Itinerant Kingship and Royal Monasteries in Early Medieval Germany, c. 936–1075''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. {{s-end 944 deaths Dukes of Lorraine Counts of Verdun 10th-century rulers in Europe Year of birth unknown