Otto of Nordheim (c. 1020 – 11 January 1083) was
Duke of Bavaria
The following is a list of rulers during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1949, Bavaria has been a democratic state in the Federal Republic of Germ ...
from 1061 until 1070. He was one of the leaders of the
Saxon Rebellion
The Saxon Rebellion or Rebellion of the Saxons (german: Sachsenkrieg), also commonly called the Saxon Uprising (not to be confused with the Saxon Wars, also called the Saxon Uprising), refers to the struggle between the Salian dynasty ruling the H ...
in 1073-75 and the
Great Saxon Revolt
The Great Saxon Revolt was a civil war fought between 1077 and 1088, early in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The revolt was led by a group of opportunistic German princes who elected as their figurehead the duke of Swabia, Rudolf of R ...
of 1077-88 against King
Henry IV of Germany.
Life
Family
Otto was born about 1020, the son of Count Bernard of
Nordheim (d. about 1040) and his wife Eilika. The rich and influential
Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country ( Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the No ...
comital dynasty of Nordheim was first mentioned about 950, its descendance has not been conclusively established: there is possibly a relationship with the
Immedinger family of legendary Duke
Widukind, while according to the
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label= Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Mag ...
archbishop
Eric of Brandenburg
Eric of Brandenburg ( – 21 December 1295) was Archbishop of Magdeburg from 1283 until his death.
Life
Eric was a younger son of Margrave John I of Brandenburg. From an early age, he was destined for a career in the clergy. In the 1360s and ...
, Otto's grandfather Siegfried I of Nordheim was a son of Count
Siegfried of Luxembourg
Sigfried (or Siegfried) ( – 28 October 998) was Count in the Ardennes, and is known in European historiography as founder and first ruler of the Castle of Luxembourg in 963 AD, and ancestor and predecessor of the future counts and dukes of Lux ...
.
The Nordheim counts held large Saxon estates on the upper
Leine and
Werra rivers as well as on the
Weser
The Weser () is a river of Lower Saxony in north-west Germany. It begins at Hannoversch Münden through the confluence of the Werra and Fulda. It passes through the Hanseatic city of Bremen. Its mouth is further north against the ports o ...
and its
Diemel and
Nethe
Nethe is a river of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It flows into the Weser near Höxter.
See also
*List of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia
A list of rivers of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany:
A
* Aa, left tributary of the Möhne
* Aa, l ...
tributaries and on the lower
Elbe
The Elbe (; cs, Labe ; nds, Ilv or ''Elv''; Upper and dsb, Łobjo) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Rep ...
river. They also acted as ''
Vogts'' (reeves) of the
Corvey,
Gandersheim,
Helmarshausen,
Bursfelde Bursfelde is a village, now administratively joined with Hemeln
Hemeln is an outlying village (''Ortsteil'') in the borough of the town of Hann. Münden. The village lies on the right bank of the Weser River, 12 km from the city proper. The ...
, and
Amelungsborn
Amelungsborn Abbey, also Amelunxborn Abbey (''Kloster Amelungsborn''), is a Lutheran monastery in Germany. It is located near Negenborn and Stadtoldendorf, in the ''Landkreis'' of Holzminden in the Weserbergland. It was the second oldest Cisterc ...
. Otto succeeded his father as count of Northeim about 1049, then one of the most influential Saxon nobles along with the
Billung duke
Bernard II and the Udonid counts of
Stade.
Role during the regency of Henry IV
After the death of the
Salian
The Salian dynasty or Salic dynasty (german: Salier) was a dynasty in the High Middle Ages. The dynasty provided four kings of Germany (1024–1125), all of whom went on to be crowned Holy Roman emperors (1027–1125).
After the death of the la ...
emperor
Henry III in 1056, his widow, Dowager Empress
Agnes, appointed Otto duke of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...
in 1061 in order to gain his support as the mother of, and regent for, the young king Henry IV. The following year (1062), however, when Agnes handed power to her confidant Bishop
Henry II of Augsburg, Duke Otto was among those
princes
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
who assisted Archbishop
Anno II of Cologne in seizing control of Henry IV and the regency, in the so-called
Coup of Kaiserswerth
The Coup of Kaiserswerth (german: Staatsstreich von Kaiserswerth) in 1062 was a hitherto unprecedented action of several secular and ecclesiastical Princes of the Holy Roman Empire under the leadership of Archbishop Anno II of Cologne against Em ...
.
Otto took a prominent part in the government of the kingdom during Henry's minority. He led a
successful expedition into
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
in 1063 to reinstall King
Solomon (betrothed to Henry's sister,
Judith of Swabia
Judith of Swabia ( hu, Sváb Judit, pl, Judyta Szwabska, Judyta Salicka; Summer 1054 – 14 March ca. 1105?), a member of the Salian dynasty, was the youngest daughter of Emperor Henry III from his second marriage with Agnes of Poitou. By her tw ...
), who had been driven out by his uncle
Béla I
Béla may refer to:
* Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater
* Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name
See also
* Bela (disambiguation)
Bela may refer to:
Places Asia
* Bela Pratapgarh, a town in Pratapgarh District, Uttar ...
. The next year Otto went to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
to settle a papal
schism
A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
caused by the appointment of
Antipope Honorius II
Honorius II ( 1010 – 1072), born Pietro Cadalo (Latin ''Petrus Cadalus''), was an antipope from 1061 to 1072. He was born in the County of Verona, and became bishop of Parma in 1045. He died at Parma in 1072.
Biography
Cadalo was the son of ...
. Otto was also instrumental in securing the banishment from court of the overly powerful Archbishop
Adalbert of Hamburg-Bremen. He crossed the
Alps
The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...
in the royal interests on two other occasions and in 1069 shared in two expeditions into the lands of the
Polabian Slavs (
Wends
Wends ( ang, Winedas ; non, Vindar; german: Wenden , ; da, vendere; sv, vender; pl, Wendowie, cz, Wendové) is a historical name for Slavs living near Germanic settlement areas. It refers not to a homogeneous people, but to various peopl ...
) east of Germany.
Conflict with Henry IV
So far, Otto was on good terms with the young king. However, he neglected his Bavarian duchy and instead added to his Saxon
allodial possessions in the southern
Harz
The Harz () is a highland area in northern Germany. It has the highest elevations for that region, and its rugged terrain extends across parts of Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. The name ''Harz'' derives from the Middle High German w ...
range, which ultimately led into conflict with Henry IV, who aimed at the consolidation of his royal
domains in this region. In 1070 dubious accusations were brought against him by one
Egeno I of Konradsburg of being privy to a plot to murder the king, and it was decided Otto should submit to
trial by combat
Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of th ...
with his accuser at
Goslar
Goslar (; Eastphalian: ''Goslär'') is a historic town
A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than city, cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different p ...
.
Fearing for his safety, Otto asked for a safe-conduct to and from the place of meeting. When this was refused he declined to appear and was consequently placed under the
imperial ban and deprived of Bavaria, while his Saxon estates were plundered. He obtained no support in Bavaria, but raised an army among the Saxons and carried out a campaign of plunder against Henry until at Pentecost 1071, when he submitted. In the following year he was released from custody and received back his private estates, though not the Bavarian ducal title, which had been granted to his former son-in-law
Welf I, the divorced husband of Otto's daughter
Ethelinde.
Rebellion
According to
Bruno, author of ''De bello Saxonico'' (''On the Saxon War''), when the
Saxon Rebellion
The Saxon Rebellion or Rebellion of the Saxons (german: Sachsenkrieg), also commonly called the Saxon Uprising (not to be confused with the Saxon Wars, also called the Saxon Uprising), refers to the struggle between the Salian dynasty ruling the H ...
broke out in summer 1073, Otto delivered an inspiring speech to the assembled nobles at
Wormsleben, after which he took command of the insurgents. By the
Peace of Gerstungen on 2 February 1074, the Duchy of Bavaria was formally restored to him, which however met strong opposition by the local nobility, with the result that Otto's former son-in-law Welf I remained ''de facto'' Duke of Bavaria. He also participated in the second rising of 1075 following the demolition of
Harzburg Castle. Defeated in the
Battle of Langensalza on June 9, he surrendered and was again pardoned by King Henry who made him administrator of the Saxon duchy.
When the
Investiture Controversy between Henry IV and
Pope Gregory VII culminated in the
excommunication
Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...
of the king in 1076, Otto attempted to mediate between Henry and the Saxon nobles convened at
Trebur, but when these efforts failed he again joined the insurgents. Otto was not the leader of the
Great Saxon Revolt
The Great Saxon Revolt was a civil war fought between 1077 and 1088, early in the history of the Holy Roman Empire. The revolt was led by a group of opportunistic German princes who elected as their figurehead the duke of Swabia, Rudolf of R ...
, however. Once he was assured that the duchy of Bavaria would be returned to him, Otto accepted the election of
Rudolf of Rheinfelden as
antiking of
Germany
Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...
. Through his skill and bravery, Otto still inflicted defeats on Henry's forces at the battles of
Mellrichstadt,
Flarchheim and
Hohenmölsen.
Death
Otto remained in arms against the king until his death on 11 January 1083. He is buried in the Nicolai Chapel in
Northeim. His personal estates in Saxony later passed to
Lothair of Supplinburg, who about 1100 married Otto's granddaughter
Richenza of Northeim. After Richenza,
German queen from 1125 and
Holy Roman Empress from 1133, died in 1141, the allodial lands were inherited by her daughter
Gertrude and her husband, the
Welf duke
Henry the Proud.
Character
Otto is described as a noble, prudent and warlike man, and he possessed great abilities. His repeated pardons showed that Henry could not afford to neglect such a powerful personality, and his military talents were repeatedly displayed.
Marriage and children
About 1055 Otto married
Richenza, formerly reckoned as a daughter of Duke
Otto II of Swabia
Otto II ( 995 – 7 September 1047), a member of the Ezzonid dynasty, was Count Palatine of Lotharingia from 1034 until 1045 and Duke of Swabia from 1045 until his death.
Life
Otto was the son of the Lotharingian count palatine Ezzo (955–1034) ...
, but probably a descendant of the
Billung dynasty. The couple had four sons and three daughters.
*
Henry the Fat (1055–1101), Margrave of
Frisia (1055–1101)
*
Otto II, Count of Nordheim
* Siegfried III (1050–1107), Count of Boyneburg
* Kuno (1050/60–1103), Count of
Beichlingen
* Ida, married Count
Thimo of Wettin, mother of Margrave
Conrad of Meissen
*
Ethelinde (born 1050/60, date of death unknown), married Duke
Welf I of Bavaria
Welf I (c. 1035/10406 November 1101) was Duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death. He was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. In the genealogy of the Elder House of Welf, he is counted as Welf IV.
Bi ...
in 1062, divorced 1070; secondly married Herman I,
Count of Calvelage in 1070
[K-H. Lange, ''Die Grafen von Northeim (950-1144). Politische Stellung, Genealogie und Herrschaftsbereich. Beiträge zur Geschichte des sächsischen Adels im Hochmittelalter'' (Dissertation, Kiel, 1958), pp. 142-145, accessible online at]
Genealogie Mittelater
/ref>
* Matilda, married Count Konrad II of Werl-Arnsberg
Notes
References
*H. von Hindte, 'Otto von Northeim,' ''Lexikon des Mittelalters'', vol. 6 (1993), col. 1578.
*M. Black-Veldtrupp, ''Kaiserin Agnes (1043-1077) Quellenkritische Studien.''
*Lampert of Hersfeld, ''Annales'', in O. Holder-Egger, ed., ''Lamperti monachi Hersfeldensis Opera'', MGH SS rer Germ 38 (Hanover, 1894), pp. 1–304, accessible online at
(in Latin)
*''Annales Altahenses maiores'' (written c.1075), ed. W. Giesebrecht and E. L. B. von Oefele, MGH SS rer Germ 4 (Hannover, 1890, 2nd edition), accessible online at
(in Latin).
*
*
*
*
*
External links
(in German)
*
{{Authority control
1020s births
1083 deaths
11th-century dukes of Bavaria