Otto VIII, Count of Bavaria (before 1180 – 7 March 1209) was

Count Palatine A count palatine (Latin ''comes palatinus''), also count of the palace or palsgrave (from German ''Pfalzgraf''), was originally an official attached to a royal or imperial palace or household and later a nobleman of a rank above that of an ord ...

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 lan ...

from 1189 to 1209.

Origin

Otto VIII was the son of Otto VII, and thereby the grandson of

Otto IV, Count of Scheyern Otto V, Count of Wittelsbach ( – 4 August 1156), also called Otto IV, Count of Scheyern, was the second son of Eckhard I, Count of Scheyern and Richardis of Carniola and Istria. Otto named himself ''Otto of Wittelsbach'', after Wittelsbach Ca ...

Regicide

On 21 June 1208 Otto VIII murdered German King

Philip of Swabia Philip of Swabia (February/March 1177 – 21 June 1208) was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination. The death of his older brother Emperor Henry VI in 1197 meant that the Hohenstaufen rule (whi ...

in Bamberg, during the wedding of Philip's niece Countess Beatrice II of Burgundy with Duke Otto of Merania.

Motive

The motives for the murder have not been conclusively established. Allegedly the Wittelsbach scion, already known for his unstable character, had fallen into a rage when he learned of the dissolution of his betrothal to Gertrude of Silesia by her father, the

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule i ...

duke

Henry I the Bearded Henry the Bearded ( pl, Henryk (Jędrzych) Brodaty, german: Heinrich der Bärtige; c. 1165/70 – 19 March 1238) was a Polish duke from the Piast dynasty. He was Duke of Silesia at Wrocław from 1201, Duke of Kraków and High Duke of all Polan ...

. Duke Henry was apparently informed of the Wittelsbach's cruel tendencies and in an act of concern for his young daughter decided to terminate the marriage agreement. Otto proceeded to blame Philip for another spurned marriage alliance (the first being to one of Philip's own daughters, Beatrice or

Kunigunde Kunigunde, Kunigunda, or Cunigunde, is a European female name of German origin derived from "kuni" (clan, family) and "gund" (war). In Polish this is sometimes Kunegunda or Kinga. People with such names include: * Kunigunde of Rapperswil (c. early ...

, who was betrothed to

Wenceslaus I of Bohemia Wenceslaus I ( cs, Václav I.; c. 1205 – 23 September 1253), called One-Eyed, was King of Bohemia from 1230 to 1253. Wenceslaus was a son of Ottokar I of Bohemia and his second wife Constance of Hungary. Marriage and children In 1224, Wencesl ...

in 1207) and swore revenge on the German King.

Consequences

Death

He was subsequently put under ''imperial ban'' (outlawed).

Henry of Kalden Henry of Kalden (german: Heinrich von Kalden; – after 1214) was a ''ministerialis'' in the service of the German kings Henry VI, Philip, Otto IV, and Frederick II. Life Henry probably was a son of the Franconian noble Henry III ''Testa'' of ...

was trusted with the task to hunt him down, found him at Oberndorf by

Kelheim Kelheim () is a town and municipality in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the district Kelheim and is situated at the confluence of the rivers Altmühl and Danube. Kelheim has a population of around 16,750 (2020). History Kelheim is t ...

and decapitated him on the spot on 7 March 1209 . His head was thrown in the Danube, while the corpse was kept in a barrel for years. Monks from Indersdorf Abbey eventually stole the barrel and buried the corpse on monastery grounds.

Bibliography

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto 08, Count of Wittelsbach Counts Palatine of the Holy Roman Empire House of Wittelsbach 1209 deaths Regicides Assassins of heads of state Medieval assassins 13th-century murderers Year of birth uncertain