Odilo, also Oatilo or Uatilo (died 18 January 748) of the Agilolfing dynasty was

Duke of Bavaria The following is a list of monarchs during the history of Bavaria. Bavaria was ruled by several dukes and kings, partitioned and reunited, under several dynasties. Since 1918, Bavaria has been under a republican form of government, and from 19 ...

from 737 until his death in 748. He had the '' Lex Baiuvariorum'' compilation edited, the first ancient Germanic law collection of the

Bavarians Bavarians are a Germans, German ethnographic group native to Bavaria, a state in Germany. The group's dialect or speech is known as Bavarian language, Bavarian, native to Altbayern ("Old Bavaria"), roughly the territory of the historic Electo ...

Life

Odilo by his Agilolfing descent was an

Alemanni The Alemanni or Alamanni were a confederation of Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes * * * on the Upper Rhine River during the first millennium. First mentioned by Cassius Dio in the context of the campaign of Roman emperor Caracalla of 213 CE ...

c nobleman, a son of Duke Gotfrid (d. 709) whom he succeeded in

Thurgau Thurgau (; ; ; ), anglicized as Thurgovia, and formally as the Canton of Thurgau, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of five districts. Its capital is Frauenfeld. Thurgau is part of Eastern Switzerland. I ...

until 737, when with the death of Hugbert of Bavaria the older line of the dynasty became extinct and he inherited the rulership of the

Duchy of Bavaria The Duchy of Bavaria () was a frontier region in the southeastern part of the Merovingian kingdom from the sixth through the eighth century. It was settled by Bavarians, Bavarian tribes and ruled by List of rulers of Bavaria, dukes (''duces'') ...

. Odilo presided over the establishment of bishoprics in Bavaria in 739, when the four dioceses of

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the Isar river in ...

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

, and

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

were established by St.

Boniface Boniface, OSB (born Wynfreth; 675 –5 June 754) was an English Benedictine monk and leading figure in the Anglo-Saxon mission to the Germanic parts of Francia during the eighth century. He organised significant foundations of the church i ...

, who in 741 also founded the Diocese of Würzburg in adjacent

Franconia Franconia ( ; ; ) is a geographical region of Germany, characterised by its culture and East Franconian dialect (). Franconia is made up of the three (governmental districts) of Lower Franconia, Lower, Middle Franconia, Middle and Upper Franco ...

. His measures sparked a revolt by Bavarian nobles and the duke temporarily had to seek refuge at the court of the Frankish Mayor of the Palace

Charles Martel Charles Martel (; – 22 October 741), ''Martel'' being a sobriquet in Old French for "The Hammer", was a Franks, Frankish political and military leader who, as Duke and Prince of the Franks and Mayor of the Palace, was the de facto ruler of ...

. In 741, Odilo married Charles Martel's daughter Hiltrud, but upon the death of her father found himself at war with her brothers Carloman and

Pepin the Short the Short (; ; ; – 24 September 768), was King of the Franks from 751 until his death in 768. He was the first Carolingian dynasty, Carolingian to become king. Pepin was the son of the Frankish prince Charles Martel and his wife Rotrude of H ...

. He rebelled to support the Alamans with the support of

Hunald I Hunald I, also spelled Hunold, Hunoald, Hunuald or Chunoald (died 756), was the Duke of Aquitaine from 735 until 745. Although nominally he was an officer of the Merovingian kings of Francia, in practice Aquitaine was completely autonomous when he ...

of Aquitaine in 742/43 against Frankish rule after persuading him to attack

Neustria Neustria was the western part of the Kingdom of the Franks during the Early Middle Ages, in contrast to the eastern Frankish kingdom, Austrasia. It initially included land between the Loire and the Silva Carbonaria, in the north of present-day ...

to burn down

Chartres Chartres () is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Eure-et-Loir Departments of France, department in the Centre-Val de Loire Regions of France, region in France. It is located about southwest of Paris. At the 2019 census, there were 1 ...

. He was finally defeated in 743 after a battle at the river Lech, and had to accept Frankish overlordship over Bavaria, but remained duke. He further consolidated his rule, when he came to the aid of Prince Boruth of Carantania against repeated Avar incursions and was able to vassalize the Slavic principality in the southeast. After his death in 748, Grifo, a younger son of Charles Martel and half-brother of Odilo's widow Hiltrud, sought to establish his own rule in Bavaria and abducted Odilo's son Tassilo III. However, the next year he was defeated by Pepin the Short who installed seven-year-old Tassilo III as Duke of Bavaria. Odilo is accepted as the founder of the abbeys of Benediktbeuern (in 739), Niederaltaich (741),"The History of Abtei Niederaltaich", Benediktinerabtei Niederaltaich
/ref> and Mondsee (748),"Lake Mondsee", Mein Osterreich
/ref> as well as a number of others. He was buried at Gengenbach Abbey in Alamannia.

References

Sources

* Borgolte Michael, ''Die Grafen Alemanniens in merowingischer und karolingischer Zeit. Eine Prosopographie'', Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen 1986. * Borgolte Michael, ''Geschichte der Grafschaften Alemanniens in fränkischer Zeit'', Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen 1984. * Geuenich, Dieter, ''Geschichte der Alemannen'',

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-la ...

Stuttgart Berlin Köln 1997. * Couser, Johnathan (2010). "The Changing Fortunes of Early Medieval Bavaria to 907 AD". ''History Compass''. 8 (4): p.. 333. * {{Authority control 748 deaths 8th-century dukes of Bavaria Agilolfings Year of birth unknown Baiuvarii