Otto I, Count of Salm ( – 1150) was a German nobleman. He was a ruling count of Salm and from 1125 to 1137, he was co-ruler of the

County Palatine of the Rhine This article lists counts palatine of Lotharingia, counts palatine of the Rhine, and electors of the Palatinate (), the titles of three counts palatine who ruled some part of the Rhine region in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire bet ...

with his stepson

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

Life

His parents were the German anti-king Hermann of Salm and his wife Sophia of Formbach. Around 1115, he married Gertrude, the widow of Count Palatine Siegfried of Ballenstedt, daughter and heir of Henry, Margrave of Frisia and

Gertrude of Brunswick Gertrud of Brunswick (; – 9 December 1117) was Countess of Katlenburg by marriage to Dietrich II, Count of Katlenburg, Margravine of Frisia by marriage to Henry, Margrave of Frisia, and Margravine of Meissen by marriage to margrave Henry ...

. Gertrude was also the sister of Richenza of Northeim, the consort of Emperor Lothair III. Otto constructed Rheineck Castle and from , he styled himself ''Otto of Rheineck'', after his castle. After his stepson Count Palatine

of the Rhine had died in 1140, he claimed the County Palatine of the Rhine. However, King

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (; ; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III, and from 1138 until his death in 1152 King of the Romans in t ...

, who had been elected in 1138, decided that the County Palatine was a completed fief, and hence fell back to the King, who gave it to his brother-in-law and devoted supporter Hermann von Stahleck. Otto managed to keep Treis Castle until 1148, and Rheineck Castle until 1151. In 1148, war broke out between Otto and the Emperor. The Emperor took Treis Castle in 1148, and gave it to the Elector of

Trier Trier ( , ; ), formerly and traditionally known in English as Trèves ( , ) and Triers (see also Names of Trier in different languages, names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle (river), Moselle in Germany. It lies in a v ...

. In 1151, he captured and destroyed Rheineck Castle.

Family

Otto married Gertrude, daughter of Henry, Margrave of Frisia.Schaab, ''Geschichte der Kurpfalz'', p. 30. They had several children, including: * Otto II ( – 1148/1149), fought against Hermann von Stahleck to recapture the County Palatine of the Rhine and was taken prisoner in 1148. He was later strangled at Schönburg Castle, near Oberwesel in 1148 or 1149 * Sophia, married Dirk VI, Count of Holland (d. 6 August 1157) * Beatrix, married Wilbrand I, Margrave of Frisia

References

* Johann Christian von Stramberg: ''Rheinischer Antiquarius'', part III, vol. 5, p. 490 ff *M. Schaab, ''Geschichte der Kurpfalz'' (

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 ...

1988).

Notes

Counts Palatine of the Rhine Year of birth uncertain Salm family 1080s births 1150 deaths 12th-century German nobility {{Germany-hist-stub