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Otto ( – 30 November 912), called the Illustrious (german: Otto der Erlauchte) by later authors, a member of the
Ottonian dynasty The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...
, was
Duke of Saxony This article lists dukes, electors, and kings ruling over different territories named Saxony from the beginning of the Saxon Duchy in the 6th century to the end of the German monarchies in 1918. The electors of Saxony from John the Steadfast on ...
from 880 to his death.


Family

Otto was a younger son of the
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 Nor ...
count Liudolf (d. 866), the progenitor of the dynasty, and his wife Oda (d. 913), daughter of the
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 Nor ...
''princeps''
Billung The House of Billung was a dynasty of Saxon noblemen in the 9th through 12th centuries. The first known member of the house was Count Wichmann, mentioned as a Billung in 811. Oda, the wife of Count Liudolf, oldest known member of the Liudolf ...
. Among his siblings were his elder brother
Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...
, heir to their father's estates, and Liutgard, who in 876 became Queen of East Francia as consort of the
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
king
Louis the Younger Louis the Younger (830/835 – 20 January 882), sometimes Louis the Saxon or Louis III, was the second eldest of the three sons of Louis the German and Hemma, Emma. He succeeded his father as the King of Saxony on 28 August 876 and his elder broth ...
. The marriage expressed Liudolf's dominant position in the Saxon lands. Around 873 Otto himself married Hathui (d. 903), probably daughter of the Frankish ''princeps militiae''
Henry of Franconia Henry (died 28 August 886) was the leading military commander of the last years of the Carolingian Empire. He was commander-in-chief under Kings Louis the Younger and Charles the Fat. His early career was mostly restricted to East Francia, his home ...
, a member of the noble
House of Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its e ...
( Popponids). By her he had two sons, Thankmar and Liudolf, who predeceased him, but his third son
Henry the Fowler Henry the Fowler (german: Heinrich der Vogler or '; la, Henricus Auceps) (c. 876 – 2 July 936) was the Duke of Saxony from 912 and the King of East Francia from 919 until his death in 936. As the first non-Frankish king of East Francia, he ...
succeeded him as duke of Saxony and was later elected king. Otto's daughter Oda married the
Carolingian The Carolingian dynasty (; known variously as the Carlovingians, Carolingus, Carolings, Karolinger or Karlings) was a Frankish noble family named after Charlemagne, grandson of mayor Charles Martel and a descendant of the Arnulfing and Pippin ...
King Zwentibold of Lotharingia, son of Emperor
Arnulf Arnulf is a masculine German given name. It is composed of the Germanic elements ''arn'' "eagle" and ''ulf'' "wolf". The ''-ulf, -olf'' suffix was an extremely frequent element in Germanic onomastics and from an early time was perceived as a mere ...
. His family is called the ''Liudolfinger'' after his father, upon the accession of his grandson Emperor
Otto the Great Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henr ...
it then was also called the
Ottonian dynasty The Ottonian dynasty (german: Ottonen) was a Saxon dynasty of German monarchs (919–1024), named after three of its kings and Holy Roman Emperors named Otto, especially its first Emperor Otto I. It is also known as the Saxon dynasty after the ...
.


Reign

By a charter of King
Louis the Younger Louis the Younger (830/835 – 20 January 882), sometimes Louis the Saxon or Louis III, was the second eldest of the three sons of Louis the German and Hemma, Emma. He succeeded his father as the King of Saxony on 28 August 876 and his elder broth ...
to
Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey (german: Stift Gandersheim) is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or ...
dated 26 January 877, the ''pago Suththuringa'' (region of South
Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
) is described as ''in comitatu Ottonis'' (in Otto's county). He succeeded his brother Bruno after the latter's death in the
Battle of Lüneburg Heath The Battle of Lüneburg Heath (also called the Battle of Ebstorf) was a conflict between the army of King Louis the Younger and the Norse Great Heathen Army fought on 2 February 880 AD, at Lüneburg Heath in today's Lower Saxony. Following d ...
( Ebsdorf) on 2 February 880, fighting against the
Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...
invaders. Ruling over vast Saxon and
Thuringian Thuringian is an East Central German dialect group spoken in much of the modern German Free State of Thuringia north of the Rennsteig ridge, southwestern Saxony-Anhalt and adjacent territories of Hesse and Bavaria. It is close to Upper Saxon spo ...
estates, Otto was mentioned as ''
dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...
'' in later sources, while in a contemporary charter of 28 January 897, Otto is described as ''marchio'' and the ''pago Eichesfelden'' (
Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; English: ''Oak-field'') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called "Untereichsfeld" = lower Eichsfeld) and northwest of the state of Thuringia ("Obereichsfeld" = upper Eichsfeld) in th ...
) is now found to be within his county (march). He was also the
lay abbot Lay abbot ( la, abbatocomes, abbas laicus, abbas miles, ) is a name used to designate a layman on whom a king or someone in authority bestowed an abbey as a reward for services rendered; he had charge of the estate belonging to it, and was entitle ...
of
Hersfeld Abbey Hersfeld Abbey was an important Benedictine imperial abbey in the town of Bad Hersfeld in Hesse (formerly in Hesse-Nassau), Germany, at the confluence of the rivers Geisa, Haune and Fulda. The ruins are now a medieval festival venue. History H ...
in 908 and fifty years later was described as ''magni ducis Oddonis'' (great duke Otto) by the chronicler
Widukind of Corvey Widukind of Corvey (c. 925after 973) was a medieval Saxon chronicler. His three-volume ''Res gestae Saxonicae sive annalium libri tres'' is an important chronicle of 10th-century Germany during the rule of the Ottonian dynasty. Life In view of ...
when describing the marriage of his sister Liutgard to King Louis. Despite his dynastic relations, Otto only had loose connections to the Carolingian court and rarely left Saxony. He remained a regional East Frankish prince and his overlords, Louis the Younger and Emperor Arnulf, with both of whom he was on good terms, rarely interfered in Saxon autonomy. In his lands, Otto was prince in practice and he also established himself as a tributary ruler over the neighbouring Slavic tribes in the east, such as the Daleminzi. According to Widukind of Corvey, the "Saxon and Franconian people" offered Otto the kingship of East Francia after the death of the last Carolingian monarch
Louis the Child Louis the Child (893 – 20/24 September 911), sometimes called Louis III or Louis IV, was the king of East Francia from 899 until his death and was also recognized as king of Lotharingia after 900. He was the last East Frankish ruler of the Car ...
in 911. He did, however, not accept it on account of his advanced age, instead suggesting Duke
Conrad of Franconia Conrad I (; c. 881 – 23 December 918), called the Younger, was the king of East Francia from 911 to 918. He was the first king not of the Carolingian dynasty, the first to be elected by the nobility and the first to be anointed. He was chosen a ...
. The truthfulness of this report is considered doubtful.Reuter, 135; "calls it "panegyric rather than history." The next year, Otto died at the ''
Pfalz Pfalz, Pfälzer, or Pfälzisch are German words referring to Palatinate. They may refer to: Places *Pfalz, the Palatinate (region) of Germany **Nordpfalz, the North Palatinate **Vorderpfalz, the Anterior Palatinate **Südpfalz, the South P ...
'' of Wallhausen. He was buried in the church of
Gandersheim Abbey Gandersheim Abbey (german: Stift Gandersheim) is a former house of secular canonesses ( Frauenstift) in the present town of Bad Gandersheim in Lower Saxony, Germany. It was founded in 852 by Duke Liudolf of Saxony, progenitor of the Liudolfing or ...
.


Notes


Sources

*''A Companion to Hrotsvit of Gandersheim (fl. 960): Contextual and Interpretive Approaches'', ed. Phyllis R. Brown and Stephen L. Wailes, Brill, 2013. *Reuter, Timothy. ''Germany in the Early Middle Ages 800–1056''. New York: Longman, 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Otto 01, Duke of Saxony 9th-century births 912 deaths Year of birth uncertain Dukes of Saxony Saxon warriors 10th-century rulers in Europe 9th-century rulers in Europe 9th-century Saxon people 10th-century Saxon people