Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), also known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda.

Otto inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship of the Germans upon his father's death in 936. He continued his father's work of unifying all German tribes into a single kingdom and greatly expanded the king's powers at the expense of the aristocracy. Through strategic marriages and personal appointments, Otto installed members of his family in the kingdom's most important duchies. This reduced the various dukes, who had previously been co-equals with the king, to royal subjects under his authority. Otto transformed the Roman Catholic Church in Germany to strengthen the royal office and subjected its clergy to his personal control.

After putting down a brief civil war among the rebellious duchies, Otto defeated the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, thus ending the Hungarian invasions of Western Europe. The victory against the pagan Magyars earned Otto a reputation as a savior of Christendom and secured his hold over the kingdom. By 961, Otto had conquered the Kingdom of Italy and extended his realm's borders to the north, east, and south. The patronage of Otto and his immediate successors facilitated a limited cultural renaissance of the arts and architecture. Following the example of Charlemagne's coronation as "Emperor of the Romans" in 800, Otto was crowned Emperor in 962 by Pope John XII in Rome.

Otto I (bishop)

Otto van Gelre (1194 – 1 September 1215) was bishop of Utrecht from 1212 to 1215.

Otto van Gelre was the son of Otto I, Count of Guelders and Richardis van Beieren. He was appointed bishop at a young age with the support of Guelders and the Hohenstaufen. He was a loyal supporter of Guelder's interests in the Bishopric of Utrecht. He died at Voorthuizen at Elten, on the way to Rome.

Otto of Freising

Otto of Freising (Otto Frisingensis) (c. 1114 – 22 September 1158) was a German churchman and chronicler. He was bishop of Freising as Otto I from 1138.

Life

Born in Klosterneuburg, he was the fifth son of Leopold III, margrave of Austria, by his wife Agnes, daughter of the emperor Henry IV. By her first husband, Frederick I of Hohenstaufen, duke of Swabia, Agnes was the mother of the German king Conrad III, and grandmother of the emperor Frederick I. Also, Otto's sister Judith or Ita was married to the Marquess William V of Montferrat. He was thus related to the most powerful families in Germany and Northern Italy.

The notices of his life are scanty and the dates somewhat uncertain. He studied in Paris, where he took an especial interest in philosophy, is said to have been one of the first to introduce the philosophy of Aristotle into Germany, and he served as provost of a new foundation in Austria.

Having entered the Cistercian order, Otto convinced his father to found Heiligenkreuz Abbey in 1133, thus bringing literacy and sophisticated agriculture (including wine making) to the region that would become Vienna. He became abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Morimond in Burgundy about 1136, and soon afterwards was elected bishop of Freising. This diocese, and indeed the whole of Bavaria, was then disturbed by the feud between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufen, and the church was in a deplorable condition; but a great improvement was brought about by the new bishop in both ecclesiastical and secular matters.