Otto I (1117 – 11 July 1183), called the Redhead (
German: der Rotkopf), was Duke of
Bavaria from 1180 until his death. He was also called Otto VI as Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1156 to 1180. He was the first Bavarian ruler from the
House of Wittelsbach, a dynasty which reigned until the abdication of King
Ludwig III of Bavaria in the
German Revolution of 1918.
As one of the best knights in the employ of Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa in 1155 he had prevented a defeat of the Emperor near
Verona, where the army caravan was ambushed on the way back to Germany after the coronation at
Rome. In the Dominium mundi conflict between emperor and pope culminating at the 1157
Reichstag of Besançon, fiery Otto could only be kept from smiting the papal legate Cardinal
Rolando Bandinelli with his battleaxe by the personal intervention of Frederick.
He was rewarded with the duchy of Bavaria on 16 September 1180 at
Altenburg in
Thuringia, following the deposition of
Henry the Lion, Duke of Bavaria, of the
House of Welf. But he was so little regarded by many of the Bavarian aristocracy that they are said to have refused him the customary homage.[1] They went so far as to refuse to attend his first court assembly at
Regensburg.[2]
With the separation of
Styria under Duke
Ottokar IV in the same year, Bavaria lost the last of her southeastern territories. With the support of the emperor and his brother
Conrad, Otto was able to secure the rule of his dynasty from the wary Bavarian nobility. His descendants ruled Bavaria for the next 738 years.
In 1182 or 1183, Duke Otto bought
Dachau castle, the ministeriales, and all other appurtenances for a large sum of cash from the widow of the last duke of Dachau and Merania,
Conrad II, Duke of Merania.[3]
In 1183 Otto accompanied Emperor Frederick to sign the
Peace of Constance with the
Lombard League and died suddenly on the way back at
Pfullendorf in
Swabia. He was succeeded by his only surviving son
Louis. Otto's mortal remains are buried in the crypt of
Scheyern Abbey.
Issue
About 1169 Otto married
Agnes,[4] a daughter of Count
Louis I of
Loon. Agnes and Otto had the following children:
Jeffery, Renée (2018). Princess Elisabeth of Bohemia: The Philosopher Princess. Lexington Books.
Vogel, Susanne (2012). Die Wittelsbacher: Herzöge – Kurfürsten – Könige in Bayern von 1180 bis 1918. Biografische Skizzen. Staackmann.
ISBN978-3886752485.
Dahlem, Andreas (2009). The Wittelsbach Court in Munich: History and Authority in the Visual Arts (1460-1508). Glasgow.{{
cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link)