Not to be confused with Duke Otto I

Otto I, Duke of Bavaria

Otto I, Duke of Swabia and Bavaria was the son of Liodolf of Swabia and his wife Ida, and thus a grandson of the Emperor Otto I and his Anglo-Saxon wife Eadgyth...

 976-982, Duke of Bavaria (as Otto I). Though Otto of Wittelsbach was the third duke of Bavaria named Otto he is mostly called Otto I as founder of a new dynasty. Not to be confused also with King Otto

Otto of Bavaria

Otto , was King of Bavaria from 1886 to 1913. He was the son of Maximilian II and his wife, Marie of Prussia, and younger brother of Ludwig II...

 1886-1913.

Otto I (1117 – 11 July 1183), called the Redhead , was Duke of Bavaria

History of Bavaria

The history of Bavaria stretches from its earliest settlement and its formation as a stem duchy in the 6th century through its inclusion in the Holy Roman Empires to its status as an independent kingdom and, finally, as a large and significant Bundesland of the modern Federal Republic of...

 from 1180 until his death. He was the first Bavarian ruler from the House of Wittelsbach, a dynasty which reigned until the abdication of King Ludwig III of Bavaria

Ludwig III of Bavaria

Ludwig III , was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.-Early life:...

 in the German Revolution of 1918.

Biography

Duke Otto I was probably born at Kelheim

Kelheim

Kelheim is a municipality in Bavaria, capital of the district Kelheim. It is situated at the confluence of Altmühl and Danube. As of June 30, 2005, the town had a population of 15,667....

, the son of Count Palatine Otto IV of Wittelsbach

Otto IV, Count of Wittelsbach

Otto IV, Count of Wittelsbach was a descendant of Count Otto II of Scheyern and Richgard of Weimar-Istrien. Otto entitled himself after Wittelsbach Castle near Aichach from 1116 onwards, served Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor and was Count palatine of Bavaria since 1120.Otto was married with Heilika...

 and Heilika, a granddaughter of the Hohenstaufen duke Frederick I of Swabia

Frederick I, Duke of Swabia

Frederick I von Staufen was Duke of Swabia from 1079 to his death. He was the first ruler of Swabia from the House of Hohenstaufen, and was the builder of dynasty's ancestral Hohenstaufen Castle near Göppingen.-Parents:...

. He thereby was the a brother of Archbishop Conrad I

Conrad of Wittelsbach

Conrad of Wittelsbach was the Archbishop of Mainz and Archchancellor of Germany from 20 June 1161 to 1165 and again from 1183 to his death. He was also a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church....

 of Mainz

Archbishopric of Mainz

The Archbishopric of Mainz or Electorate of Mainz was an influential ecclesiastic and secular prince-bishopric in the Holy Roman Empire between 780–82 and 1802. In the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Archbishop of Mainz was the primas Germaniae, the substitute of the Pope north of the Alps...

 and Salzburg

Archbishopric of Salzburg

The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....

. Upon the death of his father in 1156, he succeeded him as Count palatine

Count palatine

Count palatine is a high noble title, used to render several comital styles, in some cases also shortened to Palatine, which can have other meanings as well.-Comes palatinus:...

 of the Bavarian duchy, then under the rule of Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion

Henry the Lion was a member of the Welf dynasty and Duke of Saxony, as Henry III, from 1142, and Duke of Bavaria, as Henry XII, from 1156, which duchies he held until 1180....

, a scion of the Welf dynasty. About 1169 Otto married Agnes, a daughter of Count Louis I of Loon

County of Loon

The County of Loon was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, lying west of the Meuse river in present-day Flemish-speaking Belgium, and east of the old Duchy of Brabant. The most important cities of the county were Beringen, Bilzen, Borgloon, Bree, Hamont, Hasselt, Herk-de-Stad, Maaseik, Peer and...

.

As one of the best knights in the employ of Emperor Frederick Barbarossa

Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor

Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...

 in 1155 he had prevented a defeat of the Emperor near Verona

Verona

Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...

, where the army caravan was ambushed on the way back to Germany after the coronation at Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

 . In the Dominium mundi

Dominium mundi

Dominium mundi is an idea of universal dominion developed in the Middle Ages. Inspired by the memory of the Roman Empire, dominium mundi implied the recognition of one supreme authority, which generated a prolonged political and spiritual struggle between imperial and ecclesiastical power...

conflict between emperor and pope culminating at the 1157 Reichstag

Reichstag (Holy Roman Empire)

The Imperial Diet was the Diet, or general assembly, of the Imperial Estates of the Holy Roman Empire.During the period of the Empire, which lasted formally until 1806, the Diet was not a parliament in today's sense; instead, it was an assembly of the various estates of the realm...

 of Besançon

Besançon

Besançon , is the capital and principal city of the Franche-Comté region in eastern France. It had a population of about 237,000 inhabitants in the metropolitan area in 2008...

 (Bisanz), fiery Otto could only be kept from smiting the papal legate Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli

Pope Alexander III

Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...

by the personal intervention of Frederick .

He was finally rewarded with the duchy of Bavaria on 16 September 1180, after the deposition of Duke Henry the Lion. However with the separation of Styria

Duchy of Styria

The history of Styria concerns the region roughly corresponding to the modern Austrian state of Styria and the Slovene region of Styria from its settlement by Germans and Slavs in the Dark Ages until the present...

 under Duke Ottokar IV

Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria

Ottokar IV was Margrave of Styria and Duke from 1180 onwards, when Styria, previously a margraviate subordinated to the duchy of Bavaria, was raised to the status of an independent duchy. He was the son of Ottokar III of Styria and the last of the dynasty of the Ottakars...

 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 1183 Otto accompanied Emperor Frederick to sign the Peace of Constance

Peace of Constance

The Peace of Constance of 1183 was signed in Konstanz by Frederick Barbarossa and representatives of the Lombard League. It confirmed the Peace of Venice of 1177. The Italian cities retained local jurisdiction over their territories, and had the freedom to elect their own councils and to enact...

 with the Lombard League

Lombard League

The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy , including, among others, Crema, Cremona, Mantua, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, Milan, Genoa, Bologna, Padua, Modena, Reggio Emilia, Treviso, Venice, Vercelli, Vicenza, Verona,...

 and died suddenly on the way back at Pfullendorf

Pfullendorf

Pfullendorf is a small historic city in the district of Sigmaringen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany.-Geography:Its location is in the district of Sigmaringen, 25 km north of Lake Constance and south of the Danube valley and therefore on the continental divide between the watersheds of the...

 in Swabia

Duke of Swabia

The following is a list of Dukes of Swabia in southwest Germany.Swabia was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most notable family to hold Swabia were the Hohenstaufen, who held it, with a brief...

. He was succeeded by his only surviving son Louis

Louis I, Duke of Bavaria

Duke Louis I of Bavaria was the Duke of Bavaria in 1183 and Count Palatine of the Rhine in 1214. He was a son of Otto I and his wife Agnes of Loon. Louis was married to Ludmilla, a daughter of Duke Frederick of Bohemia.-Biography:Louis extended the duchy of Bavaria and founded many cities...

. Otto's mortal remains are buried in the crypt of Scheyern Abbey

Scheyern Abbey

Scheyern Abbey, formerly also Scheyern Priory is a house of the Benedictine Order in Scheyern in Bavaria.-First foundation:...

.