Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I the Great (November 23, 912 - May 7, 973), son of Henry I the Fowler, king of the Germans, and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of the Germans and arguably the first Holy Roman Emperor. (While Charlemagne had been crowned emperor in 800, his empire was divided amongst his grandsons, and following the assassination of Berengar of Friuli in 924, the imperial title lay vacant for nearly forty years.)

Imperial title

In the early 960s, Italy was again in political turmoil, and when Berengar occupied the northern Papal States, Pope John XII asked Otto for assistance. Otto returned to Italy and on February 2, 962, the pope crowned him emperor. (Translatio imperii.) Ten days later, the pope and emperor ratified the Diploma Ottonianum, in which the emperor became the guarantor of the independence of the papal states. After Otto left Rome and reconquered the Papal States from Berengar, however, John became fearful of the emperor's power and sent envoys to the Magyars and the Byzantine Empire to form a league against Otto. In November of 963, Otto returned to Rome and convened a synod of bishops that deposed John and crowned Leo VIII, at that time a layman, as pope. When the emperor left Rome, however, civil war broke out in the city between those who supported the emperor and those who supported John. John returned to power amidst great bloodshed and excommunicated those who had deposed him, forcing Otto to return to Rome a third time in July of 964 to depose Pope Benedict V (John having died two months earlier). On this occasion, Otto extracted from the citizens of Rome a promise not to elect a pope without imperial approval.

Related Topics:
Papal States - Pope John XII - February 2 - 962 - Translatio imperii - Diploma Ottonianum - Byzantine Empire - 963 - Leo VIII - 964 - Pope Benedict V

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Otto unsuccessfully campaigned in southern Italy on several occasions from 966-972, although in 972, the Byzantine emperor John I Tzimisces recognized Otto's imperial title and agreed to a marriage between Otto's son and heir Otto II and his niece Theophano.

Related Topics:
972 - John I Tzimisces - Otto II

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After his death in 973 he was buried next to his first wife Edith of Wessex in the Cathedral of Magdeburg.

Related Topics:
973 - Edith of Wessex - Cathedral of Magdeburg

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