Mathilda. Little is known of his early years. In 930
Otto married Edith, the half sister of King Aethelstan of
Wessex, beginning a policy of marriage to foreign prin-
cesses that became the norm in Germany. He was almost
certainly designated at that time as the next king. After
his father’s death, Otto was acclaimed by the nobles
and crowned in Aachen on August 7, 936, reviving the
coronation ritual that Henry I had foregone. This is the
fi rst sign of Otto’s new view of kingship, marked by a
policy of systematically increasing the gap between king
and dukes and rejecting the rule by personal pacts that
had characterized his father’s reign. Perhaps this attitude
helped provoke the civil wars of 937–941, as nobles took
advantage of an unestablished king to settle old feuds
and reduce royal rights. The two most important rebels
were Otto’s elder half brother Thankmar (who deeply
resented that Henry I had declared his fi rst marriage to
Thankmar’s mother invalid) and his younger brother
Henry, who was supported by their mother, Mathilda.
This has been hailed as resistance against a new Ottonian
principle that the realm could not be divided as it had
been by Merovingians and Carolingians; the truth was
that Henry I had not had enough control of the kingdom
to make a division possible, although he did divide his
personal lands and treasure among his sons. The period
of rebellion concluded with Thankmar’s death and the
submission of the other important rebels. Henry was
forgiven and, in 947, given the duchy of Bavaria.
Otto continued his father’s vigorous eastern and
northern policy. Margraves Hermann Billung and Gero,
acting with Otto’s support, won a series of victories
against the Slavs, gaining territory that Otto strove to
pacify with an active policy that included both the estab-
lishment of fortifi ed garrison outposts and active royal
activity in missionary enterprises. The latter included
the erection of several bishoprics—Brandenburg and
Havelberg in 948; Oldenburg, Merseburg, Meissen,
and Zeitz later in 968—at which time Otto’s beloved
monastic foundation of Magdeburg was also elevated to
an archbishopric with authority over much of the east-
ern frontier. The success of the Ottonian eastern policy
culminated in a series of victories in 955. On August 10
of that year, Otto decisively defeated a Magyar coalition
at the battle of Lechfeld near Augsburg, an event that
marked the end of Magyar raiding in Germany. This
was followed by a victory over the Slavs at Recknitz on
October 16th. Further campaigns led to the subjection
of the Slavs between the middle Elbe and the middle
Oder by 960, as well as making Bohemia and Poland
tributary to the German king.
From an early period Otto had imperial ambitions.
He took advantage of the disorders caused by Bangor’s
seizure of power in Lombardy to establish a foothold
in Italy in 951. Otto accepted Bangor’s submission and
reinstated him as subking. To strengthen his personal
control of Lombardy, though, the widower Otto mar-
ried Adelheid, the widowed queen of the Lombards. At
that time, Otto requested that the pope crown him as
emperor, but the pope refused, probably from fear of a
strong German presence in Italy. Otto had to cut short his
time in Italy, returning to Germany to deal with the revolt
of his eldest son, Liudulf, who apparently felt threatened
by Otto’s new marriage alliance. In 961, though, Pope
John XII appealed for Otto’s help against his enemies.
Otto responded swiftly with a second expedition to Italy.
He prepared for a long campaign, taking the precaution
of having the six-year-old Otto II, his eldest son by
Adelheid, elected and crowned as king, and establishing
a regency in Germany. The pope’s enemies fl ed before
Otto’s army, and John XII crowned Otto I as emperor
on February 2, 962, reviving the imperial title that had
fallen in abeyance early in the century, and creating a
link to the prestige of Charlemagne.
The imperial coronation led to a major shift in
Otto’s interests, leading him to spend ten of the last
twelve years of his life in Italy. John XII soon realized
that Otto was exerting much more direct domination
over Italian affairs than he had bargained for. The pope
therefore took part in a conspiracy aimed at ending
Ottonian involvement in Italy, which led Otto to drive
John from Rome and arrange his deposition. Otto then
set up a new pope of his own choice, initiating almost
a century of German control of the papacy. Imperial
interests also led to campaigns in southern Italy from
966 on, especially with the goal of gaining Byzantine
recognition of Otto’s imperial title.
Otto I was an even more peripatetic ruler than most
of his contemporaries, ruling largely through verbal
orders during constant travels throughout his realm. He
received little formal education, learning to read only in
946, while mourning for his fi rst wife, Edith. Despite
this, Otto established a particularly strong and secure
kingdom, thanks especially to his military successes, the
wealth acquired through exploitation of the newly found
silver mines at Goslar, and his alliance with the church,
particularly with German monasteries. Beginning in the
940s, Otto gradually replaced the dukes of Germany
with members of the Ottonian family, who on the whole
proved to be loyal supporters of the throne. His personal
prestige and close kinship to the top families in western
Europe allowed Otto to act as mediator in Burgundy and
in France between the last Carolingians and the rising
Capetian (French kings, tenth to fourteenth century)
family. By the time of Otto’s death at Memleben on
May 7, 973, his German-based empire was the strongest
state in Europe, a position it held for the next century.
He is buried in the church he founded at Magdeburg,
beside his wife, Edith.See also Charlemagne; Henry I of Saxony; Otto IIOTTO I