On 26 January 877, King Louis the Younger issued a charter to Gandersheim Abbey. The charter described the region of South Thuringia, known as ‘pago Suththuringa,’ as ‘in comitatu Ottonis,’ which means 'in Otto's country.' He succeeded his brother
Bruno as
duke of Saxony after the latter's death in the
Battle of Lüneburg Heath (
Ebsdorf) on 2 February 880, while fighting against the
Viking invaders. Ruling over vast Saxon and
Thuringian estates, Otto was mentioned as
dux in later sources, while in a contemporary charter of 28 January 897, Otto is described as
marchio and the
pago Eichesfelden (
Eichsfeld) is now found to be within his county (march). He was also the
lay abbot of
Hersfeld Abbey in 908 and fifty years later was described as
magni ducis Oddonis (great duke Otto) by the chronicler
Widukind of Corvey when describing the marriage of his sister
Liutgard to
King Louis. Despite his dynastic relations, Otto only had loose connections to the Carolingian court and rarely left Saxony. He remained a regional East Frankish prince and his lieges,
Louis the Younger and
Emperor Arnulf, with both of whom he was on good terms, rarely interfered in Saxon autonomy. In his lands, Otto was prince in practice and he also established himself as a tributary ruler over the neighbouring
Slavic tribes in the east, such as the
Daleminzi. According to Widukind of Corvey, the "Saxon and Franconian people" offered Otto the
kingship of East Francia after the death of the last Carolingian monarch,
Louis the Child, in 911. Otto did not accept the offer, possibly because he felt the burden of ruling was too heavy for him at his advanced age. Instead, suggesting Duke
Conrad of Franconia. The truthfulness of this report is considered doubtful. The next year, in 912, Otto died at the
Pfalz of
Wallhausen. He was buried in the church of
Gandersheim Abbey. ==Notes==