Duke Otto I was born 1117 probably at
Kelheim, the son of Count
Otto IV of Wittelsbach,
Count Palatine of Bavaria from 1120 onwards, and
Heilika of Pettendorf-Lengenfeld. His father belonged to a family which had ruled as
Counts of Scheyern in
Upper Bavaria since the
11th century, and whose older line called themselves Counts of Wittelsbach since the early
12th century due to their relocation to
Wittelsbach Castle in
Swabia. His mother was, through her own mother, a granddaughter of duke
Frederick I of Swabia from the
Hohenstaufen family. One of his brothers,
Conrad of Wittelsbach would become Archbishop of
Mainz and
Salzburg. Upon the death of his father in 1156, Otto inherited the possessions of the Wittelsbach line of the family, and also succeeded his father as
Count Palatine of the Bavarian duchy, then under the rule of
Henry the Lion, a scion of the
Welf dynasty. stops Otto from striking
Cardinal Roland at the
Diet of Besançon. A romantic painting by
Hermann Plüddemann (1859). Otto was a close ally of the
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and was militarily and diplomatically active in the service of the Emperor. In 1155, as one of the best knights in the employ of the Emperor, he stormed and conquered the position overlooking and dominating the Defile of Ceraino near
Verona with 200 selected soldiers, thus enabling the safe march of Barbarossa's army caravan across the Alps back to Germany after the
Emperor's 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. grants the
Duchy of Bavaria to Otto on 16 September 1180.
Tapestry from 1610 in the
Munich Residenz. He was finally rewarded with the duchy of Bavaria on 16 September 1180 at
Altenburg in
Thuringia, after the deposition of Duke
Henry the Lion. But he was so little regarded by many of the Bavarian aristocracy that they are said to have refused him the customary homage. They went so far as to refuse to attend his first court assembly at
Regensburg. 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. 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 ==