Otto I Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Duke Otto I 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 1886-1913 .

Duke Otto I of Bavaria (1117, Kelheim – 11 July 1183, Pfullendorf, (German: Otto I Wittelsbach , Herzog von Bayern), since 1180 Duke of Bavaria. He was a son of Count Otto IV of Wittelsbach and a brother of Conrad I, Archbishop of Mainz (1161-1165 and 1183-1200) who was as Conrad III also Archbishop of Salzburg (1177-1183).

As one of the best knights in the suite of Frederick I who had prevented a defeat of the Emperor near Verona in 1155, Otto was finally rewarded with the duchy of Bavaria in 1180 after the fall of Henry the Lion. But with the separation of Styria in the same year Bavaria lost the last of her southeastern territories. Otto's family ruled Bavaria until the revolution in 1918.

Preceded by: Henry XII

Duke of Bavaria 1180–1183

Succeeded by: Louis I