Otto I, Duke of Carinthia

Otto (died 4 November 1004), called Otto of Worms, was Duke of Carinthia and Margrave of Verona from 978 to 985 and again from 1002 until his death.

A scion of the Salian dynasty from Rhenish Franconia, Otto was the only son of Count Conrad the Red, Duke of Lotharingia from 944, and Liutgarde, daughter of Emperor Otto I and Edith. He is first documented as a count in the Nahegau about 956, he also held the Speyergau and Wormsgau, as well as several other counties in the area.

In 978 Emperor Otto II appointed Count Otto Carinthian duke, after his Luitpolding predecessor Henry I of Carinthia had unsuccessfully rebelled against the Imperial authority during the War of the Three Henries and was deposed. In 985 however, Emperor Otto's widow Theophanu, in order to gain support for the succession of her minor son Otto III, restored Carinthia to the Luitpoldings, and Otto again lost his duchy. He could at least retain the ducal title as "Duke of Worms", received the Kaiserpfalz of Lautern and seized large estates of Wissembourg (Weißenburg) Abbey in compensation.

Upon the death of Duke Henry II of Bavaria in 995, Otto at first received the March of Verona back, while Carinthia passed to Henry's son Duke Henry III of Bavaria. When Emperor Otto III had died in 1002, Otto of Worms and Henry III of Bavaria were candidates for the election as King of the Romans; Otto withdrew and received the Duchy of Carinthia from the newly elected king Henry (then Henry II of Germany) in return. Nevertheless he was forced to cede his Rhenish possessions to his long-time rival Bishop Burchard of Worms.

Otto died two years later, he was succeeded as Carinthian duke by his son, Conrad.

Family

Otto married Judith (died 991), probably a granddaughter of Duke Arnulf the Bad of Bavaria. They had the following known children:

• Henry of Speyer (died before 1000), Count in the Wormsgau
• Brun (died 999), ruled as Pope Gregory V from 996
• Conrad I, Duke of Carinthia (1004-1011)
• William, Bishop of Strasbourg (1028-1047)