man Otto I "The Great, " Holy Roman Emperor‏‎, son of Henry I "The Fowler, " Emperor Of German and Mathilda Von Ringleheim‏.
Born ‎ Nov 23, 912, died ‎ May 27, 973 at Memleben‎, 60 years
Name Suffix: " Holy Roman Emperor
Otto I, byname OTTO THE GREAT, German OTTO DER GROSSE (b. Nov. 23, 912--d. May 7, 973, Memleben, Thuringia), duke of Saxony (as Otto II, 936-961), German king (from 936), and Holy Roman emperor (962-973), who consolidated the German Reich by his suppression of rebellious vassals and his decisive victory over the Hungarians. His use of the church as a stabilizing influence created a secure empire and stimulated a cultural renaissance.
Early years.
Otto was the son of the future king Henry I, of the Liudolfing, or Saxon, dynasty, and his second wife, Matilda. Little is known of his early years, but he probably shared in some of his father's campaigns. He married Edith, daughter of the English king Edward the Elder, in 930; she obtained as her dowry the flourishing town of Magdeburg. Nominated by Henry as his successor, Otto was elected king by the German dukes at Aachen on Aug. 7, 936, a month after Henry's death, and crowned by the archbishops of Mainz and Cologne.
While Henry I had controlled his vassal dukes only with difficulty, the new king firmly asserted his suzerainty over them. This led immediately to war, especially with Eberhard of Franconia and his namesake, Eberhard of Bavaria, who were joined by discontented Saxon nobles under the leadership of Otto's half-brother Thankmar. Thankmar was defeated and killed, the Franconian Eberhard submitted to the King, and Eberhard of Bavaria was deposed and outlawed. In 939, however, Otto's younger brother Henry revolted; he was joined by Eberhard of Franconia and by Giselbert of Lotharingia and supported by the French king Louis IV. Otto was again victorious: Eberhard fell in battle, Giselbert was drowned in flight, and Henry submitted to his brother. Nevertheless, in 941 Henry joined a conspiracy to murder the King. This was discovered in time, and, whereas the other conspirators were punished, Henry was again forgiven. Thenceforward he remained faithful to his brother and, in 947, was given the dukedom of Bavaria. The other German dukedoms were likewise bestowed on relatives of Otto.
Foreign conquests.
Despite these internal difficulties, Otto found time to strengthen and to extend the frontiers of the kingdom. In the east the margraves Gero and Hermann Billung were successful against the Slavs, and their gains were consolidated by the founding of the Monastery of St. Maurice in Magdeburg, in 937, and of two bishoprics, in 948. In the north, three bishoprics (followed in 968 by a fourth) were founded to extend the Christian mission in Denmark. Otto's first campaign in Bohemia was, however, a failure, and it was not until 950 that the Bohemian prince Boleslav I was forced to submit and to pay tribute.
Having thus strengthened his own position, Otto could not only resist France's claims to Lorraine (Lotharingia) but also act as mediator in France's internal troubles. Similarly, he extended his influence into Burgundy. Moreover, when the Burgundian princess Adelaide, the widowed queen of Italy whom the margrave Berengar of Ivrea had taken prisoner, appealed to him for help, Otto marched into Italy in 951, assumed the title of king of the Lombards, and married Adelaide himself, his first wife having died in 946. In 952 Berengar did homage to him as his vassal for the kingdom of Italy.
Otto had to break off his first Italian campaign because of a revolt in Germany, where Liudolf, his son by Edith, had risen against him with the aid of several magnates. Otto found himself compelled to withdraw to Saxony; but the position of the rebels began to deteriorate when the Magyars invaded Germany in 954, for the rebels could now be accused of complicity with the enemies of the Reich. After prolonged fighting, Liudolf had to submit in 955. This made it possible for Otto to defeat the Magyars decisively in the Battle of the Lechfeld, near Augsburg, in August 955; they never invaded Germany again. In the same year Otto and the margrave Gero also

Married/ Related to:

woman Princess Of England Eadgyth‏‎, daughter of Edward "The Elder", " King Of England and Aelflaed Of Wiltshire, Queen Of England‏.
Died ‎ Jan 26, 945-946 at Germany

CHAN17 May 2004

Child:

1.
woman Liutgard Of Saxony‏
Born ‎± 931, died ‎ Nov 18, 953‎, approximately 22 years


2nd marriage/ relation
man Otto I "The Great, " Holy Roman Emperor‏‎, son of Henry I "The Fowler, " Emperor Of German and Mathilda Von Ringleheim‏.

Married/ Related to:

woman UNKNOWN Unknown‏‎

Still Living.

CHAN17 May 2004

Child:

1.
woman Princess Of Germany Richilde‏
Born ‎± 925, died ‎ 999‎, approximately 74 years


3rd marriage
man Otto I "The Great, " Holy Roman Emperor‏‎, son of Henry I "The Fowler, " Emperor Of German and Mathilda Von Ringleheim‏.

Married ‎ Oct 951 (21 years married) to:

woman Adelaide Of Burgundy‏‎, daughter of II Rudolf, King Of Both Burgundies and Bertha Of Swabia‏.
Born ‎± 931, died ‎ Dec 16, 999 at Seltz, Alsace, France‎, approximately 68 years, buried ‎ at Convent Of Saints Peter And Paul, Seltz, Alsace
ADELAIDE (ADELHEID) German ADELHEID DIE HEILIGE, French SAINTE ADÉLAÏDE, Italian SANTA ADELAIDE (b. 931--d. Dec. 16, 999, Seltz, Alsace [now in France]; feast day December 16), was the daughter of Rudolph II of Burgundy, and married, in 947, Lothair, who succeeded his father Hugh as king of Italy. Lothair died in 950 and Adelaide was imprisoned at Como by his successor, Berengar II, marquis of Ivrea, who wished to compel her to marry his son Adalbert. After four months (Aug. 951) she escaped and took refuge at Canossa with Atto, count of Modena-Reggio. Meanwhile Otto I, the German king, whose English wife, Edgitha, had died in 946, came to Italy. Adelaide met him at Pavia, asked him to help her regain the throne. Otto marched into Lombardy (September 951), declared himself king, and married her (December 951). On Feb. 2, 962, she was crowned empress at Rome by Pope John XXII immediately after her husband, and she accompanied Otto in 966 on his third expedition to Italy, where she remained with him for six years. She devoted her time to promoting Cluniac monasticism and to strengthening the allegiance of the German church to the emperor.
After Otto I's death (May 7, 973), Adelaide exercised for some years a controlling influence over her son, the new emperor, Otto II, until their estrangement in 978. The causes of their estrangement are obscure, but it was possibly due to the empress' lavish expenditure in charity and church building, which was a serious drain on the imperial finances. In 978 she left the court and lived partly in Italy, partly with her brother Conrad, king of Burgundy, by whose mediation she was ultimately reconciled to her son. In 983, shortly before his death, Otto appointed her his regent in Italy, and, in concert with the Empress Theophano, widow of Otto II, and Archbishop Wiligis of Mainz, defended the right of her infant grandson, Otto III, to the German crown against the pretensions of Henry the Quarrelsome, duke of Bavaria.
In June 984 the infant king was handed over by Henry to the care of the two empresses; but the masterful will of Theophano the Greek empress soon obtained the upper hand. Adelaide lived in Lombardy from 985 to 991and had no voice in German affairs. After the death of Theophano on June 15, 991, Adelaide returned to Germany to serve as sole regent, in concert with Archbishop Willigis and a council of princes of the empire, and held it until Otto was declared of age in 995. In 996 the young king went to Italy to receive the imperial crown, and from this date Adelaide retired from court life, devoting herself to pious exercises, to correspondence with the abbots Majolus and Odilo of Cluny, and to the foundation of churches and religious houses. She died on Dec. 17, 999, and was buried in the convent of Saints Peter and Paul, her favorite foundation, at Salz in Alsace. By the emperor Otto I she had four children: Otto II (d. 983); Mathilda, abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 999); Adelheid (Adelaide), abbess of Essen (d. 974); and Liutgard

CHAN17 May 2004

Child:

1.
man II Otto, Holy Roman Emperor‏
Born ‎ 955, died ‎ Dec 7, 983‎, 27 or 28 years
Name Suffix: Holy Roman Emperor
Otto II (b. 955--d. Dec. 7, 983, Rome), German king from 961 and Holy Roman emperor from 967, sole ruler from 973, son of Otto I and his second wife, Adelaide.
Otto continued his father's policies of promoting a strong monarchy in Germany and of extending the influence of his house in Italy. In 961 he was crowned co-regent king of Italy and Germany with his father and was made co-regent emperor in 967. On April 14, 972, he married the Byzantine princess Theophano. At his father's death in 973 he was accepted without opposition as successor, although revolts in the duchy of Bavaria and in Lorraine occupied the early years of his reign. Bavaria, the most independent of the duchies, rebelled in 974, under the leadership of its duke, Henry II the Quarrelsome, Otto's cousin. It was not until 978 that Bavaria was pacified, the same year that Lothair, king of France, invaded Lorraine. In 979 Otto received the submission of Bohemia and Poland, and in 980 Lothair renounced his claim to Lorraine. Having thus secured his German dominions, Otto marched into Italy in 980, where German rule had been maintained by an imperial party headed by Hugh, marquis of Tuscany. Otto invaded southern Italy and was decisively defeated there by the Arabs in 982. In 983 he summoned a diet at Verona, where his young son, Otto III, was crowned German king. Otto II died in 983 while attempting to bring Venice under imperial control. His absence from Germany had occasioned revolts along its borders, and after his defeat in Calabria in 982 the German position east of the Elbe collapsed because of a revolt by the Danes and an invasion by the Slavs. Nonetheless, Otto left a firmly established realm to his son and successor Otto III