Notes |
- Otto succeeded his father as king of the Germans in 936. He arranged
for his coronation to be held in Charlemagne's former capital, Aachen.
According to the Saxon historian Widukind of Corvey, at his coronation
banquet, he compelled his four most powerful dukes to act as his
personal servants, Arnulf of Bavaria as a stablehand, Herman of Swabia
as his cupbearer, Eberhard III of Franconia as a steward, and Gilbert
of Lorraine as chamberlain.
In 938, a rich vein of silver was discovered at the Rammelsberg in
Saxony. This ore body would provide much of Europe's silver, copper,
and lead for the next two hundred years, and this mineral wealth
helped fund Otto's exploits throughout his reign.
Otto's early reign was marked by a series of ducal revolts. In 938,
Eberhard , the new duke of Bavaria, refused to pay Otto homage. When
Otto deposed him in favor of his uncle Berthold , Eberhard of
Franconia revolted, together with several of the Saxon nobility, who
tried to depose Otto in favor of his illegitimate half-brother
Thankmar. While Otto was able to defeat and kill Thankmar, the revolt
continued the next year when Gilbert duke of Lorraine swore fealty to
King Louis IV of France. Meanwhile, Otto's younger brother Henry
conspired with the Archbishop of Mainz to assassinate him. The
rebellion ended in 939 with Otto's victory at the Battle of Andernach
, where the dukes of Franconia and Lorraine both perished. Henry fled
to France, and Otto responded by supporting Hugh the Great in his
campaign against the French crown, but in 941 Otto and Henry were
reconciled through the efforts of their mother, and the next year,
Otto withdrew from France after Louis recognized his authority over
Lorraine.
To prevent further revolts, Otto arranged for all the important
duchies in the German kingdom to be held by close family members. He
kept the now-vacant duchy of Franconia as a personal possession, while
in 944 he bestowed the duchy of Lorraine upon Conrad the Red , who
later married his daughter Liutgard. Meanwhile, he arranged for his
son Liutdolf to marry Ida, the daughter of Duke Herman of Swabia, and
to inherit that duchy when Herman died in 947. A similar arrangement
led to Henry becoming duke of Bavaria in 949.
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