Otto I, Duke of Swabia

Duke of Swabia

The following is a list of Dukes of Swabia in southwest Germany.Swabia was one of the five stem duchies of the medieval German kingdom, and its dukes were thus among the most powerful magnates of Germany. The most notable family to hold Swabia were the Hohenstaufen, who held it, with a brief...

 and Bavaria (955–982) was the son of Liodolf of Swabia

Liudolf, Duke of Swabia

Liudolf was the duke of Swabia from 950 until 954. He was the only son of Otto I, king of Germany, from his wife Eadgyth, daughter of Edward the Elder, king of England....

 and his wife Ida, and thus a grandson of the Emperor Otto I

Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I the Great , son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda of Ringelheim, was Duke of Saxony, King of Germany, King of Italy, and "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy" according to Arnulf of Milan...

 and his Anglo-Saxon wife Eadgyth

Eadgyth

Edith of England , also spelt Eadgyth or Ædgyth, was the daughter of Edward the Elder, and the wife of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor.-Life:...

 (and, through Eadgyth, the great-grandson of Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...

). His sister Mathilda was abess of a canoness monastery in Essen.

He was Duke of Swabia from 973

973

Year 973 was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Edgar of England is crowned king by Saint Dunstan.* Otto II becomes Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany....

 to 982

982

Year 982 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Americas :* Greenland is discovered by Erik the Red .- Asia :...

 and was made Duke of Bavaria in 976

976

Year 976 was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Byzantine Empire :* January 10 – Basil II becomes Eastern Roman Emperor .- Europe :...

, after Henry the Wrangler lost his Bavarian possessions for rebelling against the emperor Otto II. He was a confidant of Otto II in the War of the Three Henries

War of the Three Henries (977-978)

The War of the Three Henries was a brief rebellion of three German leaders, all called Henry, against the Holy Roman Emperor Otto II in 977. While Otto was campaigning against Boleslaus II of Bohemia, a conspiracy arose in Bavaria...

, and in 982

982

Year 982 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Americas :* Greenland is discovered by Erik the Red .- Asia :...

 accompanied him on his Italian campaign against the Arabs. He survived the defeat of the Imperial army

Battle of Stilo

The Battle of Stilo or Cape Colonna was fought on 13 or 14 July 982 near Crotone in Calabria between the forces of the Emperor Otto II and his Italo-Lombard allies and those of the Kalbid emir of Sicily, Abu al-Qasim...

 near Crotone

Crotone

Crotone is a city and comune in Calabria, southern Italy, on the Ionian Sea. Founded circa 710 BC as the Achaean colony of Croton , it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until 1928, when its name was changed to the current one. In 1994 it became the capital of the newly established...

 on July 13, 982 and a subsequent ambush by an Arab force. Otto assigned him to take the news of the campaign back to Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, but he died en route on November 1, 982 in Lucca

Lucca

Lucca is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plainnear the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca...

. He was buried in Aschaffenburg

Aschaffenburg

Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...

.

His sister Mathilda endowed a precious crux gemmata

Crux Gemmata

A crux gemmata is a form of cross typical of Early Christian and Early Medieval art, where the cross, or at least its front side, is principally decorated with jewels...

 (jewelled cross) which is still kept in the treasury of Essen cathedral for his remembrance, the siblings are pictured on it.