Otto II

Otto II (died Jan. 11, 1083) was the duke of Bavaria and also a leading noble in Saxony, the most implacable opponent of the German king Henry IV.

In 1061, Agnes of Poitou, regent for her young son Henry IV, invested Otto with the duchy of Bavaria. The following year, however, he helped Archbishop Anno of Cologne to kidnap Henry IV, an act that deprived Agnes of the regency. From then until the end of Henry’s minority, Otto was prominent in the government of the German state. Along with other Saxon nobles, he did not hesitate to take advantage of Henry’s minority to usurp part of the King’s demesne. In 1070 Otto was accused of complicity in a plot to murder the King and was deprived of his Bavarian and Saxon possessions. Taken prisoner in 1071, he was restored to his lands in Saxony in 1072.

Shortly after the Saxon uprising against Henry IV broke out in 1073, Otto assumed its leadership. The short-lived Peace of Gerstungen (1074) stipulated Otto’s restoration to Bavaria. But when Henry resumed war in June 1075, Otto was taken prisoner again. Around Christmas of that year, however, Henry not only pardoned Otto but also gave him a high administrative post in Saxony.

Nevertheless, after the excommunication and deposition of Henry by Pope Gregory VII over the investiture of bishops (1076), Otto rejoined the Saxon rebels. As soon as his restoration to Bavaria was assured, he assented to the election of Rudolf of Rheinfelden as German king in opposition to Henry (1077). A skillful fighter, Otto inflicted losses on Henry’s forces in 1078 and in January 1080 and won the battle on the Elster River in October of that year; but Rudolf received a mortal wound in the battle. The forces opposing Henry then elected Hermann of Salm as anti-king, but Hermann’s chief military support collapsed with Otto’s death less than three years later.