Otto I (English: Otto I, German: Otto der Gro ß e, Italian: Ottone il Grande; November 23, 912-May 7, 973), also translated into Otto I, King of Germany (936-May 7, 973), the first Holy Roman Emperor of the Saxony Dynasty (February 2, 962-May 7, 973). The son of King Henry I of Germany, whose mother is Matilda of Linerheim.
He was first elected Duke of Saxony, and was elected King by the Duke of the German Tribe in 936. In 936, he was crowned by the Archbishop of Mainz Hildbert in Aachen. After his accession to the throne, Otto continued to carry out expeditions from east to west, actively attacked the feudal separatist forces, maintained the centralized power of the royal family, and adopted a long-term foreign expansion policy, becoming the most powerful monarch in the European continent at that time, known as the "Great Emperor".

In 936, Otto, the son of Henry, the bird catcher, was elected king. During Otto's reign, he actively attacked the local duke's power. Under his iron-handed means, the rebellion of the principalities of Bavaria, Frankia, Lorraine and so on were all suppressed. Otto appointed the dukes of all the principalities in the form of appointing trusted ones. All the dukes needed to swear allegiance to him. In addition, Otto also supported the church against the local nobles and adopted the imperial church system to strengthen the rule. In 951, Otto was crowned king of Lombardy, and formally obtained the iron crown of Lombardy. At the same time, Burgundy and France were also included in the sphere of influence. Even Louis IV of Caroline had to rely on Otto to fight against the Cappe family, the domestic power minister. Otto defeated Mazar's army in the battle of Lechifid in 955. Otto was known as "the father of Germany" and "Otto the Great". In 962, Otto sent troops to Rome and was officially crowned as "Emperor" and "Augustus". After the coronation, Otto and the Pope signed the Otto Privilege Agreement, the core content of which was that the Pope could not ascend the throne of St. Peter without the permission of the emperor, the Pope swore to defend the emperor, and the emperor swore to defend the Pope. In addition, Otto further granted the Pope property, which showed that he was the Pope's patriarch and protector. Externally, Otto also married the Byzantine emperor John I, and the Byzantine princess Diofano married Otto II, further winning the legitimacy of the Roman Empire for the empire.

His father Henry passed on from generation to generation, knowing that he was catching birds when he was elected Duke, so he was nicknamed "Bird Catcher". Henry often rebelled when Conrad I, the Duke of Frankia, became king of East Frank.
In 915, Henry defeated Conrad I. However, Conrad I kindly recommended Henry as the heir to the throne. As a compromise, Henry I, after becoming king, allowed Conrad's brother, the Duke of Frankia, Eberhad, to fully autonomy, so that he did not have any requirements for the new king. When Henry I was crowned, he refused to hold the anointing ceremony and any other religious ceremony. Therefore, in the religious sense, Henry was not a legitimate king. So another nickname of Henry I is "sword without handle".
During the reign of Henry I, the power of some tribal principalities rose, and they obtained various privileges on the condition of recognizing Henry I, especially the principalities of Bavaria and Swaben. Henry I ruled mainly on his own territory. In order to resist the invasion of the Mazars, Henry built many castles and cavalry in the east of Saxony. However, Henry I did not always win the battle with the Mazar people. In 924, he had to make peace with the Mazar people and pay tribute.
In 925, Henry incorporated Lorraine into the Eastern Kingdom.
Henry I was the first Germanic monarch to attack the Slavs. He crossed the Elbe River in 928 and captured the Slavic stronghold of Brownebel. This place later developed into Brandenburg.
Matilda, the mother's holy wife, is a descendant of the famous Saxon hero Widogan.

historical background
At the beginning of the 10th century, the Eastern Frankish Kingdom (the Kingdom of Germany) has formed a number of principalities, including Saxony, Frankia, Bavaria, Swaben, Lorraine, and Thuringen. Among them, the Principality of Saxony is the largest. In 919, Henry I, the "bird catcher" of Otto's father and Duke of Saxony, was elected as the King of Germany. He devoted his life to maintaining the alliance between the German principalities and resisting the invasion of the Mazars in Eastern Europe, He has built a strong army, and his efforts have made full preparations for the coming of a great era.
Otto I
Otto I
In 936, Henry the "bird catcher" died. Otto inherited his father and became the new Duke of Saxony, and was elected king of Germany in the same year. His achievements in his life were integrated into his many wars. His martial arts can be divided into three parts: calming the rebellion of the principalities within Germany and consolidating the German state; Defeat the invasion of the Mazar people in Eastern Europe and expand the empire eastward; Invade Italy, manipulate the Pope, and crowned emperor.
In 933, Henry I defeated the Mazars near Riad in Thuringen, breaking the myth that the Mazars were invincible, and temporarily stopped their invasion of the Eastern Kingdom.
In 955, the Saxon army of the German Kingdom fought a decisive battle against the invasion of the Mazars near Ogsburg on the banks of the Lacy River, also known as the Battle of Lacefeld. After the Mazar people appeared at the eastern border of Bavaria in 862, they often plundered all parts of Germany.
In 955, more than ten thousand Mazar cavalry troops invaded Bavaria and Swaben and surrounded Augsburg. King Otto I of Germany led the royal family, Bavaria, Czech Republic and other eight troops, together with the cavalry who broke through from Augsburg, fought against the Mazars on August 10 and won. In order to cut off the Mazzar retreat, Otto I deployed his troops on the right bank of the upper reaches of the Laisi River, about 6 kilometers from Augsburg. The next day, he smashed the Mazzar's attempt to cross the river, and repelled the Mazzar's roundabout troops. Then he led the army to attack and completely defeated the Mazzar people on the third day after fierce fighting. This war completely prevented the Mazars from moving westward and defended the independence of the German kingdom.
Initial accession to the throne
When Otto first ascended the throne, he found himself surrounded by dangerous enemies. In 937, his half-brother Tang Kemar led a group of Saxony nobles to challenge him first, and then the Duke of Frank, Bavaria, Lorraine and other dukes responded in succession, trying to get a share of the rebellion. At this time, Otos, who had just entered the treasure, did not appear immature. He took his time and used the middle aristocracy to oppose the big aristocracy, and soon disintegrated the anti-king alliance. Tang Kemar committed suicide after the surrender to Otto. Duke Frank was forced to make peace. Otto took it easy to clean up Bavaria, drove out Duke Arnolf, and appointed his brother Betterholt to the throne, but at the same time took back a considerable part of the power of the Duke of Bavaria. After Betterholt died in 944, Otto appointed his brother Henry as the Duke of Bavaria.
Consolidating the German state
Germany's expansion of Eastern Europe made a breakthrough in Otto's period. In 950, the Duke of Bohemia paid tribute to Otto. But Otto is facing a serious problem in Eastern Europe that has long plagued the Germans - the fierce barbarian Mazars.
In 954, the Mazar people invaded. In the Battle of Lesifeld in 955, Otto led the German and Bohemian Allied Forces, almost completely annihilated the Mazar cavalry and relieved the threat of the Mazar people. In the era of cold weapons, it is a great event that any army that has entered the civilized society can defeat the barbarian army. Otto's prestige in his life mainly comes from this victory, and he is honored as "the great Otto" and "the father of the motherland".
suppress the rebellion
In 939, Duke Frank and Duke Lorraine joined forces to launch a war against the king. Otto defeated them with the support of the Duke of Swaben. Otto placed most of the Frankland and Lorraine under his direct control and appointed his son-in-law as the Duke of Lorraine. After the death of the Duke of Swaben, he appointed his own son Rudolph as the Duke of Swaben. In this way, Otto controlled most of Germany within a few years of his accession to the throne: Saxony and Frankia were ruled by the king himself, while Bavaria, Swaben and Lorraine were ruled by the king's brother, son and son-in-law respectively.
In 953, Otto's son and son-in-law were dissatisfied with Otto because of the distribution of rights in Italy, and joined hands with the Archbishop of Mainz to oppose the king. Otto took advantage of the German nobles' fear of the invasion of the Mazars to unite them under their own banner and soon defeated the rebels. In 954, the Imperial Conference was convened to redistribute the land and put all the principalities under the control of people he trusted. Since then, Otto's authority has never been challenged in Germany.
March into Italy
Oto's other action that had a significant impact on history was his attack on Italy, which created a tradition from then on: every German king who had done something would march into Italy and be crowned emperor in Italy. Otto's Italian policy stems more from his desire for power, reputation and wealth. In 961, in order to get rid of the control of Italian urban aristocracy, Pope John XII asked Otto for help. Otto led his army across the Alps, quickly quelled the rebellion in Rome, annexed the Lombard country, and righted the Pope's position.
On February 2, 962, Pope John XII crowned Otto at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, and Otto became the emperor of the "Holy Roman Empire". Eleven days after the coronation of the emperor, Pope John XII was abolished and Leo VIII was established as the pope, and the Otto Privilege Agreement signed with the pope confirmed that the pope was absolutely loyal to the emperor and the pope, and the succession of the church was determined by the emperor (the content of the agreement was gradually invalid in later generations). The monarchy and theocracy were close together, and the emperor's rights were extremely higher than theocracy. This agreement also created a precedent for the monarch to determine the successor of the pope, In order to maintain his control over the Pope, he marched into Rome twice. Otto also marched into southern Italy. Although he did not succeed in challenging Byzantium, he was recognized by Byzantium for his status.
At that time, many people believed that Italy belonged to a part of the property of the German king who was also the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

The most influential measure in Otto's internal affairs is to make the diocese a fiefdom, and the bishops enjoy all the secular rights of the lord, which makes the bishops become the solid pillar of Otto's huge empire. In the process of the eastward expansion of the empire, the church's ideological activities also contributed significantly. In order to maintain the long-term rule of the newly conquered Slavic settlements, Otto has newly established the Archdiocese of Magdeburg, Quedrinburg, Meizeburg, Meisen and other dioceses in these areas. This period is of great significance in the process of Slavic Christianization.

Italy is located at the heart of the east-west trade. Its cities such as Venice, Genoa, Milan, Florence and so on are well known in Europe. The German feudal lords have long coveted them. The chaos of the Italian political situation gave the invaders an opportunity to take advantage of it: the northern princes such as Evrea and Spolleto fought against each other for the crown, while the southern part was the sphere of influence of Byzantine and Arabs. The Pope is very corrupt. The Roman aristocracy Theo Flecht and his wife and daughter manipulated the abolition of the Pope for half a century, which caused widespread dissatisfaction from all walks of life.
In 955, Pope John XII (955-964) ascended the throne. His life was dissolute, extravagant and flagrant. Some officials in the Holy See were determined to get rid of him and hand over power to the King of Saxony. They sent envoys to see Otto and invited him to Italy and Rome. In 961, Otto led a large number of people into Italy and was crowned Augustus at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome in February of the following year. In this way, nearly 500 years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, another "Roman Empire" emerged, and later even called "Holy Roman Empire", which means that it has the right to govern all Christian kingdoms and is the true successor of the Christian ancient Roman Empire. From then on, every German king wanted to repeat the coronation ceremony in Rome after he came to power, which was a great honor.
In the last ten years of Otto's reign, he concentrated on attacking Italy, repeatedly manipulated the abolition of the Pope, and tried to guide Italy, thus clashing with the Byzantine and Arab forces occupying there. In 970, Otto and Byzantine negotiated peace, and was forced to give up his ambitions for southern Italy, and let his son, later Otto II, marry Theofino, daughter of Byzantine Emperor Romenus II. Otto II (who reigned from 973 to 983) inherited his father's will and once occupied Naples and Taranto, but was defeated by the Arabs in 982. In 983, he planned to set up a 3-year-old prince (regent by his grandmother and empress), determined to break the boat and enter Italy, but failed. He died in Rome. Otto III (who was in office from 983 to 1002) made several expeditions to Italy, and also died in Rome; When his body was transported to the north of Verona, it was attacked by local residents.
The conquest of Italy by Otto I and his successors brought misery and disaster not only to the Italian people, but also to the German nation. They spend all their lives in the war, and often take one thing and lose the other, and are exhausted. In this way, the cause of national reunification, which is already in sight, has finally come to naught. Engels said: "Although there is no economic connection within Germany, it would have been achieved and may even be achieved earlier (for example, in the Otto period)." However, "the title of the Roman emperor and the resulting ambition to dominate Europe make it impossible for the nation-state to form, and make the strength exhausted in the previous conquest of Italy."