Otto the Great

Otto I the Great (912–973), eldest son of Henry the Fowler and Matilda, was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962. Crowned at Aachen on 7 August 936 in Frankish dress as Charlemagne's successor, he tied the great duchies to his family by marriage. His brother Henry rebelled twice before becoming Duke of Bavaria in 948.

His destruction of the Magyars at the Lechfeld in 955 ended their raids on the west and earned him the name of saviour of Christendom. He married Adelaide, and on 2 February 962 Pope John XII crowned him emperor in Rome. When John XII plotted against him, Otto deposed him and installed Leo VIII.

He died at Memleben, his father's deathplace, on 7 May 973, and was buried beside his first wife Eadgyth at Magdeburg. Otto II succeeded, though the rebuilt empire was too large for its administration.