Otto II, Duke of Bavaria


Otto II of Bavaria known as Otto the Illustrious was the Duke of Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine. He was the son of Ludwig I and Ludmilla of Bohemia and a member of the Wittelsbach dynasty.

Life

Otto was born at Kelheim.
At the age of sixteen, he was married to Agnes of the Palatinate, a granddaughter of Duke Henry the Lion and Conrad of Hohenstaufen. With this marriage, the Wittelsbach inherited the Palatinate and kept it as a Wittelsbach possession until 1918. Since that time also the lion has become a heraldic symbol in the coat of arms for Bavaria and the Palatinate.
Otto acquired the rich regions of Bogen in 1240, and Andechs and Ortenburg in 1248 as possessions for the Wittelsbach and extended his power base in Bavaria this way. With the county of Bogen the Wittelsbach acquired also the white and blue coloured lozenge flag which since that time has been the flag of Bavaria.
After a dispute with emperor Frederick II was ended, he joined the Hohenstaufen party in 1241. His daughter, Elizabeth, was married to Frederick's son Conrad IV. Because of this, Otto was excommunicated by the pope.
He died in Landshut in 1253. Like his forefathers, Otto was buried in the crypt of Scheyern Abbey.

Family and children

Otto married Agnes, the daughter of Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine and Agnes of Hohenstaufen, in Worms in 1222. Their children were:
  1. Ludwig I, Duke of Upper Bavaria.
  2. Henry I, Duke of Lower Bavaria, married to:
  3. # September 1246 in Vohburg to Conrad IV of Germany;
  4. # 1259 in Munich to Count Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol, Duke of Carinthia.
  5. Sophie, married 1258 to Count Gerhard IV of Sulzbach and Hirschberg.
  6. Agnes, Nun in Segenstal Abbey

    Ancestors