Otho

or Otto I (912-973), one of the great rulers of Germany. His father was Henry I. He was crowned king of Germany at Aix-la-Chapelle in 936. When he came to the throne Germany was a country lying along the Rhine. It was Otho who developed the policy of extending Germany eastward to include its present territory. He added Bavaria, Bohemia, northeastern Prussia, and other territory to his dominions. He repelled the Bulgarians, driving them permanently into the valley of the Danube where they still dwell. He instituted many reforms within his dominions. He reduced the powerful dukes to at least nominal obedience to the crown. Taking advantage of the troubles of Italian rulers, he crossed the Alps with an army, and in time brought about his own coronation as king of Italy. Still later, in 962, through the influence of the Catholic clergy to whom he had ever been a fast friend, he was crowned emperor by the pope at Rome. This combination of Germany and Italy is known in history as The Holy Roman Empire of the German People. It was a revival of the empire of Charlemagne,--a recognition of the notion prevailing at the time that the world should have two heads, one spiritual, one temporal, that all Christians, through their churches, should be united under the spiritual leadership of the pope, and that all peoples, through their rulers, should be united under the temporal leadership of an emperor. Theoretically, any Christian might aspire to become pope, and any Christian might hope to be elected emperor. As a matter of fact, the imperial office became for centuries a perquisite of the German kings.