Otto I, Count of Salm ( – 1150) was a German nobleman. He was a ruling count of Salm and from 1125 to 1137, he was co-ruler of the

County Palatine of the Rhine The counts palatine of Lotharingia /counts palatine of the Rhine /electors of the Palatinate (german: Kurfürst von der Pfalz) ruled some part of Rhine area in the Kingdom of Germany and the Holy Roman Empire from 915 to 1803. The title was a kin ...

with his stepson

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

Life

His parents were the German anti-king

Hermann of Salm Herman(n) of Salm ( – 28 September 1088), also known as Herman(n) of Luxembourg, the progenitor of the House of Salm, was Count of Salm and elected German anti-king from 1081 until his death. Life Hermann was a son of Count Giselbert of ...

and his wife Sophia of Formbach. Around 1115, he married Gertrude, the widow of Count Palatine Siegfried of Ballenstedt, daughter and heir of

Henry, Margrave of Frisia Henry the Fat ( – 1101), also known as Henry of Nordheim or Northeim, was Count in Rittigau (part of Liesgau) and Eichsfeld from 1083 onwards, and was the Margrave of Frisia from 14 April 1099 until he was murdered in 1101. He was the father o ...

and

Gertrude of Brunswick Gertrud of Brunswick (german: Gertrud von Braunschweig; – 9 December 1117) was Countess of Katlenburg by marriage to Dietrich II, Count of Katlenburg, Margravine of Frisia by marriage to Henry, Margrave of Frisia, and Margravine of Meissen b ...

. Gertrude was also the sister of Richenza of Northeim, the consort of Emperor

Lothair III Lothair III, sometimes numbered Lothair II and also known as Lothair of Supplinburg (1075 – 4 December 1137), was Holy Roman Emperor from 1133 until his death. He was appointed Duke of Saxony in 1106 and elected King of Germany in 1125 before b ...

. Otto constructed Rheineck Castle and from , he styled himself ''Otto of Rheineck'', after his castle. After his stepson Count Palatine

of the Rhine had died in 1140, he claimed the County Palatine of the Rhine. However, King

Conrad III of Germany Conrad III (german: Konrad; it, Corrado; 1093 or 1094 – 15 February 1152) of the Hohenstaufen dynasty was from 1116 to 1120 Duke of Franconia, from 1127 to 1135 anti-king of his predecessor Lothair III and from 1138 until his death in 1152 ...

, who had been elected in 1138, decided that the County Palatine was a completed fief, and hence fell back to the King, who gave it to his brother-in-law and devoted supporter Herman of Stahleck. Otto managed to keep Treis Castle until 1148, and Rheineck Castle until 1151. In 1148, war broke out between Otto and the Emperor. The Emperor took Treis Castle in 1148, and gave it to the Elector of

Trier Trier ( , ; lb, Tréier ), formerly known in English as Trèves ( ;) and Triers (see also names in other languages), is a city on the banks of the Moselle in Germany. It lies in a valley between low vine-covered hills of red sandstone in the ...

. In 1151, he captured and destroyed Rheineck Castle.

Family

Otto married Gertrude, daughter of

.Schaab, ''Geschichte der Kurpfalz'', p. 30. They had several children, including: * Otto II ( – 1148/1149), fought against Herman of Stahleck to recapture the County Palatine of the Rhine and was taken prisoner in 1148. He was later strangled at Schönburg Castle, near

Oberwesel Oberwesel () is a town on the Middle Rhine in the Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (district) in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' Hunsrück-Mittelrhein, whose seat is in Emmelshausen. Geography Location Oberwesel li ...

in 1148 or 1149 * Sophia, married

Dirk VI, Count of Holland Dirk VI (c. 11145 August 1157) was Count of Holland between 1121 and 1157, at first, during his minority, under the regency of his mother Petronilla. He was the son of Count Floris II. After his death he was succeeded by his eldest son Floris I ...

(d. 6 August 1157) * Beatrix, married Wilbrand I, Margrave of Frisia

References

Johann Christian von Stramberg Johann Christian Hermenegild Joseph Franz de Paula Benjamin von Stramberg (13 October 1785 – 20 July 1868), commonly known as Johann Christian von Stramberg or Christian von Stramberg was a German historian. He was born in Koblenz. He is best ...

: ''Rheinischer Antiquarius'', part III, vol. 5, p. 490 ff *M. Schaab, ''Geschichte der Kurpfalz'' (

Kohlhammer Verlag W. Kohlhammer Verlag GmbH, or Kohlhammer Verlag, is a German publishing house headquartered in Stuttgart. History Kohlhammer Verlag was founded in Stuttgart on 30 April 1866 by . Kohlhammer had taken over the businesses of his late father-in-l ...

1988).

Notes

Counts Palatine of the Rhine Year of birth uncertain Salm family 1080s births 1150 deaths 12th-century German nobility {{Germany-hist-stub