Otto I. (Tecklenburg)

Otto I. von Tecklenburg (* around 1185; † September 11, 1263 ) was Count of Tecklenburg from 1202 to 1263 .

Life

Otto I was born the son of Simon I von Tecklenburg and Oda von Altena. He followed his father in 1202 as Count of Tecklenburg under the tutelage of his mother and gave his brother Adolf the diocese of Osnabrück . In 1214 he took part in the battle of Bouvines against France, was captured and had to submit to King Frederick II .

From 1217 to 1219 he was the companion of the Bishop of Munster in Egypt and took part in the Damiette crusade . He gave asylum to the murderer of Archbishop Engelbert of Cologne , his cousin Friedrich von Isenberg, was ostracized and banned in 1225/26, lost Iburg and the Bailiwick of Osnabrück, but cleverly prevented the planned destruction of his rule by the Archbishops of Cologne and the Bishops of Osnabrück. He provoked the first Westphalian city alliances with wild feuds against these, the bishops of Munster and the Counts of Ravensberg, and on the other hand he joined the Rhenish League of Cities in 1225.

Despite his feudal desire, Otto I was an important administrator and organizer and secured the country with castles. He rounded off the core area of Tecklenburg through purchase and exchange, acquired customs and minting rights and pledged the Bailiwick of Malgarten to this monastery, another important loss. "Dominium de Tekeneburch" appeared in the sources for the first time in 1246 as an expression of the largely completed territorialization of his rule. In 1231 he had to largely return his father's acquisitions and relied in particular on Oldenburg and Rietberg . In 1246 he won again over Ravensberg and the Bishop of Munster, who were worried about the further expansion of power through the acquisition of Vechta and Vlotho and won everything back. From 1248 he was hardly active anymore, probably broken internally by the death of his son Heinrich, who had remained childless.

After Otto's death, his two sons-in-law Otto II von Bentheim and Heinrich von Oldenburg shared his legacy. Otto received the northern lands, Heinrich the southern possessions. When Heinrich von Oldenburg died childless in 1268, Otto II von Bentheim also inherited his part of the county of Tecklenburg. He then called himself Otto II von Tecklenburg and ruled until 1284.

Descendants

Otto I was with Mechthild von Holstein-Schauenburg (* around 1190, † around 1264), daughter of Count Adolf III. (Schauenburg and Holstein) and Adelheid von Querfurt, married. From this marriage came:

Otto (* around 1215, † after 1226)
Adolf (* around 1216, † before 1238)
Henry III. (* around 1217, † July 25, 1247), Count von Tecklenburg as co-regent, Count von Vechta-Vlotho, Vogt von Metelen, married (1224) to Jutta von Ravensberg (* around 1223, † after 1302)
Oda (* around 1218, † around 1265), abbess of St. Aegidii / Tecklenburg
Heilwig (* around 1219, † around 1264), married (before 1232) to Otto II (* around 1205, † around 1279), Count of Bentheim-Tecklenburg
Eilike (* around 1220, † 1286), married to Berthold I , Count von Ziegenhain (* around 1205, † 1257)
Elisabeth (* around 1222, † after 1268), married to Heinrich IV. Von Oldenburg-Wildeshausen (* around 1205, † around 1271)

Web links

predecessor	Office	successor
Simon I.	Count of Tecklenburg 1202–1263	Otto II.

personal data
SURNAME	Otto I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Otto I of Tecklenburg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Count of Tecklenburg (1202–1263)
DATE OF BIRTH	around 1185
DATE OF DEATH	September 11, 1263