Otto-William of Burgundy

Otto-William (; ; 958 – 21 September 1026) was count of Mâcon, Nevers, and Burgundy.

Life Otto was born cca. 958 during the joint reign of his grandfather, King Berengar II of Italy, and his father, King Adalbert. His mother was Gerberga.

After Adalbert's death in 971/5, Gerberga married for a second time, to Henry I, Duke of Burgundy, the younger brother of King Hugh Capet.Schwennicke, Europäische Stammtafeln, tables 10, 59. Gerberga and Henry had no children together. Since Henry had no legitimate son of his own, he adopted Otto-William making him a possible heir of the Duchy of Burgundy.Bouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister, p. 267.

While the son of a king, Otto did not seek a royal wife.Constance Brittain Bouchard, Those of My Blood: Creating Noble Families in Medieval Francia (Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001), p. 50 In , he married Ermentrude of Roucy, whose maternal grandmother, Gerberga of Saxony, was a sister of Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, and by this marriage alliance created a web of consanguinity between later kings of France, Germany, Burgundy and the Carolingians. Even Otto's children's spouses, although from great families, came from widespread and scattered parts of France.

This marriage brought to Otto-William the County of Mâcon as well asBouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister, p. 265 many other rights on the left bank of the Saône in the province of Besançon. The new Count of Mâcon consolidated there his political grip making what would be later be the Free County of Burgundy around Dole.

From his mother Otto could have inherited the County of Nevers before 990.W. Scott Jessee, Robert the Burgundian and the Counts of Anjou, Ca. 1025-1098 (USA: The Catholic University of America Press. 2000), p. 15 However he left Nevers to his stepson Landric and rather claimed the County of Beaune in which the dowry of Gerberga was.

The Duchy of Burgundy was eventually annexed to the crown of France by King Robert II, nephew of Henry I, Duke of Burgundy, in 1005.

On the left-bank of the Saône, determined to be sovereign ruler of his own lands, Otto revolted against the Emperor Henry II in 1016. This was after Rudolph III of Burgundy, the last king of Burgundy and Arles, had done homage to Henry at Strasbourg, making him his guard and heir. On Otto's death, the Free County fell under the suzerainty of the German emperors.

Otto died on 21 September 1026 at the age of 64David Douglas, 'Some Problems of Early Norman Chronology', The English Historical Review, Vol. 65, No. 256, (July 1950), p. 298 and was buried in St-Benigne of Dijon.

Marriages and issue

Otto's first wife was Ermentrude of Roucy. She bore Otto's issue: Guy (–1006) had been associated as count of Mâcon from 995. Matilda, married Landri of Nevers, Count of Nevers.Bouchard, Sword, Miter, and Cloister, p. 33. Gerberga, married William II, Count of Provence. Reginald I, Count of Burgundy (–1057). He was married to Alice of Normandy. Agnes of Burgundy, Duchess of Aquitaine

Otto remarried late in life to a wife named Adelaide. Some scholars have identified her as the four-times widowed Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou,Constance B. Bouchard, 'The Origins of the French Nobility: A Reassessment', The American Historical Review, Vol. 86, No. 3 (Jun., 1981), pp. 515–16. but the identity is not directly attestedThierry Stasser, "Adélaïde d'Anjou, sa famille, ses unions, sa descendance - Etat de las question", Le Moyen Âge 103 (1997): 9-52 and has been disputed by some studying the question.Christian Settipani, La Noblesse du Midi Carolingien (Prosopographia et Genealogica 5, 2004), p. 313, note 2

Otto-William of Burgundy

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