Saint Otto of Bamberg

Otto of Bamberg (1060 or 1061 – 30 June 1139) was a German missionary and papal legate who converted much of medieval Pomerania to Christianity. He was the bishop of Bamberg from 1102 until his death. He was canonized in 1189. Three biographies of Otto were written in the decades after his death. Wolfger of Prüfening wrote his between 1140 and 1146 at Prüfening Abbey; Ebo of Michelsberg wrote between 1151 and 1159); and Herbord of Michelsberg wrote in 1159. According to contemporary sources, Otto was born into a noble (edelfrei) family which held estates in the Swabian Jura. He was related to the Staufers through his mother. A possible descent from the Franconian noble house of Mistelbach has not been conclusively established. As his elder brother inherited their father's property, Otto prepared for an ecclesiastical career and was sent to school, probably in Hirsau Abbey or one of its filial monasteries. When in 1082 the Salian princess Judith of Swabia, sister of Emperor Henry IV, married the Piast duke Władysław I Herman, he followed her as a chaplain to the Polish court. In 1091 he entered the service of emperor Henry IV; he was appointed the emperor's chancellor in 1101 and supervised the construction of Speyer Cathedral. In 1102, the emperor appointed and invested him as Bishop of Bamberg in Franconia (now in the state of Bavaria), and Otto became one of the leading princes of medieval Germany. He consolidated his widely scattered territories and during his tenure as bishop, Bamberg rose to great prominence. Otto established more than 30 monasteries and hospitals between Carinthia and Saxony and had castles built. He helped the population out of his own pocket when they were in need. In 1106 Otto received the pallium from Pope Paschal II. It was Bishop Otto, substituting for the imprisoned archbishop Adalbert of Mainz, who clothed Hildegard of Bingen as a Benedictine nun at Disibodenberg Abbey about 1112.