Background
Otto was born into a noble family in Mistelbach, Franconia. His elder brother inherited his father"s property and Otto was sent to school.
Otto was born into a noble family in Mistelbach, Franconia. His elder brother inherited his father"s property and Otto was sent to school.
Serving initially in the household of Duke Władysław I Herman of Poland, he entered the service of the Emperor Henry IV in 1090 and was appointed Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1101. 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. As a consequence, he was suspended by a papal party at the Synod of Fritzlar in 1118.
At the Congress of Würzburg in 1121 Otto successfully negotiated the peace treaty, the Concordat of Worms, which was signed in 1122 at Worms.
As bishop, Otto led a model, simple and frugal life, but did much to improve his ecclesiastical and temporal realms. He restored and completed Bamberg Cathedral after it had been damaged by fire in 1081, improved the cathedral school, established numerous monasteries and built a number of churches throughout his territory and in Pomerania, and greatly expanded the town of Bamberg, rebuilding the Monastery of Saint Michael, which had been destroyed by an earthquake around 1117.
Otto was sent on his mission by the Duke of Poland Bolesław III Wrymouth. As the official papal legate, he converted a large number of Pomeranians, notably in the towns of Pyrzyce, Kamień, Szczecin, and Wolin, and established eleven churches, and became known as the "Apostle of Pomerania."
In the Diet of Usedom, he succeeded in converting all the nobles, converted further communities, and sent priests from Bamberg to serve in Pomerania.
His intent to consecrate a bishop for Pomerania was thwarted by the bishops of Magdeburg and Gniezno who claimed metropolitan rights over Pomerania.
lieutenant was Bishop Otto who clothed Saint Hildegard of Bingen as a Benedictine nun. Otto died on 30 June 1139, and was buried in Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg. He was canonised in 1189 by Pope Clement III. Although he died on 30 June, his name is recorded in the Roman martyrology on 2 July.