Otto, Count of Looz

Otto (died 1016), Count of Looz, son of either Nibelung, Count of Betuwe, or Rudolf, Count of Betuwe. His existence was long unknown and the list of the counts of Looz traditionally begins with Gislebert.

The Gesta Abbatum Trudonensium tells of the installation of Baldrick II as Prince-Bishop of Liege, and that he was the brother of Gislebert, Count of Looz, and, further, the son of Otto, Count of Looz, and Liutgard of Namur. The only problem with this genealogical reconstruction is that it assumes that Baldrick was still a teenager when he was installed as bishop, not an impossibility but requiring a papal dispensation. It is, nevertheless, not unreasonable to add a generation and identify Otto as a son of Rodolf.

Otto is specifically called the Count of Looz in Gesta Abbatem Trudonensis in 1008 and the monks may have assigned a title that, in reality, was created by Gislebert. It is probably the land that the family owned in Hesbaye that became the County of Looz.

Otto married Liutgard, the daughter of Albert I, Count of Namur, and Ermengarde of Lower Lorraine (daughter of Charles, Duke of Lower Lorraine), and had three children:

If Rodolf was indeed married to the daughter of Emmo, Count of Hesbaye, it is possible that Arnulf could have been a successor count.

Otto was succeeded as Count of Looz by his son Giselbert.

Sources

Vanderkindere, Léon, La Formation territoriale des principautés belges au Moyen Âge, Bruxelles, H. Lamertin, 1902

Warner, David A., Ottonian Germany. The Chronicon of Thietmar of Merseburg, Manchester, 2001.

Gestorum Abbatem Trudonensium Continuatio Tertia 1007, MGH SS X

Medieval Lands Project, Comtes de Hesbaie, Comtes de Looz

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