Otto (or
Othon)
de la Roche (died 1234) was a Burgundian nobleman from the castle of
La Roche-sur-l'Ognon, in the
Franche-Comté commune of
Rigney,
Doubs. He joined the
Fourth Crusade in 1204 and became the first
Duke of Athens. The historians
Geoffroy de Villehardouin and
Robert de Clari both relate that Otto captured the
Shroud of Turin and gave it to the
Knights Templar, who brought it back to France.
He took the title of
megaskyr or grand seignior in
Athens. He held his Greek possessions from the
King of Thessalonica. He fortified the
Acropolis. In 1208, he took the title of duke.
In May 1209, the
Latin emperor Henry called his first of two parliaments at
Ravennika and Otto and his close ally
Geoffrey I of Villehardouin made an appearance to demonstrate their loyalty to the emperor. On 2 May 1210, at the second parliament, the two barons ratified the pact between church and state, but he did little to effect it. He was accused of treating the Greek priests as serfs, since many of them were former serfs raised to their clerical status by Greek prelates desiring to lift the heavy burden the Franks could impose with their
corvées on the local populace.
Pope Honorius III excommunicated him and put his lands under interdict, as he did to Geoffrey for like disobedience to the pact. About 1223, Otto made a treaty with the pope by which he returned church lands, but kept church furnishings at the cost of an annual indemnity. A quota was also placed on the number priests...
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