Otto I (912-973) was King of Germany from 936 and became the first Holy Roman Emperor when crowned by the Pope in Rome in 962, an event generally taken to mark the founding of the Holy Roman Empire. He consolidated royal authority over the German duchies, often against the resistance of powerful regional nobles, and in 955 won a decisive victory over invading Magyar raiders at the Battle of Lechfeld, ending the threat of Magyar incursions into Western Europe. His imperial coronation revived the tradition of a Western Roman emperor, last held in a continuous line by Charlemagne over a century earlier, and established a close and often contentious relationship between the German monarchy and the papacy that shaped European politics for centuries afterward.
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