OTTO, bishop of FREISING. — Celebrated historian of Frederick Barbarossa, b. between 1111 and ’15, son of Margrave Leopold III of Austria and Agnes, daughter of Henry IV, d. at Morimund in 1138. He studied in Paris around 1128. A Cistercian monk at Morimund before 1138, he became bishop of Freising shortly thereafter. In 1145, entrusted with an embassy to Eugene III, he had the opportunity to become acquainted with Italy and the political situation in which it found itself. In 1147–48 he took part in the Second Crusade. He accompanied Barbarossa on his first expedition into Italy and endeavoured to smooth over the disagreements between the Emperor and Adrian IV.
The Gesta Friderici offer a highly detailed picture of the political events of which O. was a direct witness, and, in transmitting much information about various figures of the period, they convey vivid traits of their spiritual character. Much has been discussed concerning the method and historiographical value of the Chronicon or Historia de duobus cristatibus, which, although inspired by Augustinian theological concepts, draws on Orosius and other sources, and is undoubtedly the most notable product of medieval historiography.
Endowed with a good philosophical education, O. shows himself well informed about the dialectical controversies of the period, whose protagonists he recalls. For his own part, he appears to have been influenced by the school of Gilbert de la Porrée (v.). He was among the first to bring to Freising and Germany the treatises that constitute the Ars or Logica nova.
(very important); C. Mierow, The two Cities by O., Bishop of Fr., New York 1928; K. Haid, O. V. Fr., Bregenz 1934; P. Brezzi, O. di Fr., in Boll. dell'Ist. ital. per il medioevo e Archivio Muratoriano, 54 (1939), pp. 128–328; Manitius, III, pp. 376–388; A. Passerin d'Entrèves, O. di Fr. e la storiografia del medioevo, in Riv. intern. di filos. del dir., 20 (1940), pp. 360–67. Bruno Nardi