Othon de la Roche

The chronicler Alberic of Trois-Fontaines writes that Othon was the son of "a certain noble Pons of La Roche in Burgundy".

[2] La Roche-sur-l'Ognon, a hamlet by Rigney in the Free County, is the most probable candidate, because of its proximity to Flagey, Venise and other domains of Othon's family.

[1] At that time, he was a member of the "sixth division" of the crusading army, which "was formed by the people of Burgundy",[5] according to the chronicler Geoffrey of Villehardouin.

[6] They started the conquest of the Byzantine Empire under the command of Baldwin IX of Flanders who was elected the first Latin Emperor of Constantinople on 9 May.

[8] Boniface of Montferrat—one of the most influential leaders of the Crusade—even laid siege to Adrianople, a town recently captured by Emperor Baldwin.

[18] The traditional account, found in the Chronicle of the Morea, states that it was first officially bestowed by King Louis IX of France around 1259 to Othon's successor, Guy I de la Roche.

[18][19] The title does appear in some pre-1260 documents, including a letter of Pope Innocent III from July 1208, which refers to Othon as Duke, although the papal chancery generally preferred "Lord".

[20] According to Longnon, following the specialist Antoine Bon, Othon had a square tower erected by the main entrance of the citadel.

[22] Pope Innocent III confirmed on 27 November 1206 that Berard, the first Catholic Archbishop of Athens succeeded his Orthodox predecessor, Michael Choniates.

[28][29] Othon's first conflict with the Church was recorded around the same time: he forced Archbishop Berard to renounce the right to appoint the treasurer of the Athens Cathedral on his behalf.

[28] Emperor Henry called his first of two parliaments at Ravennika and Othon made an appearance to demonstrate his loyalty to his suzerain in the first days of May 1209.

[26] The Emperor captured Thebes from Albertino of Canossa on 8 May and visited Athens,[30] where Othon received him with great respect.

[4] Othon ceases to be mentioned after 1225, when he is commonly held to have resigned the Duchy of Athens to his son Guy I and returned home to Burgundy with his wife, although this is unsubstantiated.