Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), also known as Otto the Great, was German king from 936 and emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 962 until his death in 973. The oldest son of Henry I the Fowler and Matilda, Otto was "the first of the Germans to be called the emperor of Italy".Otto inherited the Duchy of Saxony and the kingship of the Germans upon his father's death in 936.