Otto I, Count of Duras

Count Otto of Loon (d. abt 1087), was ancestor of the Count of Duras, and brother of Emmo van Loon, ancestor of the Counts Loon. In contemporary and later medieval records he is mainly known for his role as advocate of Sint-Truiden Abbey, which is today in Belgian Limburg.

In a charter dated 1065, Adalbero III of Luxembourg, Bishop of Metz, confirmed Otto’s rights in regard to the abbey. This was partly necessary because the bishop had given an over-advocacy to his own brother Duke Frederic, and disputes did eventually arise between the Abbey and its advocates. These are a major topic of the Gesta or chronicle of St Truiden Abbey.

It has been suggested that Otto and Emmo were sons of Count Giselbert of Loon, who Emmo succeeded, although there is no contemporary record of their exact relationship to him. (It has for example been suggested that Gilbert was their uncle.) Their mother on the other hand is clearly named in one near-contemporary record, as Lutgarde, sister of Albert, Count of Namur.

The Gesta of St Truiden Abbey, written later, describes Otto already as a Count of Duras. According to an old proposal of Mantelius which Baerten supported, Otto must have married the heiress of the previous known advocate, whose name was Giselbert, and inherited both a county and advocacy. His wife, the mother of his one known son, is known from one record to have been named Oda.

Otto married Oda, daughter of Giselbert I, Count of Duras. Otto and Oda had children:

• Giselbert II, Count of Duras
• Gerard of Bertrée, Prior of Bertrée
• Hériman de Duras. (Named by Wolters in 19th century. Not named by more recent scholars.)

Otto and his son and grandchildren played a major role in Saint Trudo's Abbey as well as Cathédrale Notre-Dame-et-Saint-Lambert, better known as St. Lambert's Cathedral, Liege. Upon his death, Otto was succeeded as Count of Duras by his son Giselbert.

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