While Otto was very happy with the progress of his younger sons, Ekkehard showed more and more signs, that he just couldnt bear the responsibility that comes with being a first born son. He stilled tried to please everybody and especially his father the best he could, but as he saw that he didnt get the deserved praise for it he more and more isolated himself. You barely could see him talk to anyone, he just left his room in the morning to practice and learn and immediately closed the door behind him after his duties were over again. You never could see him laugh or even smile and his constant worries even seemed to affect him physically, as he was always seen with dark rings under his eyes.
When Ekkehard reached his 16th birthday even Otto noticed something was wrong with him.
So Otto decided there was only one way to cheer him up: He had to marry.
Perhaps a wife would manage to get him out of his shell again, and if not, well perhaps she could at least give birth to some grandchildren and keep the Wittelsbachs alive. She might even bring along some money.
So Otto briefly told Ekkehard about his plans, and as Otto had already decided not to have Ekkehard a word in this he started to look for possible brides for Ekkehard.
Thats was easier decided then done...
First he tried to find daughters of local noble families, perhaps in the distant future this would result in a heritage, that would strenghten the power of his family in Bavaria. But the reigning Nordheim family didnt have any daughters that were not married yet, and Otto saw the Nordheims more as rivals then as future parts of the family.
So Otto extended his search to the Southern parts of the Empire, called Italy. There were a lot of rich families that could have some daughters to bring in some money to Niederbayern.
But time went by and the only women he could find where all about double the age of his son. Even if that wouldnt have bothered him too much, they where only out of low noble families and he wanted his son to marry up the ladder not down...
So Otto had to look elsewhere again. But there was not much left to search for he thought. But one day he heard a rumour , that people were already making jokes of him because he wanted his son to marry into a glorious family and couldnt even find a daughter of a count for his Ekkehard.
"He wants him to marry into a palace and only has a hen cage to offer", word was on the street. Even his wife one day said: "Well perhaps we should just marry him to a local noble woman, you did it also and surely are not disappointed. We will just have to accept that we cant marry our son to a princess out of the royal family of France or England, because we are only a simple countal family."
"Thats it", Otto shouted, "France and England".
We may not get a royal wife for Ekkehard but there are surely a lot of noble women at the courts of these Kingdoms. There must be one for Ekkehard, too.
So the search continued in France and to put it short...it was not successful.
Now the last chance was the english court, but things didnt look too good there, too. Otto was so disappointed that everything was unimportant for him now, and he tried a last an very unreasonable attempt.
He offered a marriage between his son and the oldest sister of the King of England, Robert de Normandie. Her name was Gundred, and she was only 16, just as Ekkehard was.. Of course he knew there was not much chance that this marriage would have any chance of happening, but he was so desperate that he just tried it. Surely Ekkehard was only the son of a poor count who already fell into a depression at his young age, but Gundred had some issues, too.
She wasnt really a beauty as she had a genetic defect,that effected in a syndrom called "Harelip", a deformation of the upper lip. That also had the consequence, that she didnt trust other people very much as she was always in fear of being attacked by other people for her physical shortcoming.
So there was a slim chance the Wittelsbachs could bond with a royal family.
And the nearly impossible happened:
The oldest sister of the King of England would be the new wife of Ekkehard, son of Otto I. , Count of Niederbayern.
The celebrations that took place were enourmous (at least for a little couny like Niederbayern) as the brother of Gundred insisted to pay them. A wish Otto I. had no hesitation to grant.
Only the new couple was rarely seen at the festivities, and Otto didnt know if their issues would bond the two together in the future and help them to overcome them or if they would stumble in overcoming their problems.
If the worst case should happen, there still always was Bernhard and Ottilo as the future hope of the family, but Otto was the only one that had thoughts like that at the moment.
And these thoughts also were overwhelmed by the thought that Ekkehard had really married into a royal family. This must be sign, that the Wittelsbachs were on their way to something special.
To guarantee Ekkehard could support himself and his wife he was also appointed the new marshall of Niederbayern, as this position had been vacant.
Gundred was appointed Spy Master of Niederbayern, as Otto thought her quiet being and trusting no one would serve her very good for this position.
That of course meant that Georg now was released of all his responsibility in the county. Otto thanked him for his services and promised him to keep a spot for him at his court.
