In 741, Odilo married Hiltrud, daughter of the FrankishMayor of the PalaceCharles Martel, but a year later he found himself at war with Martel's sons Carloman and Pepin the Short. Odilo had to accept Frankish overlordship over Bavaria, but remained duke. After his death, Grifo, half-brother of Carloman and Pepin, sought to establish his own rule in Bavaria, but was defeated by Pepin who installed Odilo's infant son Tassilo III as duke of Bavaria.
Odilo is accepted as the founder of the abbeys Niederaltaich, Mondsee, and a number of others. He ordered that the Lex Baiuvariorum, the tribal law of the Bavarii, be written down.