Leopold I, Duke of Austria

Duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 to 1326

Catherine of Savoy

(m. 1315)

IssueCatherine of Austria
Agnes of AustriaFatherAlbert I of GermanyMotherElisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol

Leopold I (c. 1290 – 28 February 1326),^[1] called The Glorious, was Duke of Austria and Styria – as co-ruler with his elder brother Frederick the Fair – from 1308 until his death. A member of the House of Habsburg, he was the third son of Albert I of Germany and Elisabeth of Gorizia-Tyrol, a scion of the Meinhardiner dynasty.

Biography

After the death of his eldest brother Duke Rudolph III in 1307 and the assassination of King Albert in 1308, Leopold became administrator of Further Austria, where he started a retaliation campaign against his father's murderers.^[1] He converged with the royal House of Luxembourg and accompanied King Henry VII on his Italian campaign. In 1311, he helped to suppress a Guelph uprising in Milan under Guido della Torre, and to lay siege to the city of Brescia.

Upon Emperor Henry's death, he strongly supported his brother Frederick in the 1314 election as King of the Romans.^[1] Despite all efforts, the Habsburgs only gained the votes of four prince-electors, while Louis IV of Bavaria, with support of the Luxembourgs, was elected by five. In the following armed conflict between the rivals, the forces of Leopold were supportive of his brother's claims.^[1] In his ancestral homeland however, he incurred a decisive defeat by the Swiss Confederacy at the 1315 Battle of Morgarten.^[1]

When Frederick and their younger brother Henry had been captured at the Battle of Mühldorf in 1322, Leopold struggled for their release. He entered into negotiations with King Louis IV and even surrendered the Imperial Regalia he had kept at Kyburg Castle. The parleys failed and Leopold continued to attack the Bavarian forces of Louis, who unsuccessfully laid siege to the Swabian town of Burgau in 1324. After the king had failed to reach the approval of his election by Pope John XXII and was even banned, he released Frederick in 1325. The captive however had to promise to swear his brother to acknowledge Louis as his suzerain, which Leopold refused.^[1] Frederick voluntarily returned to the Bavarian court, where he and Louis finally agreed upon a joint rule.

Leopold died in Strasbourg shortly afterwards, on 28 February 1326.^[1] His remains were buried at Königsfelden Monastery in Windisch.

Marriage and issue

In 1315, Leopold married Catherine of Savoy (1284–1336), daughter of Amadeus V, Count of Savoy by his second wife, Marie of Brabant. They had two daughters:

Catherine of Austria (1320–1349), who married Enguerrand VI, Lord of Coucy.
Agnes of Austria (1322–1392), who married Bolko II, Duke of Świdnica.

Male-line family tree

Habsburg

^{[n 1]}
Original line / Albertinian line / Leopoldian line

Max and Philip line / Spanish / Iberian line / Austrian / HRE line

Albert
Count of Habsburg
(c. 1188–1239)

Rudolf I
of Germany
(c. 1218–1291)

Albert I
of Germany
(1255–1308)

Hartmann
(1263–1281)

Rudolf II
Duke of Austria
(1270–1290)

Rudolf I
of Bohemia
(1281–1307)

Frederick
the Fair
(c. 1289–1330)

Leopold I
Duke of Austria
(1290–1326)

Albert II
Duke of Austria
(1298–1358)

Henry
the Friendly
(1299–1327)

Otto
Duke of Austria
(1301–1339)

John
Parricida
(c. 1290–1312/13)

Rudolf IV
Duke of Austria
(1339–1365)

Frederick III
Duke of Austria
(1347–1362)

Albert III
Duke of Austria
(1349–1395)

Leopold III
Duke of Austria
(1351–1386)

Frederick II
Duke of Austria
(1327–1344)

Leopold II
Duke of Austria
(1328–1344)

Albert IV
Duke of Austria
(1377–1404)

William
Duke of Austria
(c. 1370–1406)

Leopold IV
Duke of Austria
(1371–1411)

Ernest
Duke of Austria
(1377–1424)

Frederick IV
Duke of Austria
(1382–1439)

Albert II
of Germany
(1397–1439)

Frederick III
HRE
(1415–1493)

Albert VI
Archduke of Austria
(1418–1463)

Sigismund
Archduke of Austria
(1427–1496)

Ladislaus
the Posthumous
(1440–1457)

Maximilian I
HRE
(1459–1519)

Philip I
of Castile
(1478–1506)

Charles V
HRE
(1500–1558)

Ferdinand I
HRE
(1503–1564)

Philip II
of Spain
(1527–1598)

Maximilian II
HRE
(1527–1576)

Ferdinand II
Archduke of Austria
(1529–1595)

Charles II
Archduke of Austria
(1540–1590)

Carlos
Prince of Asturias
(1545–1568)

Philip III
of Spain
(1578–1621)

Rudolf II
HRE
(1552–1612)

Ernest
of Austria
(1553–1595)

Matthias
HRE
(1557–1619)

Maximilian III
Archduke of Austria
(1558–1618)

Albert VII
Archduke of Austria
(1559–1621)

Wenceslaus
Archduke of Austria
(1561–1578)

Andrew
Margrave of Burgau
(1558–1600)

Charles
Margrave of Burgau
(1560–1618)

Ferdinand II
HRE
(1578–1637)

Maximilian Ernest
of Austria
(1583–1616)

Leopold V
Archduke of Austria
(1586–1632)

Charles
of Austria
(1590–1624)

Philip IV
of Spain
(1605–1665)

Charles
of Austria
(1607–1632)

Ferdinand
of Austria
(1609–1641)

John-Charles
of Austria
(1605–1619)

Ferdinand III
HRE
(1608–1657)

Leopold Wilhelm
of Austria
(1614–1662)

Ferdinand Charles
Archduke of Austria
(1628–1662)

Sigismund Francis
Archduke of Austria
(1630–1665)

Balthasar Charles
Prince of Asturias
(1629–1646)

Charles II
of Spain
(1661–1700)

Ferdinand IV
King of the Romans
(1633–1654)

Leopold I
HRE
(1640–1705)

Charles Joseph
of Austria
(1649–1664)

Joseph I
HRE
(1678–1711)

Charles VI
HRE
(1685–1740)

Notes:

^ "Habsburg family tree". Habsburg family website. 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Franziska Hälg-Steffen: Leopold I of Habsburg in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.

Bibliography

Wurzbach, Constantin von (1860). "Habsburg, Leopold I. der Glorreiche". In Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. 6. Vienna: Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, p. 409.
——— (1860). "Habsburg, Elisabeth von Savoyen". In Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. 6. Vienna: Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, p. 165.

Regnal titles
Leopold I, Duke of Austria House of Habsburg Born: 1290 Died: 1326
Preceded by Albert I Rudolf II Rudolf III	Duke of Austria and Styria 1308–1326 With: Frederick the Fair	Succeeded by Frederick the Fair as sole duke