Léopold Ier of the Holy roman Empire

Léopold Ier de Habsbourg (born with Vienna in 1640, deceased with Vienna the May 5th 1705), king of Hungary-Croatia, and king de Bohême (1657), then archduke of Austria and Germanic emperor (1658). Wire of Ferdinand III of Habsbourg (1608 - 1657) and of Marie-Anne of Austria, infante of Spain (1606 - 1646).

Wire junior by the Emperor Ferdinand III, it was intended for the Church when the death of his/her older brother, already king de Hongrie under the name of Ferdinand IV, did it heir to the throne at 14 years.

Emperor at 18 years, it accommodated the driven out princes of Lorraine their duchies by the troops of Louis XIV and bound of a great friendship with the heir to the Lorraine throne, the future Charles V. He supported this last, going until allowing his marriage with his sister Eléonore, widow of the king of Poland. To save the gossip of the court to them and to enable them to live according to their row, Léopold gave to Charles the government of the province of the the Tirol

Marriages and descent

His/her cousin Marie-Therese of Austria, oldest daughter of the king d' Espagne Philippe IV (1605 - 1665 given in marriage by the treaty of the Pyrenees to the king de France Louis XIV (1660), it marries in 1666 the half-sister of this one, her niece Marguerite-Therese of Austria, infante of Spain (1651 - 1673).

They had a girl:

Marie-Antoinette (1669 - 1692) which marries in 1685 Maximilien II (1662 - 1726), voter of Bavaria.

In 1673, Léopold Ier marries in second weddings Claude-Happiness of the Austria-Tyrol (1653 - 1676). It has of them only two girls died in the cradle.

In 1676, it marries in third weddings Eléonore de Neubourg (1665 - 1720) of which it will have ten children:

Joseph (1678 - 1711), future emperor Joseph Ier;
Marie-Christine (1679 - 1679);
Marie-Elisabeth (1680 - 1741), controlling of the Netherlands;
Léopold-Joseph (1682 - 1684);
Marie-Anne (1683 - 1754), queen of Portugal, married to Jean V, king de Portugal;
Marie-Therese (1684 - 1696);
Charles (1685 - 1740), future emperor Charles VI, claiming with the throne of Spain in 1700;
Marie-Josèphe (1687 - 1703);
Marie-madeleine (1689 - 1743), large-mistress about the Ladies of theSpangled one;
Marie-Marguerite (1690 - 1691).

The war leader

Deeply peaceful but surrounded by enemies, Léopold Ier passed a good part of its life to make the war, succeeding in neutralizing the Othoman power. With the Empire he inherited a war with the Sweden to which he put an end in 1660. Then it was a first war with the Turks (1663 - 1664) which finished in August 1664 by the victory of the généralissime Raimondo Montecuccoli with the battle of Saint-Gotthard over Raab - the only one where the King of France was ever combined Habsbourg against the Othoman , and the conclusion of a twenty years truce to the Peace treaty of Vasvár.

After a military victory however decisive, this treaty made it possible to the Sultan to preserve his conquests made since 1660, in particular at the expense of Petar Zrinski, lord of Cakovec, which saw there a treason by Léopold of its engagements of defense as a King of Hungary; in 1670, the Croatian lords Petar Zrinski and Franjo Kristof Frankopan plotted with the " dissatisfied with Hongrie" to detach from the Habsbourg the crown of Hungary - Croatia, proposing it to King de Pologne, with Louis XIV and in cause of despair with the Sultan itself. They were carried out in 1671 and their confiscated grounds.

With the expiry of the truce of Vásvar, the Othomans set out again in war and reflect the seat in front of Vienna under the direction of the Top dog Kara Mustapha. The army of help directed by the Duke Charles V of Lorraine and the King of Poland Jean III Sobieski crushed besieging them the September 12th 1683 with the Bataille of Kahlenberg. It was the starting point of a " war of libération" who was to conclude in 1699 by the Treaty from Paix from Karlowitz (in Serbe Sremski Karlovci ), which returned to the crown Hungary - Croatia its possessions of Slavonie, Syrmie, Bácska and Banat, that Soliman the Magnificent the had conquered at the 16th century.

Meanwhile, Léopold had strengthened the possession of the Habsbourg on this crown, obtaining in 1687 with Presbourg (then capital of Hungary under the German name of Preßburg, Hungarian of Pozsony, Croatian of Požun, today in Slovaque Bratislava) that the King of Hungary is not chosen any more by an assembly peerage-book but by way of Primogéniture. At the same time, it made abolish article 31 of the Bulle of gold of 1222 which authorized the nobility to be revolted against the King of Hungary if this one violated the Right.

Léopold had less chance in its wars against Louis XIV, Guerre of Holland (1672 - 1679) then Guerre of the league of Augsburg (1688 - 1697). Before its death it engaged the empire in a third war, the War of succession of Spain.

See too

Léopold I {{er}} of Austria

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