Leopold I, Margrave of Austria

Template:Short description Template:Infobox noble Leopold I (also Luitpold; Template:C. 940 – 10 July 994), known as the Illustrious (Template:Langx) was a member of the House of Babenberg who ruled as Margrave of Austria from 976 until his death.<ref name="lingelbach">Lingelbach 1913, p. 89.</ref> He was the first margrave of the Babenberg dynasty which ruled the March and Duchy of Austria until its extinction in 1246.

Biography

The origins of Leopold the Illustrious are not known. According to some sources, his father Berthold was count in the Nordgau, the region north of Ratisbon (Regensburg) in the Duchy of Bavaria.<ref name="lingelbach"/> A more recent theory identifies Leopold as a younger son of Duke Arnulf of Bavaria<ref name="wegener">Wegener 1965, p. 77.</ref> and brother (or nephew) of Count Berthold of Schweinfurt. While his ancestry remains disputed, a descent from the Popponids (Elder House of Babenberg) is assumed and some affiliation with the ducal Luitpoldings dynasty is probable.

Leopold is first mentioned in a document issued by Emperor Otto I on 13 February 962 as Liupo, count of the Bavarian Donaugau region near Ratisbon,<ref name="pohl">Pohl 1995, p. 12.</ref> count of the Traungau region,<ref name="lingelbach"/> and a faithful follower of the emperor.<ref name="brooke">Brooke 1938, p. 52.</ref> After Otto I had defeated the Magyars in the 955 Battle of Lechfeld, he re-established the Bavarian Marcha orientalis (Eastern March) in the conquered territories, placing them under the command of Margrave Burkhard,<ref name="lingelbach"/> a brother-in-law of Duchess Judith, consort of Duke Henry II of Bavaria. When Burkhard joined the uprising of Duke Henry II ("the Wrangler") against Emperor Otto II, he was deposed at the Imperial Diet of Ratisbon in 976. According to a charter dated 21 July 976, loyal Leopold was appointed margrave of the Marcha orientalis, the core territory of the later Archduchy of Austria.<ref name="leeper-153">Leeper 1940, p. 153.</ref>

The resettlement of the east was a slow process that centered from the fortress of Pöchlarn down the Danube river. Leopold's margraviate originally coincided with the present-day Wachau valley, and whose eastern boundary was the Traisen river near Sankt Pölten east of Krems.<ref name="leeper-158">Leeper 1940, p. 158.</ref> With the Magyar threat largely reduced following their defeat in 955, Leopold focused on securing his holdings from internal threats and dissensions.<ref name="leeper-158"/> In 984, he engaged in the reduction of the fortress at Melk, which was still controlled by supporters of the late margrave.<ref name="leeper-158"/> Once Melk was secured, Leopold most likely used it as his residence,<ref name="leeper-158"/> founding a monastery there for twelve secular priests.<ref name="lingelbach"/> By 987, Leopold extended the boundary of his margraviate to the east as far as the Wienerwald mountain range<ref name="leeper-159">Leeper 1940, p. 159.</ref> and by 991, jointly with reinstated Duke Henry II of Bavaria, further down to the Fischa river.

In 994, Leopold travelled to Würzburg to mediate a dispute between his cousin Margrave Henry of Schweinfurt and the Würzburg bishop Bernward von Rothenburg, one of whose knights Henry had seized and blinded.<ref name="leeper-164">Leeper 1940, p. 164.</ref><ref name="lechner-54">Lechner 1976, p. 54.</ref> At a tournament held on 8 July, Leopold was hit in the eye by an arrow directed at his cousin. Two days later, on 10 July 994, he died from his injuries.<ref name="lingelbach"/><ref name="leeper-164"/><ref name="lechner-54"/><ref name="thietmar">Thietmar 2001, pp. 166–167.</ref> He was buried in Würzburg.<ref name="lechner-54"/> In 1015, his son Duke Ernest I of Swabia, was buried next to his father.<ref name="lechner-54"/> In the thirteenth century, their remains were returned to Melk Abbey.<ref name="leeper-159"/>

Historiography

Leopold ruled over the re-established Marcha orientalis for eighteen years. He organized and expanded it with great ability, and left behind a margravate that had assumed the character of "an ordered and civilized land".<ref name="leeper-164"/> The chronicler Thietmar wrote that no man was wiser that he in all his actions, or of a worthier nature.<ref name="thietmar2">Thietmar 2001, p. 21.</ref> Perhaps the highest testimony to Leopold's life and reputation came from the actions of Emperor Otto III, who immediately invested his son Henry I with his father's margravate.<ref name="leeper-164"/>

Although Leopold is not mentioned in the Babenberger Chronicle written by his descendant Otto of Freising—which only starts with Leopold's grandson Adalbert—he is known today as the progenitor of the Babenberg dynasty. Otto of Freising's claim of ancestry to the Franconian Babenbergs, who are remembered for the Babenberger insurgency of the early tenth century, has not been proven, but cannot be completely ruled out.

In 1976, the millennial anniversary of Leopold's appointment as margrave was celebrated as a "Thousand Years of Austria". Celebrations under the same title were held twenty years later at the anniversary of the famous 996 Ostarrîchi document first mentioning the Old German name of Austria.

Marriage

Leopold married Richardis, the daughter of Count Ernest IV of Sualafeldgau (according to other sources of the Ezzonid count Erenfried II) and probably the aunt of Duke Adalbero of Carinthia.<ref name="lechner-45">Lechner 1976, p. 45.</ref> Their marriage produced eight children: