LE'OPOLD I. (1640-1705). Holy Roman Em peror from 1658 to 1705. He was the second son of Ferdinand TIT. (q.v.) and Maria Anna of Spain, and was born in Vienna, June 9, 1640. He was educated for the Church, but on the death of his father in April, 1657, his elder brother havin. died in 1654, lie succeeded as ruler of the hereditary Austrian dominions (including Bohemia) and as King of Hungary, a large part of which country was still in the hands of the Turks. He was elected Emperor July IS, 1658, and crowned at Frankfort August 1st. The in ternal affairs of his reign are unimportant. In external relations it was a troubled half-century for Austria, and Leopold showed himself un equal to dealing with the complications and dan gers surrounding his State. The chronic struggle with the Turks was renewed in 1660, and Hun gary and even Austria were seriously imperiled. but Montecueuli signally defeated the enemy at Saint Gotthard on the Raab, August 1, 1664. Leopold thereupon hastened to make a truce with the Sultan. The persecution of the Protestants in Hungary. inspired by Leopold's intolerant zeal, and his utter disregard of the Hungarian liber ties, led in 167S to a formidable revolt in that kingdom under Count (q.y.). The Hun garians were supported by the Sultan, and in 1683 a vast Turkish army. under the Grand Vizier. Kara Slustapha, advanced to Vienna, which was besieged from July 14th to September I2th, and was saved only by the timely assistance of John Sobieski (q.v.), the warrior King of Poland, who, seconded by Charles of Lorraine and the electors of Saxony and Bavaria, com pletely routed the besieging forces and drove them beyond the Raab. This signal service
of the Polish King Leopold repaid with in gratitude. In 1686 Buda was recovered from the Turks. Hungary was now mercilessly pun ished, and a Diet in 1657 was compelled to register the will of Leopold, making the crown hereditary in the House of Hapsburg. The ex pulsion of the ['irks from Hungary and Transyl vania was completed (1690-99) by the brilliant campaigns of Prince Eugene. and in the Treaty of C'arlowitz the Turks were forced to give up Hungary between the Danube and Theiss. and to allow Leopold to take Transylvania. Leopold, however, did not succeed in attaining full pos session of Hungary, which obstinately resisted his drastic policy. and the task went over to his successor, Joseph I. (q.v.). The natural rivalry between the House of Hapsburg and that of France involved Leopold in the European wars against Louis XIV. from 1672 onward, and at his death he handed this struggle over as a legacy to his son. He joined the League of Augs burg against France in 1686 and the Grand Al liance in 1689, his allies being Sweden, Spain, Holland, Savoy. Bavaria. Saxony, and the Palati nate. The Imperial armies were brilliantly led by Prince Eugene. The Peace of Ryswi•k, in 1697, brought to a close one period of this great strug gle; but the year 1701 witnessed the outbreak of the War of year Spanish Succession, which was still in progress when Leopold died in Vienna, May 5, 1705. Consult: Seheichl, Leopold I. end die osterreichische Politik wahrend des Drrolu tionskrirpes (Leipzig, 1888) ; Baumstark, Kaiser Leopold. I. (Freiburg im Breisgau. 1873). See