I
born June 9, 1640 Vienna, Austria
died May 5, 1705, Vienna
Holy Roman emperor (1658–1705).
Son of Ferdinand III , Leopold was a devout Catholic destined for the church, but, when his elder brother died unexpectedly (1654), he became heir apparent to the Austrian Habsburg lands. He was crowned successively king of Hungary (1655) and of Bohemia (1656), and with his father's death Leopold became emperor in 1658. During his lengthy reign Austria emerged from a series of struggles to become a great European power. In 1683 the Turks besieged Vienna and were repulsed; war continued until the Turks were defeated and ceded control of Hungary in the Treaty of Grand Alliance , but the unfavourable peace treaty ceded Strasbourg to France. He was drawn into the War of the Spanish Succession , and he died before its end. His third marriage, to Eleonore of Palatinate-Neuburg, was a happy union that produced 10 children, including the future emperors Joseph I and {{link=Charles">Charles VI .
II
orig. Léopold-Georges-Chrétien-Frédéric
born Dec. 16, 1790, Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
died Dec. 10, 1865, Laeken, Belg.
First king of the Belgians (1831–65).
The son of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, he married Charlotte, daughter of the future English king George IV in 1816. After her death in 1817 Leopold continued to live in England until elected king of the newly formed Belgium. He helped strengthen the country's new parliamentary system and scrupulously maintained Belgian neutrality. Highly influential in European diplomacy, he used marriages to strengthen his ties. In 1832 he married the daughter of Louis-Philippe . In 1840 he helped arrange the marriage of his niece, Victoria , to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1857 he arranged the marriage of his daughter to Maximilian , archduke of Austria.