LEOPOLD I, Emperor. - Second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and of Maria Anna of Spain, b. in Vienna on 9 June 1640, d. there on 5 May 1705. He was destined for the ecclesiastical life but, having become heir to his father's domains upon the death of his brother Ferdinand (1654), he succeeded his father in 1657 and was elected emperor on 18 July 1658. He was a convinced heir of the political program of the House of Habsburg (defense of Catholicism and struggle with the Bourbons), and his reign was a long succession of wars: in a Catholic role in Eastern Europe (with Turkey from 1662 to 1664 over the question of the succession in Transylvania, again with Turkey from 1683 to 1699; this second war saw the siege of Vienna in 1683 and the formation of the Holy League among Austria, Poland, Russia, Venice and the Holy See) and in an anti-French role in Western Europe against the expansionism of Louis XIV (the Dutch War of 1672-78, the War of the League of Augsburg of 1688-97). Internally, L.'s work was made difficult by the frequent revolts of Hungary against Habsburg Catholic policy, but the Peace of Karlowitz (1699), by eliminating Turkey from that sector, sanctioned the emperor's definitive dominion over Hungary. He died while the war for the Spanish succession was in progress, in which L., son and husband of Spanish princesses, took part in order to support the candidacy of his son Charles (the future emperor Charles VI): on this occasion contingent political motives led L., a faithful Catholic, into no small diplomatic clashes with the Holy See. Moreover, he was always on excellent terms with Innocent XI; he long made use of Marco d'Aviano as an adviser; he founded many monasteries, sought to alleviate the situation of English Catholics and to reconcile the various Christian confessions.
Under L. there began in the Austrian lands English-style mercantilism and various attempts at political-administrative reorganization; the religious situation stabilized, Catholicism again became exuberant and vital. Especially after the Turkish invasion of 1683 there came about a grandiose cultural reflowering: reconstruction and construction of churches, palaces, convents (J. B. Fischer v. Erlach; J. Prandauer; L. v. Hildebrandt), sumptuously frescoed (the two Altomonte; J. M. Rottmayr; D. Gran; P. Troger); the court preacher, Fr. Abraham of St. Clare, was the most famous sacred orator of the century; Italian opera made a triumphal entry (Burnaccini) into Vienna; in short, the Baroque face of Austria was created in this era.
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Armando Saitta