Leopold III, Duke of Austria
| Leopold III the Just | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Austria | |
Leopold III of Austria by Anton Boys, c. 1580
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| Duke | 1365–1386 |
| Predecessor | Rudolf IV |
| Successor | William |
| Spouse(s) | Viridis Visconti |
| Issue | |
| Noble family | House of Habsburg |
| Father | Albert II of Austria |
| Mother | Johanna of Pfirt |
| Born |
1 November 1351 Vienna, Austria |
| Died | 9 July 1386 (aged 34) Sempach, Swiss Confederacy |
| Buried | Saint Paul in Lavanttal Abbey |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Leopold III (1 November 1351 – 9 July 1386), known as the Just, a member of the House of Habsburg, was Duke of Austria from 1365. As head and progenitor of the Leopoldian line, he ruled over the Inner Austrian duchies of Carinthia, Styria and Carniola as well as the County of Tyrol and Further Austria from 1379 until his death.
Born in Vienna, Leopold was a younger son of Duke Albert II of Austria (thereby a grandson of King Albert I of Germany), and younger brother of the Dukes Rudolf IV and Albert III. His mother, Joanna of Pfirt, a daughter of Princess Joanna of Burgundy, was 51 when she gave birth to him and died shortly after. Upon the death of Albert II, his eldest son Rudolf IV, called the Founder, assumed the rule over the Habsburg dominions, despite the regulations on a joint rule left by his father. Nevertheless on 18 November 1364 he promulgated his own house law (Rudolfinische Hausordnung), according to which the Austrian "hereditary lands" were again declared a common possession of the brothers, though the eldest received a number of additional rights.
After Rudolf's death on 27 July 1365, Albert III and Leopold (their elder brother Friedrich had died in 1362) assumed the rule over the Habsburg lands, with Albert taking the additional rights as eldest. While Albert ruled, Leopold became a general leading Habsburg troops in battle. In 1368 he defeated a Bavarian incursion into Tirol, bringing all of Tirol under Habsburg authority in 1370. In 1372 Leopold broke with his brother over rights, prestige and income that he felt he was owed. On 25 July 1373 the brothers signed a peace treaty which granted Leopold control over Tirol, Further Austria and Carniola while income would be split between the dukes. In 1375 their relative [Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy|Enguerrand VII de Coucy]] led a mercenary army into Alsace and Switzerland to capture the Habsburg possessions of Sundgau, Breisgau and the county of Ferrette in the Gugler war of 1375. After Leopold was unable to defeat his cousin, he retreated to Breisach on the Rhine. A coalition of Swiss cities then attacked and drove the Gugler army out of their country and ended the war.
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