(Redirected from Leopold V of Austria (Babenberg))'Leopold V' (
1157 –
December 31,
1194), ''the Virtuous'', was a
Babenberg duke of
Austria from
1177 to 1194 and
Styria from
1192 to 1194.
Leopold was the son of
Henry II Jasomirgott and his
Byzantine wife Theodora Comnena. In
1172 he married Helena, daughter of King
Géza II of Hungary, and their sons were
Frederick I and
Leopold VI.

Leopold V.
On
August 17,
1186 the
Georgenberg Pact was negotiated, by which Styria and the central part of
Upper Austria were amalgamated into the
Duchy of Austria after
1192. This was the first step towards the creation of modern
Austria.
Leopold is mainly remembered outside Austria for his participation in the
Third Crusade. He arrived to take part in the
siege of Acre in spring
1191, having sailed from
Zadar on the
Adriatic coast. He took over command of what remained of the imperial forces after the death of
Frederick VI, Duke of Swabia in January.
After Acre surrendered, the banners of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem,
Richard I of England,
Philip II of France and Leopold were raised in the city by Leopold's cousin,
Conrad of Montferrat. However, Richard removed Leopold's flag (see
Siege of Acre). Richard was also suspected of involvement in the murder of Conrad, shortly after his election as
King of Jerusalem in April
1192. On his journey back that winter, Richard, travelling in disguise, had to stop in
Vienna, where he was recognized (supposedly because of his signet ring) and was arrested in the Erdberg district (modern
Landstraße). For some time the king was imprisoned in
Dürnstein, and was then brought before Emperor
Henry VI, and accused of Conrad's murder. The immense ransom, supposedly six thousand buckets of
silver, became the foundation for the mint in Vienna, and was used to build new
city walls for Vienna, as well as to build
Wiener Neustadt. However, the duke was
excommunicated by
Pope Celestine III for having taken a fellow
crusader prisoner.
In
1194 Leopold's foot was crushed when
his horse fell on him at a
tournament in
Graz. He died of
gangrene, still under excommunication.