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, 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. Initially buried in
Königsfelden Monastery, his mortal remains were transferred firstly to
St. Blaise Abbey in a solemn ceremony on 14 November 1770, and finally to
Saint Paul's Abbey, Carinthia. ==Family and children==