Leopold Wilhelm of Austria

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Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (born  January 5, 1614 in Wiener Neustadt , †  November 20, 1662 in Vienna ) was an Austrian prince-bishop , governor of the Spanish Netherlands and general. He is particularly important as a patron of art .

biography

Leopold Wilhelm of Austria from the House of Habsburg was the youngest son of Emperor Ferdinand II , i.e. a brother of the future Emperor Ferdinand III. As a younger son, his father predestined his classical career as a prince of the church, he became Grand Master of the Teutonic Order , Archbishop of Magdeburg , Prince- Bishop of Halberstadt , Olmütz , Passau , Breslau and Strasbourg as well as Commendatarabb of the Imperial Abbeys of Hersfeld and Murbach , an accumulation of offices that was not common in this variety. Leopold, known as good-natured, but also conceited and ambitious, spent most of his life as a general in a position for which he was not suitable. Many pictures and busts show Leopold Wilhelm with armor and marshal's baton.

In the final phase of the Thirty Years' War , at the urging of the Spanish party at the court in Vienna, his brother Ferdinand gave him twice the supreme command of the imperial army (September 1639 to February 1643, and May 1645 to December 1646). During these times he experienced success in cooperation with General Matthias Gallas, who was overrated by him and drunkenness , when he was able to stop an advance guard of the Swedes in Brigittenau in 1645 , so that the Swedes refrained from attacking Vienna. Before that, however, there were heavy defeats against the Swedes in the Second Battle of Breitenfeld and in the Battle of Jüterbog , which earned the two imperial commanders the nickname "Heerverderber". Disappointments and failures embittered Leopold and made him so vengeful that after defeat he had many of his officers executed.

When the Spanish King Philip IV decided in 1647 to bind his Austrian relatives closer to himself in order to keep the militarily threatened Spain against the French, he voted in February 1647, after a long hesitation, to appoint the Austrian Archduke Leopold as governor of the Spanish Netherlands to. In the initial phase of governorship (1647–1656), Leopold initially fought successfully for Spain against the French, but then lost his entire army in August 1648 in the battle of Lens against the French military leader Louis II. De Bourbon, prince de Condé . He then made peace with the Republic of the Seven United Provinces in 1648 and continued to fight against France .

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his gallery in Brussels (painting by David Teniers , around 1650, Kunsthistorisches Museum)
Bust of Leopold Wilhelm

Leopold Wilhelm wrote numerous poems in Italian with passion and talent . Its real importance, however, lies in his art collection, which he brought together in the Spanish Netherlands and which was supervised by David Teniers and documented in numerous gallery pictures (including in Vienna, Munich, Brussels). He mainly collected Dutch and Italian masters z. B. Venetians of the 16th century. A good part of his collection comes from the auctions of English noblemen who were driven out or executed by the anti-art Puritans under Cromwell . This collection was bequeathed to his nephew Leopold I , so that it came into imperial possession. The majority is still in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna today .

After the death of his brother Ferdinand, Leopold Wilhelm was a candidate for successor as emperor. However, he supported his nephew Leopold, who became the new emperor in the summer of 1658.

Leopold Wilhelm was buried in the new crypt of the Capuchin Church. He is one of the 41 people who received a “ separate burial ” with the body being divided between all three traditional Viennese burial sites of the Habsburgs ( imperial crypt , heart crypt , ducal crypt ).

reception

By the imperial resolution of Franz Joseph I. from 28 February 1863 Leopold Wilhelm was in the list of "most famous, to the everlasting emulation worthy warlords and generals of Austria" added to their honor and memory of a life-size statue in the general hall of the then newly The Imperial and Royal Court Weapons Museum (today: Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Wien ) was built. The statue was created in 1867 from Carrara marble by the sculptor Waldemar Schützinger and was dedicated by Archduke Wilhelm .

literature

Web links

Commons : Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ CV Wedgwood: The 30 Years War . Paul List Verlag, Munich 1967, ISBN 3-517-09017-4 , p. 379.
  2. ↑ CV Wedgwood: The 30 Years War . Paul List Verlag, Munich 1967, ISBN 3-517-09017-4 , p. 393.
  3. ↑ CV Wedgwood: The 30 Years War . Paul List Verlag, Munich 1967, ISBN 3-517-09017-4 , p. 436.
  4. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. The museum and its representative rooms . Kiesel Verlag, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 32.
predecessor Office successor
Leopold of Austria Prince-Bishop of Passau
1625–1662 		Karl Joseph of Austria
Leopold of Austria Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg
1626–1662 		Franz Egon von Fürstenberg
Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg Prince-Bishop of Halberstadt
1628–1648 		secularized and to Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg
Christian Wilhelm of Brandenburg Prince Archbishop of Magdeburg
1631–1638 		August von Sachsen-Weißenfels
Johann XIX. Ernst Plateis von Plattenstein Prince-Bishop of Olomouc
1637–1662 		Karl Joseph of Austria
Johann Kaspar von Stadion Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
1641–1662 		Karl Joseph of Austria
Emmanuel de Moura Cortereal Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands
1647–1656 		Juan José de Austria
Karl Ferdinand of Poland Prince-Bishop of Breslau
1656–1662 		Karl Joseph of Austria
personal data
SURNAME Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leopold Wilhelm von Habsburg
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Archduke, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, bishop, general and patron of the arts
DATE OF BIRTH January 5, 1614
PLACE OF BIRTH Wiener Neustadt
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 1662
Place of death Vienna