Under Leopold III (1095–1136) the history of the Babenbergs reached its first culmination point. In the struggle between emperor and pope, Leopold avoided taking sides until a consensus had built up among the German princes that it was Emperor Henry IV who stood in the way of a final settlement. Then Leopold did not hesitate to side with Henry’s rebellious son, Henry V, in 1106. For this he was rewarded with the hand of Henry V’s sister Agnes, who had formerly been married to the Hohenstaufen Frederick I of Swabia. The intermarriage with the reigning dynasty not only increased Leopold’s reputation but also no doubt brought him additional power. Leopold was even proposed as a candidate to the royal throne, but he declined. It was apparently his intention to concentrate on consolidating his position in Austria. He was the first Austrian margrave to describe himself as the holder of territorial principality (principatus terrae), and during his time Austrian common law was mentioned for the first time, another proof of the developing national consciousness.
Leopold’s reputation with the clergy was high, and he was eventually canonized (1485). He gave generous endowments to religious communities, establishing the Cistercians at Heiligenkreuz, and he founded, or at least restored, the monastery of Klosterneuburg, which he then gave to Augustinian canons. In Klosterneuburg he built a residence in which he stayed even after he had acquired Vienna.
On the death of Leopold III, the Babenbergs were drawn into a conflict between the two leading dynasties of Germany, the Hohenstaufen and the Welfs; the Babenbergs took the side of the Hohenstaufen because of their family ties. In 1139 the German king Conrad III bestowed Bavaria, which he had wrested from the Welfs, on his half brother, Leopold IV. After the latter’s untimely death, Henry II Jasomirgott succeeded to the rule of Austria and Bavaria.
The Holy Roman emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) tried to put an end to the quarrel between the Welfs and the Hohenstaufen, and, in the autumn of 1156 at Regensburg, he arranged a compromise. Bavaria was restored to the Welf Henry III (the Lion), duke of Saxony, while the Babenbergs were confirmed in their rule of Austria, which was made a duchy, and were given the “three counties,” the actual location of which is disputed. Also, the obligations of the dukes of Austria toward the empire were reduced. Their attendance at royal court days was called for only when court was held in Bavaria, and they were compelled to participate only in campaigns of the empire that were directed against Austria’s neighbour—that is, Hungary. Henry II Jasomirgott and his wife, Theodora, a Byzantine princess, were granted succession through the female line and the right, in the event of the premature deaths of their children, to appoint a candidate for the succession. The Babenbergs also were given the right of approving the exercise of jurisdiction by other powers within the new duchy, permitting Henry to exert pressure against rival internal powers, secular as well as ecclesiastical. The rights of the duke were laid down by imperial charter (Privilegium Minus). For centuries, however, Austria continued to contain territorial dominions not ruled by the duke. Henry moved his residence to Vienna, where he also founded the monastery of the “Scottish” (actually Irish) monks. Later Babenberg period
In 1192 the Babenbergs’ territory was greatly extended when they won the duchy of Steiermark. In Steiermark the margraves of the family of the Otakars of Steyr had gradually asserted themselves—under conditions similar to those of the Babenbergs—over their rivals, the noble families of the Eppensteiner, Formbacher, and Aribonen. The most successful among Steiermark’s margraves was Otakar III (reigned 1130–63). Then, in 1180, Emperor Frederick I, in the course of a renewed anti-Welf policy, raised Steiermark to the status of a duchy and granted it complete independence from Bavaria. A few years later a treaty of inheritance (Georgenberg; 1186) was concluded between the dukes Leopold V of Austria (reigned 1177–94), a son of Henry II Jasomirgott, and Otakar IV of Steiermark, the ailing last Otakar ruler. When Otakar died in 1192, Leopold succeeded him, and thus the Babenbergs came into the inheritance.
Except for a short intermission (1194–98), the reigning Babenberg thereafter ruled both duchies, Austria and Steiermark. Steiermark then included parts of the Traungau, which eventually was to become part of Upper Austria, and the province of Pitten, north of the Semmering Alpine pass, afterward assigned to Lower Austria. In logical continuation of the Babenberg policy, Leopold VI (the Glorious) and his successor, Frederick II (the Warlike), the last representative of the dynasty, extended their domains farther south, gaining fiefs in Carniola.
Before he inherited the duchy of Steiermark, Leopold V had taken part in the Third Crusade, during which, on the ramparts of Acre (modern ʿAkko, Israel), he became involved in a quarrel with the English king Richard I (the Lion-Heart). Later, on his return journey to England, Richard tried to make his way through Austria in disguise but was recognized near Vienna, taken prisoner, and later handed over to the Holy Roman emperor Henry VI. England had to pay a heavy ransom, a share of which Leopold obtained and invested in the foundation, extension, and fortification of towns as well as in the stamping of a new coin, the so-called Wiener pfennig. The road connecting Vienna and Steiermark was improved, and the new town of Wiener Neustadt was established on its course to protect the newly opened route across the Semmering.
On Leopold V’s death the Babenberg domains were divided between his sons for four years, until the death of one of them, Frederick I, in 1198. His brother Leopold VI, the most outstanding member of the family, then took over as sole ruler (1198–1230). This was a time of great prosperity for the Babenberg countries. In imperial politics Leopold VI again took sides with the Hohenstaufen, backing Philip of Swabia. In church matters he was a great supporter of the monasteries, founding a Cistercian monastery at Lilienfeld (c. 1206). He tried to concentrate patronage rights over ecclesiastical property in his own hands and took rigorous action against the heretics (the Cathari and Waldenses). He participated in several crusades in Palestine, Egypt, southern France (against the Albigenses), and Spain (against the Saracens). Leopold VI’s efforts to emancipate Austria ecclesiastically by creating a separate Austrian bishopric in Vienna came to naught because of the opposition of the church in Passau and also in Salzburg; nor did his son Frederick II succeed in the same matter. Leopold VI played some role in imperial politics, bringing about the Treaty of San Germano between the Holy Roman emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX (1230). He met his death in San Germano (now Cassino, Italy), and his body was transported to Lilienfeld for burial.
A change came about under the last representative of the dynasty, Frederick the Warlike, Leopold’s son. His harsh internal policy and military excursions against neighbouring lands, together with his opposition to the emperor Frederick II, led in 1237 to the temporary loss of both Austria and Steiermark. The crisis, however, was overcome, and fresh opportunities were about to open for the duke when, on June 15, 1246, he was killed in battle against the Hungarians on the Leitha River. With him the male line of the family came to an end.
The political history of Austria from the end of the 10th century to the middle of the 13th is marked by the establishment and consolidation of territories. This process was most advanced in the Babenberg domains but was not confined to them. Dukes Herman (1144–61) and Bernhard (1202–56) of Kärnten achieved a comparable status, and Count Albert of Tirol (died 1253) moved in the same direction. The archbishops of Salzburg strove to eliminate all secular powers and patrons of their see, but, in the other territories, secular princes strengthened their rule.