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The Guy who kidnapped Richard the Lionheart

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Leopold the Virtuous

And finally the one Babenberg who brought it to international fame… by kidnapping an English king.

Leopold became Duke of Austria in 1177. He had good contacts to Emperor Alexios II of Constantinople and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I. In 1186 he made a contract with the ruling family of Styria known as the “Georgenberger Handfeste” which issued that Styria would become a part of Austria.

But I know you are all waiting for the story about the crusade… ;) Alright I will tell it!

Leopold joined the third Crusade in 1190. At the siege of Acre he led the German forces since the emperor had died and Leopold had next in line. Furthermore in 1191 the armies of  Richard the Lionheart All hail king dummyof England and Phillip of France had joined the siege. When the city finally was taken Leopold set his banner up next to the ones of Richard and Phillip, thus claiming the same amount of booty even though, as a duke, he did not have the right to do so. Richard overreacted and tore the banner down. Leopold left angrily for Austria.

When Richard travelled home in 1192 he was forced by weather to take the journey over land trough Austria. He traveled in disguise but was recognized near Vienna and taken prisoner… After locking Richard up at Dürnstein Leopold handed him over to Emperor Henry VI. :evillaugh:

The ransom money was divided between the emperor and the duke, and Leopold actually made good use of the nearly 12 tons of silver he received. He founded the city of Wiener Neustadt and Friedberg, built a new city wall for Vienna and founded the Austrian mint, which still strikes money to this day!
This is their website:Greed

 www.muenzeoesterreich.at/eng/s…

 :flagofaustria:But actually there is another legend connecting to this story… when fighting at Acre it is told that Leopold’s white skirt turned red from all the blood and when he took of his belt a single white stripe could be seen. And since the duke had lost his banner in battle, the colors red-white-red became his new coat of arms – and this is the legend of the origin of the Austrian flag.

By the way Leopold was excommunicated for taking a fellow crusader captive. :popepoke:His  death was rather nasty. At a tournament in Graz his horse slipped, crushed his leg and  - because his doctors did not dare to – he had to cut it off himself… he died three days later.

Old Paper Texture in the background by fav.me/d2n8aw8



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sdowning's avatar
Wow, though Richard was not a great King, but a great warrior, how could Leopold captured him? hahaha! ^^;
BTW, Austrians respect Leopold? was he a hero in the Austrian history? ^^