General Notes

Name Suffix:<NSFX> " Margrave Of Austria
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 (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 no doubt also 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 is 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 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--on the side of the Hohenstaufen because of their family ties. [Encyclopaedia Britannica CD '97, AUSTRIA: History: Early Middle Ages]