House of Babenberg - Margraves of Austria

Margraves of Austria

In 976 Leopold I, a member of the Babenberg family, who was a count in the Donnegau, is described as count of the Eastern March, a district not more than 60 miles in breadth on the eastern frontier of Bavaria which grew into the duchy of Austria. Leopold, who received the mark as a reward for his fidelity to the emperor Otto II during the Bavarian rising in 976, extended its area at the expense of the Hungarians, and was succeeded in 994 by his son Henry I. Henry, who continued his father's policy, was followed in 1018 by his brother Adalbert and in 1055 by his nephew, Ernest, whose marked loyalty to the emperors Henry II and Henry III was rewarded by many tokens of favour.

The succeeding margrave, Leopold II, quarrelled with Henry III, who was unable to oust him from the mark or to prevent the succession of his son Leopold III in 1096. Leopold supported Henry, the son of Henry IV, in his rising against his father, but was soon drawn over to the emperor's side, and in 1106 married the daughter of emperor Henry IV, Agnes, widow of Frederick I of Swabia. He declined the imperial crown in 1125. His zeal in founding monasteries earned for him his surname "the Pious", and canonization by Pope Innocent VIII in 1485. He is regarded as the patron saint of Austria.