Military Wiki
Military Wiki
David Teniers d. J

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria as marshall

DAVID TENIERS EL JOVEN - El Archiduque Leopoldo Guillermo en su Galería de Bruselas (Kunsthistorisches Museum de Viena, 1650-52

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in his Gallery in Brussels (Painting by David Teniers the Younger, ca. 1650, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)

Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (January 5, 1614 – November 20, 1662) was an Austrian military commander, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands from 1647 to 1656, and a patron of the arts.

Biography[]

Born at Wiener Neustadt, he was the youngest son of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Maria Anna of Bavaria (1574–1616), daughter of William V, Duke of Bavaria.

His elder brother became Emperor Ferdinand III (1608–1657). Leopold served as a general in the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659). During the latter, the Spanish-Low Country forces under Leopold Wilhelm lost the Battle of Lens in an attempt to recover the city in 1648. Later in the war, he sallied forth from the Netherlands on two occasions; on the second, he successfully seized a number of northern French forts in February–March 1652, forcing the French to withdraw forces from Catalonia to reinforce their northern frontier. This assisted Spanish forces in Spain in recovering Catalonia from the French-backed Catalan rebellion.

Even though Leopold Wilhelm lacked the canonical qualifications, he was invested - with the help of his father - with a number of prince-bishoprics in order to provide him with an income. Unqualified as he was, he officially only held the title administrator—nevertheless realising the full episcopal revenues—of the prince-bishoprics of Halberstadt (1628–1648), Passau (1625–1662), Breslau (1656–1662), Olmütz (1637–1662) and Strasbourg (1626–1662). In 1635, Pope Urban VIII authorised him to become the prince-archbishop of Bremen, but due to its occupation by the Swedes he never gained de facto power.

He died at Vienna in 1662.

Patron of the arts[]

When he assumed the government of the Spanish Netherlands, Leopold Wilhelm, being a great lover of art, employed several painters from the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke, including the great Flemish painter David Teniers the Younger, who he not only employed as a painter but as keeper of the collection of pictures he was then forming. With the rank and title of "ayuda de camara," Teniers took up his abode in Brussels shortly after 1647. Immense sums were spent in the acquisition of paintings for the archduke, including paintings by Frans Snyders, Pieter Snayers, Daniel Seghers, Peter Franchoys, Frans Wouters, Jan van den Hoecke, Pieter Thijs, and others. A number of valuable works of the Italian masters, now in the Vienna Museum, came from Leopold's gallery after having belonged to Charles I and the duke of Buckingham. He commissioned the British painter John Michael Wright to travel to Cromwell's England, and acquire art and artefacts.

When Leopold returned to Vienna, the pictures also travelled to Austria, and a Flemish priest, himself a first-rate flower painter, Van der Baren, became keeper of the archducal gallery. Leopold bequeathed his gallery to his nephew Leopold I, and it became imperial property. It is now part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

When the tomb of Childeric I, an early Merovingian king of the Salian Franks and father of Clovis I was discovered in 1653 (May 27) by a mason doing repairs in the church of Saint-Brice in Tournai, it was Leopold Wilhelm who had the find published in Latin.

Ancestors[]

Further reading[]

  • Schreiber, Renate (2004). "Ein Galeria nach meinem Humor": Erzherzog Leopold Wilhelm. Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum. ISBN 3854970854. 

External links[]

Leopold William of Austria
House of Habsburg
Born: 5 January 1614 in Wiener Neustadt Died: 20 November 1662 in Vienna
Catholic Church titles
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Christian William of Brandenburg
(Lutheran Administrator)
Prince-Archbishop of Magdeburg1
1631–38
Succeeded by
Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels
(Lutheran Administrator)
Prince-Bishop of Halberstadt1
1628–48
Secularised to the
Principality of Halberstadt
Preceded by
Frederick II, Crown Prince of Denmark
(Lutheran Administrator)
Prince-Archbishop of Bremen2
1635–45
Succeeded by
Franz Wilhelm, Count of Wartenberg
(Vicar Apostolic)
Preceded by
Leopold V, Archduke of Austria
Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg1
1626–62
Succeeded by
Franz Egon of Fürstenberg
Prince-Bishop of Passau1
1625–62
Succeeded by
Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria
Preceded by
John Ernest Plateis of Plattenstein
Prince-Bishop of Olomouc1
1637–62
Preceded by
Karol Ferdynand Vasa
Prince-Bishop of Breslau1
1656–62
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
John Caspar I, Lord of Stadion
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order
1641–62
Succeeded by
Archduke Charles Joseph of Austria
Government offices
Preceded by
Manuel de Moura,
Marquis of Castel Rodrigo
Governor of the Spanish Netherlands
1647–56
Succeeded by
John of Austria, the Younger
Notes and references
1. Catholic Administrator, due to lack of canonical qualification
2. De jure only; de facto he was barred by the Swedish occupants
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and the edit history here.