Coins Catalog - Leopold I (1657-1705), Hungary

Leopold I was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. He became heir in 1654 by the death of his elder brother Ferdinand IV. Elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1658, Leopold would rule as such until his death in 1705.

Leopold's reign is known for the conflicts with the Ottoman Empire in the east, and the rivalry with Louis XIV, a contemporary and first cousin, in the west.

After more than a decade of war, Leopold was victorious in the Great Turkish War and by the Treaty of Karlowitz he recovered almost all of the Kingdom of Hungary which had fallen under the Turkish yoke after the 1526 Battle of Mohács.

Leopold fought three wars against France - the Dutch War, the Nine Years' War, and the War of the Spanish Succession. In this last, Leopold wanted to give his younger son the Spanish inheritance, disregarding the late Spanish king's will. To this end, he started a war which soon engulfed much of Europe. The early years of the war went fairly well for Austria, with victories at Schellenberg and Blenheim. But this was a war that would drag on till 1714, nine years after Leopold's death.