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    "chunk_id": "1911:leopardo:ea7510b58158",
    "title": "LEOPARDO",
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    "verified_text": "leopardo, alessandro (d. c. 1512), italian sculptor, was born and died at venice. his first known work is the imposing mausoleum of the doge andrea vendramini, now in the church of san giovanni e paolo; in this he had the co-operation of tullio lombardo, but the finest parts are leopardo's. some of the figures have been taken away, and two in the berlin museum are considered to be certainly his work. he was exiled on a charge of fraud in 1487, and recalled in 1490 by the senate to finish verrocchio's colossal statue of bartolommeo colleoni. he worked between 1503 and 1505 on the tomb of cardinal zeno at st mark's, which was finished in 1515 by pietro lombardo; and in 1505 he designed and cast the bronze sockets for the three flagstaffs in the square of st mark's, the antique character of the decorations suggesting some greek model. (see venice.) leopold (m.h. ger. _liupolt_, o.h. ger. _liupald_, from _liut_, mod. ger. _leute_, \"people,\" and _pald_, \"bold,\" i.e. \"bold for the people\"), the name which has been that of several european sovereigns. leopold i. (1640-1705), roman emperor, the second son of the emperor ferdinand iii. and his first wife maria anna, daughter of philip iii. of spain, was born on the 9th of june 1640. intended for the church, he received a good education, but his prospects were changed by the death of his elder brother, the german king ferdinand iv., in july 1654, when he became his father's heir. in 1655 he was chosen king of hungary and in 1656 king of bohemia, and in july 1658, more than a year after his father's death, he was elected emperor at frankfort, in spite of the intrigues of cardinal mazarin, who wished to place on the imperial throne ferdinand, elector of bavaria, or some other prince whose elevation would break the habsburg succession. mazarin, however, obtained a promise from the new emperor that he would not send assistance to spain, then at war with france, and, by joining a confederation of german princes, called the league of the rhine, france secured a certain influence in the internal affairs of germany. leopold's long reign covers one of the most important periods of european history; for nearly the whole of its forty-seven years he was pitted against louis xiv. of france, whose dominant personality completely overshadowed leopold. the emperor was a man of peace and never led his troops in person; yet the greater part of his public life was spent in arranging and directing wars. the first was with sweden, whose king charles x. found a useful ally in the prince of transylvania, george ii. rakocky, a rebellious vassal of the hungarian crown. this war, a legacy of the last reign, was waged by leopold as the ally of poland until peace was made at oliva in 1660. a more dangerous foe next entered the lists. the turks interfered in the affairs of transylvania, always an unruly district, and this interference brought on a war with the empire, which after some desultory operations really began in 1663. by a personal appeal to the diet at regensburg leopold induced the princes to send assistance for the campaign; troops were also sent by france, and in august 1664 the great imperialist general, montecucculi, gained a notable victory at st gotthard. by the peace of vasvar the emperor made a twenty years' truce with the sultan, granting more generous terms than his recent victory seemed to render necessary. after a few years of peace began the first of three wars between france and the empire. the aggressive policy pursued by louis xiv. towards holland had aroused the serious attention of europe, and steps had been taken to check it. although the french king had sought the alliance of several german princes and encouraged the turks in their attacks on austria the emperor at first took no part in this movement. he was on friendly terms with louis, to whom he was closely related and with whom he had already discussed the partition of the lands of the spanish monarchy; moreover, in 1671 he arranged with him a treaty of neutrality. in 1672, however, he was forced to take action. he entered into an alliance for the defence of holland and war broke out; then, after this league had collapsed owing to the defection of the elector of brandenburg, another and more durable alliance was formed for the same purpose, including, besides the emperor, the king of spain and several german princes, and the war was renewed. at this time, twenty-five years after the peace of westphalia, the empire was virtually a confederation of independent princes, and it was very difficult for its head to conduct any war with vigour and success, some of its members being in alliance with the enemy and others being only lukewarm in their support of the imperial interests. thus this struggle, which lasted until the end of 1678, was on the whole unfavourable to germany, and the advantages of the treaty of nijmwegen (february 1679) were with france. almost immediately after the conclusion of peace louis renewed his aggressions on the german frontier. engaged in a serious struggle with turkey, the emperor was again slow to move, and although he joined a league against france in 1682 he was glad to make a truce at regensburg two years later. in 1686 the league of augsburg was formed by the emperor and the imperial princes, to preserve the terms of the treaties of westphalia and of nijmwegen. the whole european position was now bound up with events in england, and the tension lasted until 1688, when william of orange won the english crown and louis invaded germany. in may 1689 the grand alliance was formed, including the emperor, the kings of england, spain and denmark, the elector of brandenburg and others, and a fierce struggle against france was waged throughout almost the whole of western europe. in general the several campaigns were favourable to the allies, and in september 1697 england and holland made peace with louis at ryswick. to this treaty leopold refused to assent, as he considered that his allies had somewhat neglected his interests, but in the following month he came to terms and a number of places were transferred from france to germany. the peace with france lasted for about four years and then europe was involved in the war of the spanish succession. the king of spain, charles ii., was a habsburg by descent and was related by marriage to the austrian branch, while a similar tie bound him to the royal house of france. he was feeble and childless, and attempts had been made by the european powers to arrange for a peaceable division of his extensive kingdom. leopold refused to consent to any partition, and when in november 1700 charles died, leaving his crown to philip, duke of anjou, a grandson of louis xiv., all hopes of a peaceable settlement vanished. under the guidance of william iii. a powerful league, the grand alliance, was formed against france; of this the emperor was a prominent member, and in 1703 he transferred his claim on the spanish monarchy to his second son, the archduke charles. the early course of the war was not favourable to the imperialists, but the tide of defeat had been rolled back by the great victory of blenheim before leopold died on the 5th of may 1705. in governing his own lands leopold found his chief difficulties in hungary, where unrest was caused partly by his desire to crush protestantism. a rising was suppressed in 1671 and for some years hungary was treated with great severity. in 1681, after another rising, some grievances were removed and a less repressive policy was adopted, but this did not deter the hungarians from revolting again. espousing the cause of the rebels the sultan sent an enormous army into austria early in 1683; this advanced almost unchecked to vienna, which was besieged from july to september, while leopold took refuge at passau. realizing the gravity of the situation somewhat tardily, some of the german princes, among them the electors of saxony and bavaria, led their contingents to the imperial army which was commanded by the emperor's brother-in-law, charles, duke of lorraine, but the most redoubtable of leopold's allies was the king of poland, john sobieski, who was already dreaded by the turks. on the 12th of september 1683 the allied army fell upon the enemy, who was completely routed, and vienna was saved. the imperialists, among whom prince eugene of savoy was rapidly becoming prominent, followed up the victory with others, notably one near mohacz in 1687 and another at zenta in 1697, and in january 1699 the sultan signed the treaty of karlowitz by which he admitted the sovereign rights of the house of habsburg over nearly the whole of hungary. before the conclusion of the war, however, leopold had taken measures to strengthen his hold upon this country. in 1687 at the diet of pressburg the constitution was changed, the right of the habsburgs to succeed to the throne without election was admitted and the emperor's elder son joseph was crowned hereditary king of hungary. during this reign some important changes were made in the constitution of the empire. in 1663 the imperial diet entered upon the last stage of its existence, and became a body permanently in session at regensburg; in 1692 the duke of hanover was raised to the rank of an elector, becoming the ninth member of the electoral college; and in 1700 leopold, greatly in need of help for the impending war with france, granted the title of king of prussia to the elector of brandenburg. the net result of these and similar changes was to weaken the authority of the emperor over the members of the empire, and to compel him to rely more and more upon his position as ruler of the austrian archduchies and of hungary and bohemia, and leopold was the first who really appears to have realized this altered state of affairs and to have acted in accordance therewith. the emperor was married three times. his first wife was margaret theresa (d. 1673), daughter of philip iv. of spain; his second claudia felicitas (d. 1676), the heiress of tirol; and his third eleanora, a princess of the palatinate. by his first two wives he had no sons, but his third wife bore him two, joseph and charles, both of whom became emperors. he had also four daughters. leopold was a man of industry and education, and during his later years he showed some political ability. extremely tenacious of his rights, and regarding himself as an absolute sovereign, he was also very intolerant and was greatly influenced by the jesuits. in person he was short, but strong and healthy. although he had no inclination for a military life he loved exercises in the open air, such as hunting and riding; he had also a taste for music. leopold's letters to marco d'aviano from 1680 to 1699 were edited by o. klopp and published at graz in 1888. other letters are found in the _fontes rerum austriacarum_, bande 56 and 57 (vienna, 1903-1904). see also f. krones, _handbuch der geschichte osterreichs_ (berlin, 1876-1879); r. baumstark, _kaiser leopold i._ (1873); and a. f. pribram, _zur wahl leopolds i._ (vienna, 1888). (a. w. h.*) leopold ii. (1747-1792), roman emperor, and grand-duke of tuscany, son of the empress maria theresa and her husband, francis i., was born in vienna on the 5th of may 1747. he was a third son, and was at first educated for the priesthood, but the theological studies to which he was forced to apply himself are believed to have influenced his mind in a way unfavourable to the church. on the death of his elder brother charles in 1761 it was decided that he should succeed to his father's grand duchy of tuscany, which was erected into a \"secundogeniture\" or apanage for a second son. this settlement was the condition of his marriage on the 5th of august 1764 with maria louisa, daughter of charles iii. of spain, and on the death of his father francis i. (13th august 1765) he succeeded to the grand duchy. for five years he exercised little more than nominal authority under the supervision of counsellors appointed by his mother. in 1770 he made a journey to vienna to secure the removal of this vexatious guardianship, and returned to florence with a free hand. during the twenty years which elapsed between his return to florence and the death of his eldest brother joseph ii. in 1790 he was employed in reforming the administration of his small state. the reformation was carried out by the removal of the ruinous restrictions on industry and personal freedom imposed by his predecessors of the house of medici, and left untouched during his father's life; by the introduction of a rational system of taxation; and by the execution of profitable public works, such as the drainage of the val di chiana. as he had no army to maintain, and as he suppressed the small naval force kept up by the medici, the whole of his revenue was left free for the improvement of his state. leopold was never popular with his italian subjects. his disposition was cold and retiring. his habits were simple to the verge of sordidness, though he could display splendour on occasion, and he could not help offending those of his subjects who had profited by the abuses of the medicean regime. but his steady, consistent and intelligent administration, which advanced step by step, making the second only when the first had been justified by results, brought the grand duchy to a high level of material prosperity. his ecclesiastical policy, which disturbed the deeply rooted convictions of his people, and brought him into collision with the pope, was not successful. he was unable to secularize the property of the religious houses, or to put the clergy entirely under the control of the lay power. during the last few years of his rule in tuscany leopold had begun to be frightened by the increasing disorders in the german and hungarian dominions of his family, which were the direct result of his brother's headlong methods. he and joseph ii. were tenderly attached to one another, and met frequently both before and after the death of their mother, while the portrait by pompeo baltoni in which they appear together shows that they bore a strong personal resemblance to one another. but it may be said of leopold, as of fontenelle, that his heart was made of brains. he knew that he must succeed his childless eldest brother in austria, and he was unwilling to inherit his unpopularity. when, therefore, in 1789 joseph, who knew himself to be dying, asked him to come to vienna, and become co-regent, leopold coldly evaded the request. he was still in florence when joseph ii. died at vienna on the 20th of february 1790, and he did not leave his italian capital till the 3rd of march. leopold, during his government in tuscany, had shown a speculative tendency to grant his subjects a constitution. when he succeeded to the austrian lands he began by making large concessions to the interests offended by his brother's innovations. he recognized the estates of his different dominions as \"the pillars of the monarchy,\" pacified the hungarians and divided the belgian insurgents by concessions. when these failed to restore order, he marched troops into the country, and re-established at the same time his own authority, and the historic franchises of the flemings. yet he did not surrender any part that could be retained of what maria theresa and joseph had done to strengthen the hands of the state. he continued, for instance, to insist that no papal bull could be published in his dominions without his consent (_placetum regium_). if leopold's reign as emperor, and king of hungary and bohemia, had been prolonged during years of peace, it is probable that he would have repeated his successes as a reforming ruler in tuscany on a far larger scale. but he lived for barely two years, and during that period he was hard pressed by peril from west and east alike. the growing revolutionary disorders in france endangered the life of his sister marie antoinette, the queen of louis xvi., and also threatened his own dominions with the spread of a subversive agitation. his sister sent him passionate appeals for help, and he was pestered by the royalist emigrants, who were intriguing both to bring about an armed intervention in france, and against louis xvi. from the east he was threatened by the aggressive ambition of catherine ii. of russia, and by the unscrupulous policy of prussia. catherine would have been delighted to see austria and prussia embark on a crusade in the cause of kings against the revolution. while they were busy beyond the rhine, she would have annexed what remained of poland, and would have made conquests in turkey. leopold ii. had no difficulty in seeing through the rather transparent cunning of the russian empress, and he refused to be misled. to his sister he gave good advice and promises of help if she and her husband could escape from paris. the emigrants who followed him pertinaciously were refused audience, or when they forced themselves on him were peremptorily denied all help. leopold was too purely a politician not to be secretly pleased at the destruction of the power of france and of her influence in europe by her internal disorders. within six weeks of his accession he displayed his contempt for her weakness by practically tearing up the treaty of alliance made by maria theresa in 1756 and opening negotiations with england to impose a check on russia and prussia. he was able to put pressure on england by threatening to cede his part of the low countries to france, and then, when secure of english support, he was in a position to baffle the intrigues of prussia. a personal appeal to frederick william ii. led to a conference between them at reichenbach in july 1790, and to an arrangement which was in fact a defeat for prussia. leopold's coronation as king of hungary on the 15th of november 1790, was preceded by a settlement with the diet in which he recognized the dominant position of the magyars. he had already made an eight months' truce with the turks in september, which prepared the way for the termination of the war begun by joseph",
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