The duke's own castles, towns, tolls and estates inside Austria, as distinct from the whole duchy over which he holds the high justice.
The Babenbergs' demesne is thickest round Vienna and Klosterneuburg, in the Tullnerfeld, on the Hungarian frontier from the Marchfeld to Hainburg and the Leitha, round Krems and along the Kamp (Gars, Eggenburg), and north of the Danube in the Riedmark and the Perg lands inherited in 1191. Elsewhere the ground is shared with the ministeriales, the free lords and counts and the great churches.
Who he is
- Name
- Leopold VI of Babenberg
- Title
- Duke of Austria and Styria
- Since
- 16 April 1198 (Austria)
- Born
- 15 October 1176
- Family
- Babenberg; see the realm record Austria
- Confidence
- high
As for the realm record; the ducal demesne is drawn from the towns and castles the Babenbergs are known to hold, not from a land register (the Babenberg land register, the Landbuch, is later).
Overlord
King Philip of Swabia (recognised); the Empire
What it holds
- Vienna: castle, town, mint and market
- Klosterneuburg: palace and market beside the canons' house
- Tulln and the Tullnerfeld, the old Babenberg centre on the Danube
- Krems with the Babenberg mint of about 1130-1190, and the ducal toll at Stein
- Gars am Kamp (the castle of Leopold II) and Eggenburg on the Waldviertel edge
- Hainburg castle and town and the Leitha crossing at Bruck, facing Hungary
- The Marchfeld villages and the Danube crossings below Vienna
- The Riedmark east of the Aist (since 1115) and the lands of the lords of Perg (inherited 1191)
- The forest of the Wienerwald
- The advocacy (protection and high justice) of the Babenberg foundations: Klosterneuburg, Heiligenkreuz, the Schottenstift, and of Melk
How it was acquired
Babenberg inheritance since 976; Perg in 1191; held by Leopold VI since 16 April 1198.
Allies and rivals
See Austria. Within the duchy the duke shares lordship with his uncle Henry of Mödling (Henry of Mödling), the Kuenringer and other ministeriales, the free lords of Lengenbach, the Plain counts of Hardegg, the Peilstein counts, the heirs of Raabs, and the bishops of Passau, Salzburg, Freising and Regensburg.
How things stand that morning
Held by Leopold VI without dispute on 1 January 1200.
Wealth
Tolls on the Danube (Stein and others), the Vienna mint, the Vienna market, wine and grain estates, the forest.
Military
The ducal castles listed, garrisoned by ministeriales and castle knights; Hainburg and the Leitha line face Hungary.
Threats
- Hungarian reprisal on the Hainburg and Leitha line
- the great ministeriales' growing hereditary hold on ducal castles
What the year holds
What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.
- Pentecost, 28 May 1200 (ADB: Pentecost 1200, in the Schottenkirche at Vienna)The duke's knighting and court festival; a gathering of the duchy's lords and ministeriales.Depends on: peace Stopped by: war
Places of note
- Vienna, Am Hof: Ducal residence
- Gars am Kamp castle: Old Babenberg castle above the Kamp
- Hainburg castle: Frontier castle facing Hungary
- Perg: Lands of the lords of Perg, ducal since 1191
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The towns and castles are well attested as Babenberg; the drawn blocks are concentrations of known ducal possessions, not a surveyed demesne.
On the map: Rough concentrations of ducal demesne; church estates and ministerial fiefs lie inside them, and much ducal land outside them is not drawn.
Primary sources for Austria
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- Annals of Jarloch (Gerlach), abbot of Milevsko, Jarloch of Milevsko (about 1200 to 1220). The last Bohemian narrative before 1200, continuing Vincentius of Prague. Read online
- Annals of Schäftlarn and the Bavarian annals (12th and 13th centuries). Brief Bavarian annals. Read online
- The Austrian and Salzburg annals (kept in the 12th and 13th centuries, with continuations to the late 13th century). A family of monastic annals from Austria, Styria and Salzburg, printed together. Read online
- Regesta Imperii V: calendar of the acts of Philip, Otto IV and Frederick II, 1198 to 1272 (calendar of documents of 1198 to 1272, published 1881 to 1901). A dated calendar of every known act of King Philip and King Otto IV, with the acts of popes and princes that bear on the Empire. Read online
- The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
- Bavarian monuments: the charters of the Bavarian monasteries and bishoprics (charters from the 8th century onward, published 1763 to 1916). The great charter series of Bavaria, arranged by monastery and bishopric. Read online
- The political songs of Walther von der Vogelweide, 1198 to 1201, Walther von der Vogelweide (about 1198 to 1201). Three stanzas of the Reichston, composed between 1198 and 1201 after Walther left Vienna, lament the disorder of the double election and call on Philip to take the crown. Read online
- Constitutions and public acts of the emperors and kings, volume 2, 1198 to 1272 (documents of 1198 to 1272, edited 1896). The public documents of the throne war in full text: the election notices of 1198, the princes' declaration of Speyer of 28 May 1199 to Innocent III, the pope's replies, Philip's and Otto's letters and promises, and the imperial acts of 1200 and 1201 including Otto's promises at Neuss in June 1201. Read online
Sources and studies
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.