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How was Leopold I related to the Spanish Habsburg family?
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Leopold I
Leopold I, detail of a portrait bust, c. 1700; in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
Leopold I, Holy Roman emperor, was closely related to the Spanish Habsburgs through both his ancestry and his marriages, reflecting the dynasty's practice of maintaining the unity of the House of Habsburg across its two primary lines.12
- Ancestry: Leopold was the son of Ferdinand III and Maria Anna, who was the daughter of Philip III of Spain.1
- Marriages: Leopold further solidified these ties through his first marriage in 1666 to Margarita Teresa, who was the daughter of Philip IV of Spain.1
- Dynastic Strategy: Leopold viewed the imperial and Spanish lines as parts of a single entail. Following the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in 1700, Leopold actively sought to defend the Spanish inheritance for his own dynasty, viewing the Spanish throne as a central aim of his political efforts to maintain the power and prestige of the Habsburg family.12