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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 Wilhelm 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 returned to Vienna after the situation in the Spanish Netherlands had deteriorated in 1656. In Vienna he was initially occupied with the administration of his various bishoprics, the Teutonic Order and the family affairs of the imperial house. After the death of his elder brother Emperor Ferdinand III several electors put him forward for the position of Emperor. However, he stalled to allow his nephew to reach the statutory age to ascend the imperial throne, which his nephew did as Leopold I on 22 July 1658 at the age of 18 years. After devoting himself to the affairs of state, Leopold Wilhelm retired in his final years and lived exclusively for the love of art.〔(Constantin von Wurzbach: Habsburg, Leopold Wilhelm ). In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich. Band 6. Verlag L. C. Zamarski, Wien 1860, p. 444–446 〕 He died in Vienna in 1662. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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