Leopold V, Duke of Austria

Leopold V was duke of Austria from 1177 to 1194 and participated in the Third Crusade. During the siege of Acre he quarrelled with Richard I of England after the Austrian banner was reportedly removed from a captured position.

When Richard travelled home in disguise, Leopold arrested him and transferred him to Emperor Henry VI, who demanded a vast ransom. Leopold was excommunicated for detaining a crusader and died after a riding accident. Leopold V, Duke of Austria died in Graz.

In David Boyle’s Blondel’s Song, Returning from the Third Crusade in 1192, Richard I attempted to cross central Europe in disguise but was captured by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, and eventually transferred to the custody of Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI. In Sharon Kay Penman’s A King’s Ransom, Returning from the Third Crusade, Richard I is forced onto an overland route and captured by Leopold V of Austria. Leopold V, Duke of Austria is treated fictionally in Gore Vidal’s A Search for the King, Ben Kane’s King, Ben Kane’s Crusader, and Sharon Kay Penman’s Lionheart.