Leopold I (1640–1705)

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1658 to 1705, was a leading figure of the Grand Alliance. After defeating the Ottomans in the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 he had established the Habsburg Monarchy as the dominant power in central and southeast Europe and could turn his full attention to Western Europe and the power struggle between Austria and France, or, more correctly, between the Habsburg and the Valois-Bourbon dynasties, which had been a central feature of European politics since at least the early 16th century.

Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680), Portrait of Emperor Leopold I (1640–1705), copper engraving on paper, 26,6 cm x 18 cm, 1673; source: Wikimedia Commons, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fotothek_df_tg_0008412_Portr%C3%A4t_%5E_Kaiser.jpg, Creative Commons License Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Germany (CC BY-SA 3.0 DE Deed), https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/deed.en.