Leopoldian line

The Leopoldian line was a sequence of descent in the Habsburg dynasty. Its first member was Leopold III, duke of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola (Inner Austria).

The division of the Habsburg territories between the Albertinian line and the Leopoldian line occurred after the early death of Rudolf IV, when his brothers Albert III and Leopold III divided the dynasty's territories in the Treaty of Neuberg. Leopold had four sons, but only the two younger (Ernest the Iron and Frederick IV) had children.

The children of Ernest and his wife Cymburgis of Masovia started the most famous line of the Habsburg dynasty to which most subsequent Holy Roman Emperors belonged, including Maximilian I and Emperor Charles V, and finally the last "genuine" Habsburg ruler of Austria, Maria Theresa.