Leopoldian line

The Leopoldian line was a sequence of descent in the Habsburg dynasty begun by Duke Leopold III of Austria, who, after the death of his elder brother Rudolf IV, divided the Habsburg hereditary lands with his brother Albert III according to the 1379 Treaty of Neuberg.

The division of the Habsburg territories between the elder Albertinian and the younger Leopoldian line occurred after the early death of Duke Rudolf IV in 1365, when his surviving brothers Albert III and Leopold III, after several years of joint rule, divided the dynasty's dominions.

Upon William's death in 1406, the remaining territories of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola were inherited by the third-born Ernest the Iron and became known as Inner Austria.

The children of Ernest and his wife, the Piast princess Cymburgis of Masovia, started the most famous line of the Habsburg dynasty to which most subsequent Holy Roman Emperors belonged, including their son Frederick III (V), who officially acknowledged the Austrian archducal title and by 1490 had re-unified all the dynasty's dominions.

The line of succession was continued by the last "genuine" Habsburg ruler, Maria Theresa, who became ancestress of the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine.