According to the romance that accrued to his name, recorded in an 11th-century vita, Leonard was a Frankish noble in the court of Clovis I, founder of the Merovingian dynasty.

[3] Leonard secured the release of a number of prisoners, for whom he has become a patron saint, then, declining the offer of a bishopric— a prerogative of Merovingian nobles— he entered the monastery at Micy near Orléans.

Bohemond, a charismatic leader of the First Crusade, subsequently visited the Abbey of Noblac, where he made an offering in gratitude for his release.

Bohemond's example inspired many similar gifts, enabling the construction of the Romanesque church and its prominent landmark belltower.

[7] Until the Secularisation, Inchenhofen became a major pilgrimage site for the cult of St Leonard, promoted by the Cistercian monks of nearby Fürstenfeld Abbey.

The largest hospital in northern mediaeval England was an Augustinian foundation dedicated to St. Leonard, in York; its partial ruins are to be found in the Museum Gardens although undercroft remains lie some hundred yards away and are used as a bar under the York Theatre Royal.

In Newton Abbot, Devon, there is both a chapel of ease dedicated to St Leonard, first recorded in 1350, and a replacement church built in 1834.

In Portugal the parish and church (late 12th century) of Atouguia da Baleia (Peniche) is dedicated to St Leonard.