| Leopold III | |
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| Engraving of Leopold III | |
| Duke of Habsburg | |
| Reign | 9 April 1556 – 5 January 1601 |
| Coronation | 9 July 1556 in Strasbourg |
| Predecessor | Frederick I |
| Successor | Peter II |
| Born | 8 August 1540 Lahr, Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire |
| Died | 5 January 1601 Mainz, Holy Roman Empire |
| Father | Frederick I |
| Mother | Maria Přemyslid |
| Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Leopold III (8 August 1540 – 5 January 1601) was Duke of Habsburg from 1556, following the death of his father Frederick I. After the death of his father, Leopold III oversaw the end to conflict between the Duchy of Habsburg and the Árpád Dynasty of Kingdom of Hungary and Austria, believing in creating a strong, unified Catholic coalition in order to combat the growth of the Protestant Reformation. Leopold spearheaded the creation of the Catholic League, as an alliance of German states such as the Palatinate of the Rhine and Archbishopric of Mainz, with a well trained and equipped standing army. His negotiations with Henry X, Holy Roman Emperor, pressured the Jungists into allowing the creation of two new electors, which balanced the imperial electorate after the conversion of Philip von Wied of Trier.
This lasted until the death of Wied and the subsequent Trier War, which saw the Catholic League's army achieve a decisive victory over Jungist Trier and its allies. Leopold III's diplomacy with other Catholic powers also allowed for a return to Catholic emperors in Charles V, who was elected in 1564. After Charles' death his partisanship would lead to an stalemate in the electorate, which ultimately led to the outbreak of the Forty Years' War. Leopold III proved a crucial leader for the Catholic alliance during the early phase of the war known as the Frankfurter Phase, however, his contraction of leprosy limited his abilities greatly. Despite this illness, Leopold would go on to command forces into his final years, and was one of the most important voices of the Catholic cause. He died in 1601 before he could see his plans for the war's end come to fruition, and the zealous peace terms of his peers after his death instead only escalated the war further.
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