The founding of the Austrian city of Wiener Neustadt by Duke Leopold V in 1194 came about from the ill-gotten gains of whose kidnapping that probably yielded the highest ransom ever?
Wiener Neustadt extinct with the death of his son Ottokar IV, the Duchy of Styria passed to the Austrian House of Babenberg according to the Georgenberg Pact. Duke Leopold V of Austria established the town in 1194 and financed the construction of a fortress close to the Hungarian border with the ransom paid for the English king Richard the Lionheart, whom he had previously captured and held as a hostage at Dürnstein Castle. In 1241, a small Mongol squadron raided Neustadt during the Mongol invasion of Europe but was later repulsed by Duke Friederich and his knights. Wiener Neustadt, meaning more or
Leopold V, Duke of Austria district). Initially Duke Leopold had the king imprisoned in Dürnstein, and in March 1193 Richard was brought before Emperor Henry VI at Trifels Castle, accused of Conrad's murder. A ransom of 35,000 kilograms of silver was paid to release King Richard. Leopold demanded that Richard's niece, Eleanor, marry his son Frederick. Due to Leopold's death, this marriage never took place. Leopold's share of the ransom became the foundation for the mint in Vienna, and was used to build new city walls for Vienna, as well as to found the towns of Wiener Neustadt and Friedberg in Styria. The duke was