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* LEOPOLD II. 142 LEOPOLD. at Sistova. His wife was Maria Louisa, daugh- ter of Cliarli-.* III. of !Si)ain. His eldest son, Francis, was llie last of the Holy Roman Kni- perors. Consult: Sybel, Kaiser Leopold II. (Munich, 1809) ; ^^■o"!f, Leopold II. und Maria Christina (Vienna, 1807) ; and Beer, Joseph II. und Kaunilz (Vienna, 1873). LEOPOLD I., Prince of Anhalt-Dcssau. See Axii.m.t-De.ss.u. LEOPOLD I., (iEORGE Christian Frederick ( I7'.)U-18(ij) . King of the Belgians from 1S31 to 1805. He was the son of Francis, Duke of Saxe- Coburg, and was born December 16. 1790. He received an excellent literary and scientific edu- cation, and had the reputation of being one of the most cultured princes in Europe. He became a general in the Kussian army in 180.i, and en- joyed high favor with the Emperor Alexander I. He was present at the l)att]cs of Liitzen. Baut- zen, and Leipzig, and took ])art in the invasion of France in 1814. He visited England after the Peace of 1815, and in the following year was betrothed to the Princess Charlotte, the heiress of the throne. He was naturalized by act of Parliament, and received an annual pension of £50.000. The marriage took place on May 2, 1810: but the Princess died in child-bed Novem- ber o, 1817. and the child diil not survive. Prince Leopold now lived in complete retirement in London, and at his seat of Clareniont. He received in February, 18.10, the ofl'er of the crown of Greece, and at first favorably enter- tained the proposal, but afterwards rejected it, finding that it would not be granted to him by the Powers under conditions just or satisfactory to the Greeks. On June 4, 1831, he was elected by a national congress King of the Belgians, the people having risen against the rule of Holland, and on .July 21 of that year his coronation took place at Brussels. In 18.12 he married Princess Louise, daughter of Louis Philippe, King of the French, who died in 1850. As a monarch, Leo- pold conducted himself with great prudence, firm- ness, and moderation, and with constant regard to the principles of the Belgian Constitution. He died December 10. 1S05, and was succeeded by his son. Leopold 11. His daughter, Carlotta, was the wife of Maximilian, Enijieror of Mexico. Con- sult: Juste, Lcs fonthileurs de la moiiarchie beige, Leopold /'■'', roi dcs /ic/<;fs ( Brussels. 1808), trans, into English as Memoirs of Leopold I. (London. ISOS): also a monograph. L'clcction de Leopold !<-'■ (Brussels, 1802): Taillandier, Leroi Leopold et la reine Victoria (Paris, 1878). LEOPOLD II. (18.35—), Loiis Philippe Marie Victor. King of the Belgians since 1805. He was born April 0, 1835, the eldest son of King Leopold I. He nuuricd. in 1853. Marie Hen- riette, a daughter of the Archduke .Joseph of Austria, and ascended the throne on the death oi his father. December 10. 1805. In 1870 he ellected at Brussels the organization of the African International Association (q.v. ) with a view to making use of the recent discoveries in Africa. A shrewd and enterprising man of busi- ness, he promoted this work with great energ;(', furnishing the means, largely from his own re- sources, for Stanley's exploration of the Congo. The Congo Free State (q.v.) was established and neutralized and the sovereignty of it was given to Leopold by the Berlin nferpnce in 1885. (See Belgium.) His only son. Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant and Count of Hainault, died in ISOlt. Of his three daughters, the eldest, Louise, born in 1858, wa.s married to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and the second daughter, Ste'plianie, bom in 1804. became the wife of the Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria-Hungary, who died in 1880. Queen ilarie Ilenriette died September 19, 1902. LEOPOLD II. (1707-1870). Grand Duke of Tuscany, a son of the Grand Duke Ferdinand 111., with whom he relumed from exile in 1815, and whom he succeeded in 1824. His rule was elhcient and mild, and he met the revolutionary movements of 1848 by granting a constitution. He lent at first a half-hearted aid to Charles Albert of Sardinia in the war against Austria, but, unable to cope with the situation, he fled from his dominions in February, 1849, and with- drew to Naples. He returned in a few months and resumed his sway, which soon became des- ]>otic and was upheld by Austrian troops. In 1859 he refused to enter an alliance with .Sar- dinia, and this led to his overthrow. He fled to Vienna, abdicating in favor of his son, but Tus- cany, by a plebiscite, was incorporated into the Kingdom of Italy. He died an exile in Bohemia, .January 29, 1870. LEOPOLD II., Lake. A large lake in the administrative district of the same name in the western part of Congo Free State (Map: Africa. F 5). It is 105 miles long from north to south, and its greatest width is 40 miles; its shores are very irregular. Its water is for the most part shallow, and it is drained by the Mfini, which flow's from its southern end westward into the Kassai, through which it enters the lower Congo. The lake was discovered by Stanlev in 1881. LEOPOLD, Order OF. (I) An Austrian order of civil and military merit, instituted in 1808 by the Emjjeror Francis I. in memory of his father, Leopold II. It has three classes. The decoration is a cross of red enamel with white border, bearing in the centre the letters F. I. A. (Franciscus Imperator Austria), surrounded by the words Integritati et Merito (for upright- ness and merit). On the reverse is the legend 'Opes regum corda subditorum' (the riches of kings are the hearts of their subjects). The Emperor is grand master. (2) A I3elgian civil and military order, founded by Leopold I. in 1832, with five classes. The decoration is a white enameled cross with a wreath of oak and laurel, bearing the letters LL. and RR. (Leo- poldus Rex). On the reverse are the Belgian arms and the device of the order, 'L'union fait la force' ( in union is strength). See Plate of Orders. LEOPOLD, Georce DfXCAPf Albert, Duke of Albany (1853-84). Tlic youngest son of Queen Victoria. He was educated by private tutors and at Oxford, and traveled extensively. In 1878 he began to take part, so far as his delicate health and the fornfalities of his station would permit, in social, educational, and literary atTairs. He manifested a decided taste for intellectual pur- suits. In 1882 he was m.arried to Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont. He died in the south of France, where he had gone for the benefit of his health. LEOPOLD, lii'.Vprdt. Karl Gustaf af (1750- 1829). The Swedi.sh Gottsched (q.v.), bulwark of French Classicism against the attacks of the