Silver Pfennigs and Small Silver Coins of Europe in the Middle Ages

The March of Austria was first formed in 976 out of the lands that had
once been the March of Pannonia in Carolingian times. In 1156, the
Privilegium Minus elevated the march to a Duchy independent of the
Duchy of Bavaria.
Leopold I, also Luitpold or Liutpold (died 994) was the first Margrave of Austria from the
Babenberg dynasty.
Leopold was a count in the Bavarian Danube district and first appears in documents from the
960s as a faithful follower of Emperor Otto I the Great. After the insurgence by Henry II the
Wrangler of Bavaria in 976 against Emperor Otto II, he was appointed as "margrave in the
East", the core territory of modern Austria, instead of a Burkhard. His residence was probably
at Pöchlarn, but maybe already Melk, where his successors resided. The territory, which
originally had only coincided with the modern Wachau, was enlarged in the east at least as
far as the Wienerwald.
He died at Würzburg.
LEOPOLD I - 976-994
The millennial anniversary of his appointment as margrave was celebrated as Thousand
years of Austria in 1976. Celebrations under the same title were held twenty years later at
the anniversary of the famous Ostarrîchi document first mentioning the Old German name of
Austria.
Even though he is not mentioned in the Babenberger Chronicle written by his descendant
Otto of Freising (which only starts with Leopold's grandson Adalbert) he is known as the progenitor
of this dynasty. Otto of Freising's claim of ancestry to the Franconian Babenbergers,
who are remembered for the Babenberger insurgency of the early 10th century, has not been
proven, but cannot be completely ruled out.
HENRY I - 994-1018
Henry I of Austria (died June 23, 1018), also known as Henry the Strong (Ger. Heinrich der
Starke), was margrave of Austria from 994 until his death.
He is the son of Margrave Leopold I from the Babenberg family. Under his rule, the name
Ostarrîchi (996), from which the modern German name of Austria (Österreich) developed, was
first mentioned in a preserved document.
Henry took his residence in Melk, where Saint Koloman was buried. His territory was extended
by Emperor Henry II, who gave him some land between the Kamp and Morava rivers and in
the Wienerwald.