he attended the Council of Acre along with king Conrad III and Frederick Barbarossa, then the Siege of Damascus. On their way home, Henry stayed at the court of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos, where he married his niece Theodora in late 1148. Elected king of Germany in 1152, Frederick Barbarossa tried to reach a compromise with the Welfs and endowed Henry the Lion, son of the late Henry the Proud, with the Duchy of Bavaria in 1156. A replacement duchy had to be found for the Babenberg family, which was accomplished by the Privilegium Minus, through which Frederick elevated Henry's Margraviate of Austria to a duchy with complete independence from Bavaria. Unlike his father, who had resided in Klosterneuburg most of the time, Henry moved his Austrian residence to Vienna in 1145. Only by this act could Vienna surpass other cities within the duchy, such as Krems, Melk, and Klosterneuburg. Since then, it has remained the capital of the country. In addition, in 1147 the first St. Stephen's Church was completed, becoming a visible landmark for the city and showing its prominence. In 1155, Henry founded the Schottenstift monastery in Vienna, in the courtyard of which a statue of him stands to this day. In November 1176, while his Austrian lands were campaigned by the forces of Duke Soběslav II of Bohemia, Henry II with his horse fell from a rotten bridge near Melk and suffered a femoral neck fracture. Henry II succumbed to his injuries on 13 January 1177 in Vienna. According to his last will, he was buried in the Schottenstift monastery. Marriage and children Until 1143, Henry II was married to Gertrude of Süpplingenburg, the daughter of Emperor Lothair II. In 1148 he married Theodora Komnene, niece of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I. Both marriages were an expression of the importance of the Babenberg dynasty in Central Europe in that period. Henry had one child by Gertrude of Süpplingenburg: Richenza (1143 – unknown), married to Heinrich Landgraf von Steffling Henry had three children by Theodora Komnene: Agnes of Austria ( – 13 January 1182), married to King Stephen III of Hungary, secondly married to Duke Herman of Carinthia Leopold V, Duke of Austria (1157 – 31 December 1194) Henry I, Duke of Mödling (1158 – 31 August 1223), married Richeza, daughter of Duke Vladislav II of Bohemia. References Sources External links Heinrich II. Jasomirgott at