If previously we have discussed about Maria Theresa, the only female entitled as Holy Roman Empress by right of heritance, this time we intend to bring Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II to the light of discussions. He, who was overshadowed by his famous sister Marie Antoinette Queen of France, eventually reigned as co-emperor by his mother's side and was forced to deal with her conservative policies in opposition of his liberal tendencies.
Nonetheless, it must always be reminded that Joseph of Habsburg was a man of the 18th century, a time where sovereigns as Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia left their deeds to history. Certainly, Joseph left his. But what were these deeds? What kind of ruler this austrian prince was? That was what we intend to find out on this post.
Baptized Joseph Benedikt Anton Michael Adam, he was born at Vienna, Austria, on 13 March 1741 as the oldest son of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Holy Roman Emperor Franz I (or Francis). Joseph is most remembered for being the Queen of France Maria Antonia's brother, but as we will see, his deeds do not limit him to such blood relations.
Not much is known about his childhood and youth, except that his "formal education was provided through the writings of Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes" and "his pratical training was conferred by government officials, who were directed to instruct him in the mechanical details of the administration of the numerous states composing the Austrian dominions [...]."
As the Crown Prince of Austria, Joseph was married twicely. The first time, his mother sought an arragement with princess Isabella of Parma, whose mother was the oldest daughter of the king of France Louis XV. This match had the political purpose of achieving peace with France, but in reality it became more than this for they fell in love. Joseph was reputed for being very affectionate with his wife, and the sentiment apparently was mutual. She was also very close to one of Joseph's sisters, Maria Christina, duchess of Teschen. As we see below:
As sole emperor, Joseph sought to distance from some of his mother's politics. One of the best examples on this was breaking "with the devoutly Catholic policies of his mother to embrace the sweeping trend of the so-called 'Enlightenment' which viewed traditional Europe as a place of injustice and intolerable." In other words, he would provide reforms that, in his view, were as "reasonable" as possible. A phrase in which is said "Everything for the people. Nothing by the people" is credited to be his and this summons precisely what sort of government he expected to form. That way, he was not entirely different from Catherine of Russia and Frederick II of Prussia, for example, and their relations were close as we will see laterwards.
Aside of those changes, we perceive them as well as in another ares. Despite the resistance that eventually came within traditional kingdoms as Austrian Netherlands and Hungary, on the next paragraph, we have a better comprehension of the extent of Joseph's changes, :
Despite Joseph having been the only character of the 18th century for not being entitled as "the great", he was likely the only of his counterparts whose reformations improved the lifestyle of his subjects. To claim he was good or bad is unfair with this character, not because of his doings, but because he was a man of his days and, as such, had his flaws and qualities. It's a good reminder to point this out in order to prevent a contemporary judgement, after all values, ethic and habits, culture itself, all of these have changed from 1790 to our present days.
Nonetheless, Joseph is not often a figure discussed when compared to his sister or the Russian autocrat, or even his friend-enemy Frederick II of Prussia. There is an extent of subjects concerning Joseph, for thankfully most sources have found their ways towards us. But the most important here was to present this character to the reader so they can comprehend that many impressive kings, queens, emperors, etc did so much during their lives and history still overshadowed them. To close this post, a necessary quote, taken from the blog mad monarchist¹, is here written:
Nonetheless, it must always be reminded that Joseph of Habsburg was a man of the 18th century, a time where sovereigns as Frederick II of Prussia and Catherine the Great of Russia left their deeds to history. Certainly, Joseph left his. But what were these deeds? What kind of ruler this austrian prince was? That was what we intend to find out on this post.
Baptized Joseph Benedikt Anton Michael Adam, he was born at Vienna, Austria, on 13 March 1741 as the oldest son of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Holy Roman Emperor Franz I (or Francis). Joseph is most remembered for being the Queen of France Maria Antonia's brother, but as we will see, his deeds do not limit him to such blood relations.
Not much is known about his childhood and youth, except that his "formal education was provided through the writings of Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes" and "his pratical training was conferred by government officials, who were directed to instruct him in the mechanical details of the administration of the numerous states composing the Austrian dominions [...]."
As the Crown Prince of Austria, Joseph was married twicely. The first time, his mother sought an arragement with princess Isabella of Parma, whose mother was the oldest daughter of the king of France Louis XV. This match had the political purpose of achieving peace with France, but in reality it became more than this for they fell in love. Joseph was reputed for being very affectionate with his wife, and the sentiment apparently was mutual. She was also very close to one of Joseph's sisters, Maria Christina, duchess of Teschen. As we see below:
"Joseph married Princess Isabella of Parma in October 1760, a union fashioned to bolster the 1756 defensive pact between France and Austria. [...] Joseph loved his bride, Isabella, finding her both stimulating and charming, and she sought with special care to cultivate his favor and affection."But this union, however happy as it appeared to be, did not last too long. Isabella was fearful of pregnancies, giving only one child named Maria Theresa, who would live until the age of eight. After Maria Theresa, she suffered of miscarriages and at her last pregnancy she contracted smallpox. She went to labour earlier than expected and both mother and child did not survive.
"The loss of his beloved wife and their newborn child was devastating for Joseph, after which he felt keenly reluctant to remarry; though, he dearly loved his daughter and remained a devoted father to Maria Theresa.
For political reasons, and under constant pressure, in 1765, he relented and married his second cousin, Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria, the daughter of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria. This marriage proved extremely unhappy [...] and it lasted only two years."This marriage was fruitless and by the time Maria Josepha died, Joseph had ascended as sole emperor upon his mother's death. Afterwards, he was forced to deal with the death of his only daughter, Maria Theresa, which left him traumatized. In spite of these fatidic events, Joseph refused to remarry and by the time of his death, he would pass the throne to his younger brother, the future Leopold II.
As sole emperor, Joseph sought to distance from some of his mother's politics. One of the best examples on this was breaking "with the devoutly Catholic policies of his mother to embrace the sweeping trend of the so-called 'Enlightenment' which viewed traditional Europe as a place of injustice and intolerable." In other words, he would provide reforms that, in his view, were as "reasonable" as possible. A phrase in which is said "Everything for the people. Nothing by the people" is credited to be his and this summons precisely what sort of government he expected to form. That way, he was not entirely different from Catherine of Russia and Frederick II of Prussia, for example, and their relations were close as we will see laterwards.
"Upon his ascension he gave his large inheritance to ease the national debt and ordered his brother to do likewise. He cut government spending, built the first truly public parks, charged the Church with caring for the sick and destitute and granted religious toleration to Jews and Protestants. He abolished such traditional Catholic devoltions as the Rosary and religious processions, expelled the Jesuits and seized a great deal of Church property. Yet, throughout his reign, whether in Vienna or on the battlefield, he heard mass every morning and was an enemy of Protestant Prussia (though both monarchs had a great deal of respect for the other's abilities). It was under Joseph II that Wolfgang Mozart rose to fame, though his music was a little too extravagant for the very simple Joseph. Nevertheless his support of Mozart & his contemporaries earned Joseph the nickname 'The Musical King'."This particular Church reformation, which intended to turn the religion a tool of the state, was not seen with good eyes. The emperor was accused of being a protestant, but in truth he expected to separate religion from mundane matters. As explained below:
"Probably the most unpopular of all his reforms was his attempted modernization of the highly traditional Catholic Church, which in ancient times had helped establish the Holy Roman Empire beginning with Charlemagne. Calling himself the guardian of Catholicism, Joseph II struck vigorously at papal power. He tried to make the Catholic Church in his empire the tool of the state, independent of Rome. Clergymen were deprived of the tithe and ordered to study in seminaries under government superivision, while bishops had to take a formal oath of loyalty to the crown.[...]"Similarly,
"Joseph sharply cut the number of holy days to be observed in the Empire and ordered ornamentation in churches to be reduced. He forcibly simplified the manner in which the Mass (the central Catholic act of worship) was celebrated. Opponents of the reforms blamed them for revealing Protestant tendencies, with the rise of Enlightenment rationalism and the emergence of a liberal class of bourgeois officials. [...]
The Secularization Decree issued on January 12, 1782 banned several monastic orders not involved in teaching or healing and liquitated 140 monasteries (home to 1484 monks and 190 nuns)."What some might see this church reform as inclination to Protestantism is, in fact, as already mentioned a great step of secularization of the State. Joseph intended to be more tolerant towards the practice of different religions, giving freedom of religion towards the Jews and the Protestants. He had, as we will see, a strong perception of the power of a monarch and that greatly influenced his policies in reformations. We comprehend that Joseph's
"[...] intensity of his belief in the power of the state was directed by reason. As an absolutist ruler, however, he was also convinced of his right to speak for the state uncontrolled by laws and of the sensibility of his own rule. He had also inherited from his mother the belief of the house of Austria in its 'august' quality and its claim to acquire whatever it found desirable for its power or profit.
[...] He strove for administrative unity with characteristic haste to reach results without preparation. Joseph carried out measures of emancipation of the peasantry, which his mother had begun and abolished serfdom in 1781. In 1789, he decreed that peasants must be paid in cash payments rather than labor obligations. These policies were violently rejected by both the nobility and the peasants, since their barter economy lacked money. Joseph also abolished the death penalty in 1787, a reform that remained until 1795."Following this belief in making the authority of an emperor a role of an autocrat, which explains his poor relationship with nobility but also the indirect influence of Russia on this concept, it came what might be early to use the term of nationalism, since Joseph hoped to extend the use of the German language towards all of the Habsburg dominions. As it states on the following excerpt:
"Joseph set about building a rationalized, centralized and uniform government for his diverse lands, a hierarchy under himself as supreme autocrat. The personnel of government were expected to be imbued with the same dedicated spirit of service to the state that he himself hald. It was recruited without favor for class or ethnic origins, and promotion was solely by merit. To further uniformity, the emperor made German the compulsory language of official business throughout the Empire, which affected especially the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian assembly was stripped of its prerogatives, and not even called together."Furthermore, this secularization so present at his policies were also found within his domines in other affairs. For example, the University of Vienna was removed out of the church sphere, placing the monarchy as the instrument which consolidated the educational system. Elementary education was provided "for all boys and girls, and higher education on pratical lines was offered for a select few". He was directly responsible for giving scholarship for the gifted students who could not afford paying an university, as well for granting permission for the creation of schools for Jews and other religions. In addition to this, by 1784, "he ordered that the country change its language of instruction from Latin to German", a movement seen as contradictory due to the vast dominions of his empire that held its own culture and languages.
"The judiciary and the executive had already been separated at the top; Joseph extended this process to the lower administrative levels. In 1786 the Universal Code of Civil Law was issued. Under Maria Theresa the physician Gerard Van Swieten had organized a public health service, and in Joseph's time the General Hospital in Vienna was considered one of the best equipped in Europe. The monarchy's finances were balanced. The reorganization of the army secured Joseph's position in Europe. [...] By the Edict of Toleration he established religious equality before the law, and he granted freedom of the press."It's been formerly mentioned that Joseph II was fond of science, music and arts. Similarly, he was the one to present Mozart to the world. It is said, and here the concept of nationalism appears by another means, that this taste of music of his reflected as well in other parts of his govern. As the following excerpt states:
"He was very German, he favored always simplicity and efficiency. It was said that his poor houses and government buildings looked like army barracks. He himself usually wore a military uniform rather than the latest fashions and he despised court ceremony and lavish Church rituals. [...]
The emancipation of the Jews within a short time endowed cultural life with new vitality. The artistic life of Vienna rose to new heights when the Burgtheater became the German National Theater. By transferring the management of the theatres to the actors, Joseph introduced an artistically fruitful concept."Where his international affairs were concerned, his diplomacy did not seem to weight too much amongst european relations. He visited the courts o Catherine II of Russia, and the French one where he apparently was disguised as Count Falkestein. The prospectives of these visits aimed Joseph:
"to obtain a personal view of the situation in eastern and western Europe, Joseph visited France, where he was enthusiastically received by the intellectual elite, and then also visited Catherine of Russia. The banquets given in his honour in Paris could not conceal the truth from him: France was headed for catastrophe. His Russian visit gave him the impression of a state retarded in its development compared with the West, but the loyalty of its enormous population to Catherine and her nearly unlimited power seemed to make her the best ally for political manoeuvres in Europe."His attempts in saving his sister and her family did not bring any positive results from the tension that led Revolutionary France to war against Austria. Towards the end of his reign, Joseph faced difficult rebellions to be dealt with, being forced to withdrawl the changes he imposed upon Hungary. By the time he died in 1790, Joseph was alone in his deathbed for his physician refused seeing him and his brother and heir Leopold was found in Florence.
Despite Joseph having been the only character of the 18th century for not being entitled as "the great", he was likely the only of his counterparts whose reformations improved the lifestyle of his subjects. To claim he was good or bad is unfair with this character, not because of his doings, but because he was a man of his days and, as such, had his flaws and qualities. It's a good reminder to point this out in order to prevent a contemporary judgement, after all values, ethic and habits, culture itself, all of these have changed from 1790 to our present days.
Nonetheless, Joseph is not often a figure discussed when compared to his sister or the Russian autocrat, or even his friend-enemy Frederick II of Prussia. There is an extent of subjects concerning Joseph, for thankfully most sources have found their ways towards us. But the most important here was to present this character to the reader so they can comprehend that many impressive kings, queens, emperors, etc did so much during their lives and history still overshadowed them. To close this post, a necessary quote, taken from the blog mad monarchist¹, is here written:
"For all of these things Joseph was adored by the common folk but despised by the aristocracy and high clergy. Certainly the Emperor had his share of heartaches and trouble. His beloved first wife died early on and Joseph never recovered from the loss. Victory over Prussia's Frederick the Great constantly escaped him and his sister was the famous Marie Antoinette who was murdered by French revolutionaries. In the royal community of Europe, most of whom were also adherents of the "Enlightenment", Joseph was consistently held in very high regard. Czarina Catherine the Great of Russia was greatly impressed with the young monarch who oddly insisted on wearing an Austrian army uniform rather than lavish costumes, and Prussia's Frederick the Great never ceased to express his admiration for Joseph even when they faced each other in battle. In fact, it was partly the high esteem in which Joseph held the Prussian king that led his desire to emulate his victories in the field."Bibliography:
-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
-https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-II
-https://www.biography.com/people/joseph-ii-9358214
-http://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/joseph-ii-reformist-emperor-or-enlightened-despot
-http://madmonarchist.blogspot.com.br/2010/05/enlightened-despot-emperor-joseph-ii.html¹
-https://www.questia.com/library/1369633/the-revolutionary-emperor-joseph-the-second-1741-1790
-http://www.klastervyssibrod.cz/History/text-4[en]
-http://www.shoreshim.org/en/infoEmperorJoseph.asp
-http://nerdalicious.com.au/people/holy-roman-emperor-joseph-ii-discusses-nymph-racing-and-the-chastity-commission/
