JOSEPH II, Emperor. - Born on March 16, 1741 in Vienna, died there on Feb. 20, 1790. The first male child of Grand Duke Francis I of Lorraine-Tuscany (later elected emperor in 1745) and of the empress and queen Maria Theresa, he became King of the Romans on March 27, 1764, then emperor upon his father's death (1765) and co-regent with his mother for the Austrian hereditary states, finally sole sovereign from 1780 to 1790. He constantly inspired his political action by a rigidly absolutist conception, but, as a son of the Enlightenment, he intended to place sovereign power at the service of the "happiness" of the people, who in his intentions were to live in a "welfare state" (Wohlfahrstaat). A complex figure rich in humanity, he has been variously judged by contemporaries and posterity: he had the tragic fate of seeing a great part of his conceptions collapse, but the fact remains that after his death, and in the following century, his ideas had significant practical repercussions. During the co-regency he was often in conflict with his mother, who, deeply attached to the Church, recoiled from her son's conceptions of Enlightenment derivation; and the conflict was especially acute in the field of ecclesiastical policy.
He busied himself usefully with the reform of the army in collaboration with the court councillor Lacy, and exercised a notable influence on foreign policy: it is to his personal intervention that the acquisition of Galicia by Austria following the first partition of Poland (1772) is due. In 1775 Austria furthermore received Bukovina from Turkey, and G. II was the first to call attention to the importance of that region: in effect the acquisition of that country assured Austria a lasting influence in the Slavic territories. Noteworthy too were G. II's interventions in the Bavarian question, concluded with the Peace of Teschen of 1779. After the death of his mother Maria Theresa (1780), having become sole sovereign, G. II drew close to Russia, with which he concluded in May 1781 an offensive and defensive alliance. He attempted to acquire, by means of an exchange with Belgium, Bavaria, which had already in the previous period of the co-regency been the object of his interest, but he did not succeed in his aim owing to the opposition of the German princes led by Frederick II of Prussia. The alliance with Russia dragged him in 1788 into an unsuccessful war against Turkey.
Particularly important were G. II's reforms within the State. He intended to build a strongly centralized State, an undertaking that entailed the overcoming of the particular traditions of the individual Habsburg countries. Army and bureaucracy were to be the pillars of this centralizing State, whose action was to be exerted upon subjects all brought back to a uniform legal situation. Such conceptions inspired the uniformity of the fiscal system that destroyed the exemptions of the privileged classes, the creation of a strong State police (1786), the impetus given to the spread of the German language (declared the official language of the State), the abolition of serfdom, and a whole series of reforms in the field of schooling, of judicial administration and in the religious field.
The bold reforms relating to G. II's domestic policy provoked reactions and open opposition in all the domains, especially in those countries that had more solid traditions, that is, in Belgium and in Hungary. Belgium broke out into open rebellion, and in 1789 proclaimed itself independent; in Hungary the opposition of the noble class forced the Emperor to renounce part of his reforms. As regards the Italian region dependent on the House of Austria, that is, the Milanese, G. II's reforming activity was intense and produced lasting effects. There he took away from the clergy the fiscal exemption, withdrew from the feudal lords the seigneurial jurisdiction, and dissolved the ancient trade guilds. In the field of the administration of justice he improved the system of evidence by abolishing torture (1784), suppressed the ecclesiastical court, and established a new judicial order, replacing the Milanese Senate, which had exercised so much authority for two and a half centuries, with a supreme court of third instance; moreover he introduced into Lombardy the new "general regulation of civil causes," which had already previously been tested in other countries of the monarchy (May 1786). G. II was also a promoter of a project for a criminal code, which however could not enter into force owing to the political events that put an end to Austrian domination.
JOSEPHINISM
The ecclesiastical policy of Joseph II is summed up in the implementation of that jurisdictionalist system which took its name from him, Josephinism, and which attributes to the State a broad power of control and tutelage over the local organs of the Church. By virtue of this principle, among other things, Joseph II suppressed all the religious Orders that were not dedicated to the care of the sick and to instruction. In this policy of his he encountered the opposition of Pius VI, which nevertheless remained without effect. With the "edict of tolerance" of 1781 he granted freedom of worship to Protestants and to Greek Orthodox (cf. also, for other aspects of "Josephinism," the entries: AUSTRIA, II: History of Christianity; GIURISDIZIONALISMO; REGALISMO; SEPARATISMO).
Bibliography12 works
Mario E. Viora