LEOPOLDO II, EMPEROR (formerly grand duke of Tuscany). — Born on 15 May 1747 in Vienna, died there on 2 March 1792. The third-born son of Francesco Stefano di Lorena and the empress Maria Teresa, he became grand duke of Tuscany in 1765. With the assistance of capable advisers such as Pompeo Neri, Francesco Maria Gianni, and others, he initiated an audacious policy of reform.
The collection of taxes was no longer farmed out, but passed directly into the hands of the State; the customs system was greatly simplified through the elimination of almost all internal duties, and the country’s economy derived considerable benefits from this; the works of reclamation and land improvement in Val di Chiana, in the plain of Pisa, in the marshes of Bientina and Fucecchio, in Valdinievole, and in Maremma gave new impetus to agriculture. The municipalities were also guaranteed autonomous administration. The grand duke also intended to promulgate a genuine constitution, and in 1779 he commissioned Gianni to draw up a plan «per l'erezione di un corpo di rappresentanza pubblica in Toscana», but the Constitution, prepared in 1782, never entered into force. In foreign policy, L. was inclined toward the neutralization of Tuscany, while in relations with the Church he followed a highly rigorous policy of jurisdictionalism: he abolished ecclesiastical immunities, prohibited appeals to Rome, dissolved 2,500 confraternities, suppressing convents that had no purpose of public utility, and established the evogantur for acts of the religious authority; he followed the suggestions of S. Ricci, bishop of Pistoia, allowing the famous Synod of 1786 to convene, later condemned by the Church. Having ascended the imperial throne in 1790, upon the death of his brother Giuseppe II, while remaining throughout a fervent adherent of the enlightened and reforming despotism of the 18th century, he profoundly modified his conduct. He thus succeeded in overcoming the grave crisis provoked by his brother’s doctrinaire policies (the uprising in the Austrian Netherlands and in Hungary), in moderating his earlier position of intransigence toward the Holy See (1790: suppression of the State seminaries), and in liquidating his brother’s war legacy (the peace of Sistov of 4 Aug. 1791 with Turkey, to which he returned Belgrade and Wallachia). He also adopted an attitude of prudent moderation toward the French Revolution of 1789: prepared to act only within the framework of «un concerto europeo», L. II always understood the agreement of Pillnitz (1791) and the alliance with Prussia in 1792 as defensive measures. He died suddenly before the conflagration broke out.