He meant well, he really did, but he couldn’t quite pull it off. Even being Emperor has its limitations. Joseph II, heir to the Habsburg throne in Austria and Holy Roman Emperor, was the most “enlightened” of the “enlightened monarchs” during the 18th century. Joseph seemed to really care for his people, and would on occasion disguise himself so that he could walk among them unrecognized to learn the truth about how they lived. Once able to rule with a free hand after the death of his powerful mother, the Empress Maria Theresa, he set about trying to reform his lands at lightning speed.
In a whirlwind of activity, Joseph strove to better the lives of the peasantry by eliminating serfdom, allowing peasants to marry whom they chose, move from one place to another, etc. This basically broke the back of the old feudal system. Additionally, Joseph started orphanages, hospitals, and poorhouses. He made moves to reform education, abolished torture and the death penalty, and issued the Edict of Tolerance in 1781 which gave Protestants almost the same rights as Catholics. He even worked to help the Jews, a group that had been historically discriminated against throughout Europe.
Unfortunately, the result of giving the downtrodden more meant that the privileged had less, which didn’t set well with the nobility. His mother, a bit of a reformer herself, had known how to tread softly with the upper classes, but Joseph’s bullheaded approach merely angered them. Sensing that most of his efforts at change would be undermined after his death by the noble class that hated him, he instructed that his epitaph be written as follows: “Here lies Joseph II, who failed in all he undertook.”
For more on A Man For The People, follow the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0826616.html
http://staff.gps.edu/mines/Age%20of%20Absol%20-%20Enlightend%20Despots.htm
In a whirlwind of activity, Joseph strove to better the lives of the peasantry by eliminating serfdom, allowing peasants to marry whom they chose, move from one place to another, etc. This basically broke the back of the old feudal system. Additionally, Joseph started orphanages, hospitals, and poorhouses. He made moves to reform education, abolished torture and the death penalty, and issued the Edict of Tolerance in 1781 which gave Protestants almost the same rights as Catholics. He even worked to help the Jews, a group that had been historically discriminated against throughout Europe.
Unfortunately, the result of giving the downtrodden more meant that the privileged had less, which didn’t set well with the nobility. His mother, a bit of a reformer herself, had known how to tread softly with the upper classes, but Joseph’s bullheaded approach merely angered them. Sensing that most of his efforts at change would be undermined after his death by the noble class that hated him, he instructed that his epitaph be written as follows: “Here lies Joseph II, who failed in all he undertook.”
For more on A Man For The People, follow the links below:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_II%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0826616.html
http://staff.gps.edu/mines/Age%20of%20Absol%20-%20Enlightend%20Despots.htm
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