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88-474: Emperor Francis I began constructing the fortress in 1833. In 1838 the project was abandoned, because the area was not considered to be of sufficient importance for a fortress. In the summer of 2008 the fortress was opened to the public for the first time as one of the locations of Manifesta 7, the European Biennial of Contemporary art. This Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol location article

176-570: A 20% death rate in the new hospital; the city nevertheless became preeminent in the medical field in the next century. Joseph's policy of religious "toleration" was the most aggressive of any state in Europe. Probably the most unpopular of all his reforms was his attempted modernization of the highly traditional Catholic Church , which in medieval times had helped establish the Holy Roman Empire beginning with Charlemagne . Calling himself

264-561: A Lodge himself. Freemasonry attracted many anticlericals and was condemned by the Church. Joseph's feelings towards religion are reflected in a witticism he once spoke in Paris. While being given a tour of the Sorbonne 's library, the archivist took Joseph to a dark room containing religious documents and lamented the lack of light which prevented Joseph from being able to read them. Joseph put

352-562: A best friend and confidant in her husband's sister, Maria Christina, Duchess of Teschen . The marriage of Joseph and Isabella resulted in the birth of a daughter, Maria Theresa . Isabella was fearful of pregnancy and early death, largely a result of the early loss of her mother. Her own pregnancy proved especially difficult as she suffered symptoms of pain, illness and melancholy both during and afterward, though Joseph attended to her and tried to comfort her. She remained bedridden for six weeks after their daughter's birth. Almost immediately on

440-577: A definite system for the good of all. He undertook the spread of education, the secularization of church lands, the reduction of the religious orders and the clergy, in general, to complete submission to the lay state, the issue of the Patent of Toleration (1781) providing limited guarantee of freedom of worship , and the promotion of unity by the compulsory use of the German language (replacing Latin or in some instances local languages)—everything which from

528-522: A happy childhood surrounded by his many siblings, his family knew Francis was likely to be a future Emperor (his uncle Joseph had no surviving issue from either of his two marriages), and so in 1784 the young Archduke was sent to the Imperial Court in Vienna to educate and prepare him for his future role. Emperor Joseph II himself took charge of Francis' development. His disciplinarian regime

616-495: A hierarchy under himself as a supreme autocrat. The personnel of government was expected to be imbued with the same dedicated spirit of service to the state that he himself had. It was recruited without favor for a 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 Habsburg Monarchy, which affected especially

704-417: A literate citizenry, elementary education was made compulsory for all boys and girls, and higher education on practical lines was offered for a select few. Joseph created scholarships for talented poor students and allowed the establishment of schools for Jews and other religious minorities. In 1784 he ordered that the country change its language of instruction from Latin to German, a highly controversial step in

792-473: A man of the Enlightenment he ridiculed the contemplative monastic orders, which he considered unproductive. Accordingly, he suppressed a third of the monasteries (over 700 were closed) and reduced the number of monks and nuns from 65,000 to 27,000. The Church's ecclesiastical tribunals were abolished and marriage was defined as a civil contract outside the jurisdiction of the Church. Joseph sharply cut

880-517: A multilingual empire. By the 18th century, centralization was the trend in medicine because more and better-educated doctors were requesting improved facilities. Cities lacked the budgets to fund local hospitals, and the monarchy wanted to end costly epidemics and quarantines. Joseph attempted to centralize medical care in Vienna through the construction of a single, large hospital, the famous Allgemeines Krankenhaus , which opened in 1784. Centralization worsened sanitation problems, causing epidemics and

968-524: A secret treaty with the restored French king Louis XVIII . The violent events of the French Revolution impressed themselves deeply into the mind of Francis (as well as all other European monarchs), and he came to distrust radicalism in any form. In 1794, a " Jacobin " conspiracy was discovered in the Austrian and Hungarian armies. The leaders were put on trial, but the verdicts only skirted

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1056-424: A single and egalitarian tax on land. The goal was to modernize the relationship of dependence between the landowners and peasantry, relieve some of the tax burden on the peasantry, and increase state revenues. Joseph looked on the tax and land reforms as being interconnected and strove to implement them at the same time. The various commissions he established to formulate and carry out the reforms met resistance among

1144-475: A toll on Leopold and by the winter of 1791, he became ill. He gradually worsened throughout early 1792; on the afternoon of 1 March Leopold died, at the relatively young age of 44. Francis, just past his 24th birthday, was now Emperor, much sooner than he had expected. As the head of the Holy Roman Empire and the ruler of the vast multi-ethnic Habsburg hereditary lands , Francis felt threatened by

1232-536: A visit to his sister the queen of France, Marie Antoinette of Austria , traveling under the name of "Count Falkenstein". He was well received and much flattered by the Encyclopedists, but his observations led him to predict the approaching downfall of the French monarchy, and he was not impressed favorably by the French army or navy. In 1778, he commanded the troops collected to oppose Frederick, who supported

1320-743: A visit with the Russian empress Catherine, which started talks that would later lead to the Austro-Russian Alliance (1781) , including an offensive clause to be used against the Ottomans. This was a significant diplomatic development, as it neutralised the previous Russian-Prussian alliance which had threatened the monarchy into peace during the War of the Bavarian Succession. The agreement with Russia would later lead Austria into

1408-408: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II and I ( German : Franz II. ; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor as Francis II from 1792 to 1806, and the first Emperor of Austria as Francis I from 1804 to 1835. He was also King of Hungary , Croatia and Bohemia , and served as the first president of

1496-414: The 1756 defensive pact between France and Austria. (The bride's mother, Princess Louise Élisabeth , was the eldest daughter of Louis XV of France and his popular wife, Queen Marie Leczinska . Isabella's father was Philip, Duke of Parma .) Joseph loved his bride, Isabella, finding her both stimulating and charming, and she sought with special care to cultivate his favor and affection. Isabella also found

1584-692: The Confederation of the Rhine , Francis abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor, which in effect marked the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Following the defeat of the Fifth Coalition , Francis ceded more territory to France and was forced to wed his daughter Marie Louise to Napoleon. In 1813, Francis turned against Napoleon and finally defeated him in the War of the Sixth Coalition , forcing

1672-473: The French revolutionaries and later Napoleon's expansionism as well as their social and political reforms which were being exported throughout Europe in the wake of the conquering French armies. Francis had a fraught relationship with France. His aunt Marie Antoinette , the wife of Louis XVI and Queen consort of France, was guillotined by the revolutionaries in 1793, at the beginning of his reign, although, on

1760-645: The German Confederation following its establishment in 1815. The eldest son of future Emperor Leopold II and Maria Luisa of Spain , Francis was born in Florence , where his father ruled as Grand Duke of Tuscany . Leopold became Holy Roman Emperor in 1790 but died two years later, and Francis succeeded him. His empire immediately became embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars , the first of which ended in Austrian defeat and

1848-570: The Holy Alliance , ushering in an era of conservatism in Europe. The German Confederation , a loose association of Central European states was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to organize the surviving states of the Holy Roman Empire. The Congress was a personal triumph for Francis, who hosted the assorted dignitaries in comfort, though Francis undermined his allies Tsar Alexander and Frederick William III of Prussia by negotiating

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1936-658: The Imperial Diet their intention to leave the Empire with immediate effect. Then, on 22 July, Napoleon issued an ultimatum to Francis demanding that he abdicate as Holy Roman Emperor by 10 August. Five days later, Francis bowed to the inevitable and, without mentioning the ultimatum, affirmed that since the Peace of Pressburg he had tried his best to fulfil his duties as emperor but that circumstances had convinced him that he could no longer rule according to his oath of office,

2024-467: The Kingdom of Hungary . The Diet of Hungary was stripped of its prerogatives, and not even called together. As privy finance minister, Count Karl von Zinzendorf (1739–1813) introduced a uniform system of accounting for state revenues, expenditures, and debts of the territories of the Austrian crown. Austria was more successful than France in meeting regular expenditures and in gaining credit. However,

2112-511: The Kingdom of Prussia . In 1813, for the fifth and final time, Austria turned against France and joined Great Britain , Russia , Prussia and Sweden in their war against Napoleon . Austria played a major role in the final defeat of France—in recognition of this, Francis, represented by Clemens von Metternich , presided over the Congress of Vienna , helping to form the Concert of Europe and

2200-672: The Peninsular War embroiling Napoleon in Spain . He was again defeated, and this time forced to ally himself with Napoleon, ceding territory to the Empire, joining the Continental System , and wedding his daughter Marie-Louise to the Emperor. The Napoleonic Wars drastically weakened Austria, making it entirely landlocked and threatened its preeminence among the states of Germany, a position that it would eventually cede to

2288-543: The War of the Second Coalition . On 11 August 1804, in response to Napoleon crowning himself as emperor of the French earlier that year, he announced that he would henceforth assume the title of hereditary emperor of Austria as Francis I, a move that technically was illegal in terms of imperial law. Yet Napoleon had agreed beforehand and therefore it happened. During the War of the Third Coalition ,

2376-856: The Windic March ; Grand Voivode of the Voivodeship of Serbia etc., etc. From 1804 with the proclamation of the Empire of Austria until his abdication as Holy Roman Emperor in 1806 his grand title started "By the Grace of God anointed Roman Emperor , ever Increaser of the Realm and King in Germania (" von Gottes Gnaden erwählter Römischer Kaiser, zu allen Zeiten Mehrer des Reichs sowie König in Germanien ). Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790)

2464-489: The power of the state when 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 wisdom 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 was unable to understand that his philosophical plans for

2552-403: The Austrian dominions. As emperor, he had little true power, and his mother had resolved that neither her husband nor her son should ever deprive her of sovereign control in her hereditary dominions. Joseph, by threatening to resign his place as co-regent, could induce his mother to abate her dislike for religious toleration. He could and did place a great strain on her patience and temper, as in

2640-474: The Austrian forces met a crushing defeat at Austerlitz , and Francis had to agree to the Treaty of Pressburg , which greatly weakened Austria and brought about the final collapse of the Holy Roman Empire . In July 1806, under massive pressure from France, Bavaria and fifteen other German states ratified the statutes founding the Confederation of the Rhine , with Napoleon designated Protector, and they announced to

2728-399: The Emperor was obvious to Frederick II of Prussia, who, after their first interview in 1769, described him as ambitious, and as capable of setting the world on fire. The French minister Vergennes , who met Joseph when he was traveling incognito in 1777, judged him to be "ambitious and despotic". After the death of his father in 1765, he became emperor and was made co-regent by his mother in

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2816-954: The First By the Grace of God Emperor of Austria , King of Hungary , Bohemia , Lombardy–Venetia , Dalmatia , Croatia , Slavonia , Galicia , Lodomeria and Illyria ; King of Jerusalem , etc.; Archduke of Austria ; Grand Duke of Tuscany ; Duke of Lorraine , Salzburg , Styria , Carinthia , Carniola and Bukovina ; Grand Prince of Transylvania , Margrave of Moravia ; Duke of Upper and Lower Silesia , of Modena , Parma , Piacenza and Guastalla , of Auschwitz and Zator , of Teschen , Friaul , Ragusa and Zara ; Princely Count of Habsburg and Tyrol , of Kyburg , Gorizia and Gradisca ; Prince of Trento and Brixen ; Margrave of Upper and Lower Lusatia and in Istria ; Count of Hohenems , Feldkirch , Bregenz , Sonnenberg etc.; Lord of Trieste , of Cattaro and on

2904-413: The French emperor to abdicate. Austria took part as a leading member of the Holy Alliance at the Congress of Vienna , which was largely dominated by Francis' chancellor Klemens von Metternich , culminating in a new European order and the restoration of most of Francis' ancient dominions. Due to the establishment of the Concert of Europe , which resisted popular nationalist and liberal tendencies, Francis

2992-489: The Great of Russia and Frederick the Great of Prussia as one of the three great Enlightenment monarchs. False but influential letters depict him as a somewhat more radical philosophe than he probably was. His policies are now known as Josephinism . He was a supporter of the arts, particularly of composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri . He died with no known surviving legitimate offspring and

3080-616: The Habsburg monarchy the greatest of the European powers. His main goal was to acquire Bavaria, if necessary in exchange for the Austrian Netherlands , but in 1778 and again in 1785 he was thwarted by King Frederick II of Prussia, whom he feared greatly; on the second occasion, a number of other German princes, wary of Joseph's designs on their lands, joined Frederick's side. Joseph's travels through Russia in 1780 included

3168-486: The Houses of Habsburg and Lorraine , styled Habsburg-Lorraine . Joseph was a proponent of enlightened absolutism ; however, his commitment to secularizing, liberalizing and modernizing reforms resulted in significant opposition, which resulted in failure to fully implement his programs. Meanwhile, despite making some territorial gains, his reckless foreign policy badly isolated Austria. He has been ranked with Catherine

3256-533: The army during the Napoleonic wars. Yet, distrustful of allowing any individual too much power, he otherwise maintained the separation of command functions between the Hofkriegsrat and his field commanders. In the later years of his reign he limited military spending, requiring it not exceed forty million florins per year; because of inflation this resulted in inadequate funding, with the army's share of

3344-635: The back of their newfound parenthood, the couple then endured two consecutive miscarriages—an ordeal particularly hard on Isabella—followed quickly by another pregnancy. Pregnancy was again provoking melancholy, fears and dread in Isabella. In November 1763, while six months pregnant, Isabella fell ill with smallpox and went into premature labor, resulting in the birth of their second child, Archduchess Maria Christina (b.d November 22 1763), who died shortly after being born. Progressively ill with smallpox and strained by sudden childbirth and tragedy, Isabella died

3432-465: The budget shrinking from half in 1817 to only twenty-three percent in 1830. Francis presented himself as an open and approachable monarch (he regularly set aside two mornings each week to meet with his imperial subjects, regardless of status, by appointment in his office, even speaking to them in their own language), but his will was sovereign. In 1804, he had no compunction about announcing that through his authority as Holy Roman Emperor, he declared he

3520-452: The by now completely estranged French Queen. When Maria Theresa died, Joseph started issuing edicts, over 6,000 in all, plus 11,000 new laws designed to regulate and reorder every aspect of the empire. The spirit of Josephinism was benevolent and paternal. He intended to make his people happy, but strictly in accordance with his own criteria. Joseph set about building a rationalized, centralized, and uniform government for his diverse lands,

3608-665: The case of the First Partition of Poland and the War of the Bavarian Succession of 1778–1779, but in the last resort the empress spoke the final word. Therefore, until the death of his mother in 1780, Joseph was never quite free to follow his own instincts. During these years, Joseph traveled much. He met Frederick the Great privately at Neisse in 1769 (later painted in The Meeting of Frederick II and Joseph II in Neisse in 1769 ), and again at Mährisch-Neustadt in 1770;

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3696-599: The conditions) Francis was from his experiences suspicious and set up an extensive network of police spies and censors to monitor dissent (in this he was following his father's lead, as the Grand Duchy of Tuscany had the most effective secret police in Europe). Even his family did not escape attention. His brothers, the Archdukes Charles and Johann had their meetings and activities spied upon. Censorship

3784-470: The crown and taxes were levied upon all income derived from land. The landlords, however, found their economic position threatened, and eventually reversed the policy. Indeed, in Hungary and Transylvania, the resistance of the magnates was such that Joseph had to content himself for a while with halfway measures. Of the five million Hungarians, 40,000 were nobles, of whom 4,000 were magnates who owned and ruled

3872-401: The destruction of the autonomous guilds, already weakened during the age of mercantilism. Joseph II's tax reforms and the institution of Katastralgemeinde (tax districts for the large estates) served this purpose, and new factory privileges ended guild rights while customs laws aimed at economic unity. Physiocratic influence also led to the inclusion of agriculture in these reforms. To produce

3960-484: The event of Frederick's death, was to advance into Prussia and demand Silesia (a territory Frederick had conquered from Maria Theresa in the War of the Austrian Succession ). However, Frederick recovered, and thereafter became wary and mistrustful of Joseph. Joseph was also eager to enforce Austria's claim on Bavaria upon the death of the elector Maximilian III in 1777. In April of that year, he paid

4048-455: The events of Joseph II's last years also suggest that the government was financially vulnerable to the European wars that ensued after 1792. The Emperor also attempted to simplify the administration of his dominions, often a patchwork of states united in personal union by the Habsburg monarch. As an example, in 1786 he abolished the separate administration of the Duchy of Mantua , merging it with

4136-463: The example of his contemporary (and sometimes rival) King Frederick II of Prussia . His practical 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 and the Holy Roman Empire. Joseph married Princess Isabella of Parma in October 1760, a union fashioned to bolster

4224-503: The expensive and largely futile Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791) . Joseph II travelled with only a few servants on horseback as "Count Falkenstein". He preferred to stop at a regular inn—forcing Catherine II to convert a wing of her palace, cajoling her gardener to act as inn-keeper. Joseph's participation in the Ottoman war was reluctant, attributable not to his usual acquisitiveness, but rather to his close ties to Russia, which he saw as

4312-681: The following week. 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, albeit brief, as it lasted only two years. Though Maria Josepha loved her husband, she felt timid and inferior in his company. Lacking common interests or pleasures,

4400-676: The formation of the Confederation of the Rhine making that impossible. He added that "we hereby decree that we regard the bond which until now tied us to the states of the Empire as dissolved" in effect dissolving the empire. At the same time he declared the complete and formal withdrawal of his hereditary lands from imperial jurisdiction. After that date, he reigned as Francis I, Emperor of Austria. In 1809, Francis, deeming another war with France as inevitable and influenced by hawks in Vienna, attacked France again, hoping to take advantage of

4488-526: The guardian of Catholicism, Joseph II struck vigorously at papal power . He tried to make the Catholic Church in his territories the tool of the state, independent of Rome. Clergymen were deprived of the tithe and ordered to study in seminaries under government supervision, while bishops had to take a formal oath of loyalty to the crown. He financed the large increase in bishoprics, parishes, and secular clergy by extensive sales of monastic lands. As

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4576-408: The land; most of the remainder were serfs legally tied to particular estates. After the collapse of the peasant revolt of Horea , 1784–1785, in which over a hundred nobles were killed, the emperor acted. His Imperial Patent of 1785 abolished serfdom but did not give the peasants ownership of the land or freedom from dues owed to the landowning nobles. It did give them personal freedom. Emancipation of

4664-542: The loss of the left bank of the Rhine to France. After another French victory in the War of the Second Coalition , Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of the French . In response, Francis assumed the title of Emperor of Austria. He continued his leading role as Napoleon's adversary in the Napoleonic Wars , and suffered successive defeats that greatly weakened Austria as a European power. In 1806, after Napoleon created

4752-478: The man at rest by saying "Ah, when it comes to theology, there is never much light." Thus, Joseph was undoubtedly a much laxer Catholic than his mother. In 1789 he issued a charter of religious toleration for the Jews of Galicia , a region with a large Yiddish-speaking traditional Jewish population. The charter abolished communal autonomy whereby the Jews controlled their internal affairs; it promoted Germanization and

4840-428: The moulding of humanity could meet with pardonable opposition. Joseph was documented by contemporaries as being impressive, but not necessarily likable. In 1760, his arranged consort , the well educated Isabella of Parma, was handed over to him. Joseph appears to have been completely in love with her, but Isabella preferred the companionship of Joseph's sister, Marie Christine of Austria . The overweening character of

4928-529: The music lives on as the German national anthem " Deutschlandlied ". On 2 March 1835, 43 years and a day after his father's death, Francis died in Vienna of a sudden fever aged 67, in the presence of many of his family and with all the religious comforts. His funeral was magnificent, with his Viennese subjects respectfully filing past his coffin in the court chapel of the Hofburg palace for three days. Francis

5016-597: The necessary price to be paid for the security of his people. After initial defeats, the Austrians won a string of victories in 1789, including the capture of Belgrade , a key Turkish fortress in the Balkans. These victories however would not amount to any significant gains for the monarchy. Under the threat of Prussian intervention and with the worrying state of the revolution in France, the Treaty of Sistova of 1791 ended

5104-540: The neighbouring Duchy of Milan . Local opposition to the change forced his successor Leopold II to reverse this measure and restore the duchy in 1791. The busy Joseph inspired a complete reform of the legal system, abolished brutal punishments and the death penalty in most instances, and imposed the principle of complete equality of treatment for all offenders. He lightened censorship of the press and theatre. In 1781–1782, he extended full legal freedom to serfs . Rentals paid by peasants were to be regulated by officials of

5192-468: The nobility, clergy, merchants and the peasants, since their barter economy lacked money. Joseph also abolished the death penalty in 1787, a reform that remained until 1795. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, Joseph sought to help the family of his estranged sister Queen Marie Antoinette of France and her husband King Louis XVI . Joseph kept an eye on the development of

5280-425: The nobility, the peasantry, and some officials. Most of the reforms were abrogated shortly before or after Joseph's death in 1790; they were doomed to failure from the start because they tried to change too much in too short a time, and tried to radically alter the traditional customs and relationships that the villagers had long depended upon. In the cities, the new economic principles of the Enlightenment called for

5368-498: The number of holy days to be observed in the Habsburg monarchy 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. Anti-clericalism emerged and persisted, while

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5456-463: The peasantry of feudal burdens, and to remove restrictions on trade and knowledge. In these, he did not differ from Frederick, or his own brother and successor Leopold II, all enlightened rulers of the 18th century. He tried to liberate serfs , but that did not last after his death. Where Joseph differed from great contemporary rulers, and was akin to the Jacobins in the intensity of his belief in

5544-465: The peasants from the Kingdom of Hungary promoted the growth of a new class of taxable landholders, but it did not abolish the deep-seated ills of feudalism and the exploitation of the landless squatters. Feudalism in the Habsburg monarchy finally ended in 1848. To equalize the incidence of taxation, Joseph caused an appraisal of all the lands of the Habsburg monarchy to be made so that he might impose

5632-416: The perimeter of the conspiracy. Francis' brother Alexander Leopold (at that time Palatine of Hungary ) wrote to the Emperor admitting "Although we have caught a lot of the culprits, we have not really got to the bottom of this business yet." Nonetheless, two officers heavily implicated in the conspiracy were hanged and gibbeted , while numerous others were sentenced to imprisonment (many of whom died from

5720-513: The point of view of 18th-century philosophy, the Age of Enlightenment , appeared "reasonable". He strove for administrative unity with characteristic haste to reach results without preparation. Joseph carried out measures of the 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

5808-634: The relationship offered little for Joseph, who confessed he felt no love (nor attraction) for her in return. He adapted by distancing himself from his wife to the point of near total avoidance, seeing her only at meals and upon retiring to bed. Maria Josepha, in turn, suffered considerable misery in finding herself locked in a cold, loveless union. Four months after the second anniversary of their wedding, Maria Josepha grew ill and died from smallpox. Joseph neither visited her during her illness nor attended her funeral, though he later expressed regret for not having shown her more kindness, respect, or warmth. One thing

5896-413: The revolution, and became actively involved in the planning of a rescue attempt. These plans failed, however, either due to Marie Antoinette's refusal to leave her children behind in favor of a faster carriage or Louis XVI's reluctance to become a fugitive king. Joseph died in 1790, making negotiations with Austria about possible rescue attempts more difficult. It was not until 21 June 1791 that an attempt

5984-403: The rival claimant to Bavaria. This was the War of the Bavarian Succession . Real fighting was averted by the unwillingness of Frederick to embark on a new war and by Maria Theresa's determination to maintain peace. However, the war cost Joseph most of his influence over the other German princes, who were wary of his potential designs on their lands, and looked to Frederick as their protector. As

6072-462: The son of Francis I, Joseph succeeded him as titular Duke of Lorraine and Bar , which had been surrendered to France on his father's marriage, and titular King of Jerusalem and Duke of Calabria (as a proxy for the Kingdom of Naples ). The death of Maria Theresa on 29 November 1780 left Joseph free to pursue his own policy, and he immediately directed his government on a new course, attempting to realize his ideal of enlightened despotism acting on

6160-474: The traditional Catholics were energized in opposition to the emperor. Joseph's Patent of Toleration in 1781 was a major shift away from the inquisitive religious policies of the Counter Reformation that were previously predominant in the monarchy. Limited religious freedom of worship was given to major non-Catholic Christian sects, although conversion from Catholicism was still restricted. This

6248-543: The two rulers initially got along well. On the second occasion, he was accompanied by Prince Kaunitz , whose conversation with Frederick may be said to mark the starting point of the First Partition of Poland. To this and to every other measure which promised to extend the dominions of his house, Joseph gave hearty approval. Thus, when Frederick fell severely ill in 1775, Joseph assembled an army in Bohemia which, in

6336-430: The union did provide him was the improved possibility of laying claim to a portion of Bavaria, though this would ultimately lead to the War of the Bavarian Succession . Joseph never remarried. In 1770, Joseph's only surviving child, the seven-year-old Maria Theresa, became ill with pleurisy and died. The loss of his daughter was deeply traumatic for him and left him grief-stricken and scarred. Lacking children, Joseph II

6424-531: The wearing of non-Jewish clothing. The Habsburg Empire also had a policy of war, expansion, colonization and trade as well as exporting intellectual influences. While opposing Prussia and Turkey, Austria maintained its defensive alliance with France and was friendly to Russia though trying to remove the Danubian Principalities from Russian influence. Mayer argues that Joseph was an excessively belligerent, expansionist leader, who sought to make

6512-578: The whole, he was indifferent to her fate. Later, he led the Holy Roman Empire into the French Revolutionary Wars . He briefly commanded the Allied forces during the Flanders Campaign of 1794 before handing over command to his brother Archduke Charles . He was later defeated by Napoleon. By the Treaty of Campo Formio , he ceded the left bank of the Rhine to France in exchange for Venice and Dalmatia . He again fought against France during

6600-457: Was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor Francis I , and the brother of Marie Antoinette , Leopold II , Maria Carolina of Austria , and Maria Amalia, Duchess of Parma . He was thus the first ruler in the Austrian dominions of the union of

6688-406: Was a stark contrast to the indulgent Florentine Court of Leopold. The Emperor wrote that Francis was "stunted in growth", "backward in bodily dexterity and deportment", and "neither more nor less than a spoiled mother's child." Joseph concluded that "the manner in which he was treated for upwards of sixteen years could not but have confirmed him in the delusion that the preservation of his own person

6776-488: Was also prevalent. The author Franz Grillparzer , a Habsburg patriot, had one play suppressed solely as a "precautionary" measure. When Grillparzer met the censor responsible, he asked him what was objectionable about the work. The censor replied, "Oh, nothing at all. But I thought to myself, 'One can never tell'." In military affairs Francis had allowed his brother, the Archduke Charles , extensive control over

6864-627: Was followed by the Edict of Tolerance in 1782, removing many restrictions and regulations on Jews. The Secularization Decree issued on 12 January 1782 banned several monastic orders not involved in teaching or healing and liquidated 140 monasteries (home to 1484 monks and 190 nuns). The banned monastic orders: Jesuits, Camaldolese , Order of Friars Minor Capuchin , Carmelites , Carthusians , Poor Clares , Order of Saint Benedict , Cistercians , Dominican Order (Order of Preachers), Franciscans , Pauline Fathers and Premonstratensians , and their wealth

6952-498: Was interred in the traditional resting place of Habsburg monarchs, the Imperial Crypt in Vienna's Neue Markt Square. He is buried in tomb number 57, surrounded by tombs of his four wives. Francis passed on a main point in the political testament he left for his son and heir Ferdinand : to "preserve unity in the family and regard it as one of the highest goods." In many portraits (particularly those painted by Peter Fendi ) he

7040-479: Was made , with the help of Count Fersen , a Swedish general who had been favored at the courts of both Marie Antoinette and Joseph. The attempt failed after the King was recognized from the back of a coin. Marie Antoinette became increasingly desperate for help from her homeland, even giving French military secrets to Austria. Nevertheless, even though Austria was at war with France at the time, it refused to directly help

7128-599: Was now Emperor of Austria (at the time a geographical term that had little resonance). Two years later, Francis personally wound up the moribund Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Both actions were of dubious constitutional legality. To increase patriotic sentiment during the war with France, the anthem " Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser " was composed in 1797 to be sung as the Kaiserhymne to music by Joseph Haydn . The lyrics were adapted for later Emperors and

7216-527: Was portrayed as the patriarch of a loving family, surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Francis II married four times: From his first wife Elisabeth of Württemberg , one daughter, who died in infancy, and his second wife Maria Teresa of the Two Sicilies , eight daughters and four sons, of whom five died in infancy or childhood: From 1806 he used the grand title of the emperor of Austria : His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty, Francis

7304-594: Was sent to join an army regiment in Hungary and he settled easily into the routine of military life. He was present at the siege of Belgrade which occurred during the Austro-Turkish War . After the death of Joseph II in 1790, Francis' father became Emperor. He had an early taste of power while acting as Leopold's deputy in Vienna while the incoming Emperor traversed the Empire attempting to win back those alienated by his brother's policies. The strain took

7392-488: Was succeeded by his younger brother Leopold II . He was baptised under the full name Josephus Benedictus Joannes Antonius Michael Adamus, born an archduke of Austria. Joseph was born in the midst of the early upheavals of the War of the Austrian Succession . His formal education was provided through the writings of David Hume , Edward Gibbon , Voltaire , Jean-Jacques Rousseau , and the Encyclopédistes , and by

7480-577: Was taken over by the Religious Fund. His anticlerical and liberal innovations induced Pope Pius VI to pay him a visit in March 1782. Joseph received the Pope politely and showed himself a good Catholic, but refused to be influenced. On the other hand, Joseph was very friendly to Freemasonry , as he found it highly compatible with his own Enlightenment philosophy, although he apparently never joined

7568-422: Was the only thing of importance." Joseph's martinet method of improving the young Francis was "fear and unpleasantness." The young Archduke was isolated, the reasoning being that this would make him more self-sufficient as it was felt by Joseph that Francis "failed to lead himself, to do his own thinking." Nonetheless, Francis greatly admired his uncle, if rather in fear of him. To complete his training, Francis

7656-402: Was ultimately succeeded by his younger brother, who became Leopold II . Joseph was made a member of the constituted council of state ( Staatsrat ) and began to draw up minutes for his mother to read. These papers contain the germs of his later policy, and of all the disasters that finally overtook him. He was a friend to religious toleration, anxious to reduce the power of the church, to relieve

7744-405: Was viewed as a reactionary later in his reign. Francis died in 1835 at the age of 67 and was succeeded by his son, Ferdinand I . Francis was a son of Emperor Leopold II (1747–1792) and his wife Maria Luisa of Spain (1745–1792), daughter of Charles III of Spain . Francis was born in Florence , the capital of Tuscany , where his father reigned as Grand Duke from 1765 to 1790. Though he had

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