Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

In 1760, Joseph married Princess Isabella of Parma. The two loved each other dearly. The couple was blessed with a daughter, Maria Theresa.

Immediately after the birth of Maria Theresa, Isabella conceived twice but both resulted in miscarriage. This was consecutively followed by yet another pregnancy in 1763.

Inflicted with smallpox, Isabella gave birth to a premature daughter after six months of pregnancy. However, due to early birth, the baby died shortly after being born. Unable to bear the sudden tragedy and down with ill health, Isabella died a week later. Both the deaths left Joseph devastated. He swore never to marry again.

Joseph II was born on March 13, 1741, in Vienna, Austria, to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Maria Theresa of Austria. He was the eldest child of his parents and had a younger sister Marie Antoinette and a brother Leopold II.

Joseph gained his education through the writings of Voltaire and the Encyclopédistes. He was also trained by government officials on the working of different state administrations of the Austrian dominions and the Holy Roman Empire.

Joseph began his career as a member of the constituted council of state. Unlike his mother, Joseph believed in religious toleration and was keen on restricting the power of church. He also aimed at relieving the peasants of feudal burden and remove restriction on trade and education.

Following his father’s death in 1765, Joseph was promoted to the rank of Holy Roman Emperor, and was known as Joseph II. He served as his mother’s co-regent and took to handling military and foreign affairs. However, the major power remained with his mother who exerted sovereign control over the dominions. This limited his ability to take decisions.

His mother’s death in 1780 made Joseph II the sole ruler of the Habsburg Lands. Immediately after becoming the Holy Roman Emperor, he took the government on a new course, but not before finishing the work of reform as started by his mother.

His foremost work as an Emperor was to consolidate an education system throughout the monarchy. He expanded elementary education making it compulsory for all children. For the underprivileged, he created scholarship programs that gave poor students equal opportunity for learning. He appointed best of scholars and scientists for the University of Vienna.

The other reforms that Joseph II quickly administered were secularization of the church lands and reduction of the religious order and clergy. He limited the power of the Catholic Church. His religious reform met with unpopularity by the public, as they condemned modernization.

An enlightened despot, Joseph II is best remembered for his Josephinism, which was a collection of reforms that he introduced during his sole reign between 1780 and 1790. Under Josephinism, he planned to change the face and structure of administration, law, education, economic and ecclesiasticism of the Habsburg dominion. However, his reforms met with measured success and instead were fiercely opposed by the government officials, catholic priests and the public AT large.