Joseph, propelled by his belief in the…
1784 CE
From 1784, Joseph launches a number of "radical and wide-ranging" reforms in the fields of economics, politics and religion aimed at institutions that he judges outdated.
Some have drawn parallels between Joseph's rule in the Holy Roman Empire and that of Philip II in the Netherlands as both attempted to suborn local traditions in order to achieve more effective central rule.
Like Philip, Joseph's perceived attacks on important institutions succeed in uniting multiple divergent social classes against him.
His initial reforms are aimed at the Catholic church which, because of its allegiance to the Vatican, is viewed a potentially subversive force.
Joseph's first act had been the proclamation of the Edict of Tolerance of 1781–82, which had abolished the privileges that Catholics enjoyed over other Christian and non-Christian minorities.
As an attack on the place of the church, it is deeply unpopular among Catholics, but because the non-Catholics are a tiny minority, it does not win any real support.
The Edict had been condemned by Cardinal Frankenberg, Archbishop of Mechelen and Primate of the Low Countries, who insists that religious tolerance, the relaxation of censorship and the suppression of laws against the Jansenists all constitute an attack on the Catholic Church.
Later, one hundred and sixty-two monasteries whose inhabitants lead a purely contemplative life are abolished.