Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Biography

Joseph was born in 1741, the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I. He was elected King of the Romans in 1764, became Holy Roman Emperor on his father's death in 1765, and governed the Habsburg lands jointly with his mother as co-regent. In that role he took a leading part in the negotiations that brought Galicia to the monarchy in the First Partition of Poland in 1772.

After Maria Theresa died in November 1780 he ruled alone. A committed enlightened absolutist, he issued the Patent of Toleration in 1781, giving Protestants and Orthodox Christians the right to worship, reduced the religious orders and the clergy's independence, and tried to run the whole monarchy from Vienna. His programme became known as Josephinism. He was also a patron of music, notably of Mozart and Salieri.

His rapid reforms met strong resistance, especially in the Austrian Netherlands, where revolt broke out in 1789, and in Hungary. Abroad, his attempts to gain Bavaria were blocked by Prussia, and from 1788 he was at war with the Ottoman Empire. He died in February 1790 with no surviving children and was succeeded by his brother Leopold II.