Synopses & Reviews
The eighteenth century was a unique period of global and fundamental change. Britain conquered India and much of America, the American Revolution produced the USA, and Russia expanded vastly. In the field of ideas the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century was consolidated and followed by the Enlightenment. Nationalism flourished, populations surged and the Commercial and Industrial Revolutions with Western technology eclipsed the East. Few centuries have inspired such a galaxy of historians, and their groundbreaking work has been drawn upon by Derek Beales in his collection of articles and special lectures. He covers the whole European kaleidoscope but especially Joseph II and the Habsburg monarchy, and sees Enlightened Despotism as the embodiment of the century's revolution in ideas, policies, government and administration.
About the Author
Derek Beales is Fellow and Emeritus Professor at Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge.
Table of Contents
Introduction * The European Context * Social Forces and Enlightened Policies * Philosophic Kingship and Enlightened Despotism * Christians and 'philosophies': the case of the Austrian Enlightenment * Mozart and the Habsburgs * Seeking the Real Joseph II * The False Joseph II * Joseph II's Reveries * Love and the Empire: Maria Theresa and Her Co-Regents * Joseph II, Religion and Reform * Maria Theresa, Joseph II and the Suppression of the Jesuits * The Origins of the Pope's Visit to Joseph II in 1782 * Joseph II and the Monasteries of Austria and Hungary * Joseph II and his Time * Was Joseph II an Enlightened Despot? * Joseph II and Josephism