The leading European economists of her day became foreign members of the Free Economic Society, established on her suggestion in Saint Petersburg in She also recruited Western European scientists. She continued to investigate educational theory and practice of other countries and while she introduced some educational reforms, she failed to establish a national school system.
Galaktionov, Catherine established the Smolny Institute for Noble Girls to educate females. At first, the Institute only admitted young girls of the noble elite, but eventually it began to admit girls of the petit-bourgeoisie, as well. The girls who attended the Smolny Institute, Smolyanki, were often accused of being ignorant of anything that went on in the world outside the walls of the Smolny buildings.
Within the walls of the Institute, they were taught impeccable French, musicianship, dancing, and complete awe of the Monarch.
Although Catherine refrained from putting most democratic principles into practice, she issued codes addressing some modernization trends, including dividing the country into provinces and districts, limiting the power of nobles, creating a middle estate, and a number of economic reforms.
However, military conscription and economy continued to depend on serfdom, and the increasing demands of the state and private landowners led to increased levels of reliance on serfs.
Maria Theresa was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She doubled the state revenue between and , though her attempt to tax clergy and nobility was only partially successful.
Nevertheless, her financial reforms greatly improved the economy. In , Maria Theresa created the council of state, which served as a committee of expert advisors. It lacked executive or legislative authority but nevertheless showed the difference between the autocratic form of government.
Austria outlawed witch burning and torture in It was later reintroduced, but the progressive nature of these reforms remains noted. In a new school system based on that of Prussia, all children of both genders from the ages were required to attend school from the ages of 6 to 12, although the law turned out to be very difficult to execute. However, Maria Theresa found it hard to fit into the intellectual sphere of the Enlightenment.
For example, she believed that religious unity was necessary for a peaceful public life and explicitly rejected the idea of religious tolerance. She regarded both the Jews and Protestants as dangerous to the state and actively tried to suppress them. As a young monarch who fought two dynastic wars, she believed that her cause should be the cause of her subjects, but in her later years she would believe that their cause must be hers.
Joseph was a proponent of enlightened despotism, but his commitment to modernizing reforms engendered significant opposition, which eventually culminated in a failure to fully implement his programs. 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 ended censorship of the press and theater. In —82, he extended full legal freedom to serfs. The landlords, however, found their economic position threatened and eventually reversed the policy.
To equalize the incidence of taxation, Joseph ordered an appraisal of all the lands of the empire to impose a single egalitarian tax on land. To produce 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 , he ordered that the country change its language of instruction from Latin to German, a highly controversial step in a multilingual empire. Joseph also attempted to centralize medical care in Vienna through the construction of a single, large hospital, the famous Allgemeines Krankenhaus, which opened in Joseph II was one of the first rulers in Central Europe.
He attempted to abolish serfdom but his plans met with resistance from the landholders. His Imperial Patent of abolished serfdom on some territories of the Empire, but under the pressure of the landlords did not give the peasants ownership of the land or freedom from dues owed to the landowning nobles. It did give them personal freedom. The final emancipation reforms in the Habsburg Empire were introduced in Probably the most unpopular of all his reforms was his attempted modernization of the highly traditional Catholic Church.
Calling himself the guardian of Catholicism, Joseph II struck vigorously at papal power. He tried to make the Catholic Church in his empire the tool of the state, independent of Rome.
Joseph was very friendly to Freemasonry, as he found it highly compatible with his own Enlightenment philosophy, although he apparently never joined the Lodge himself.
In , 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. Selim was an avid musician and poet and possessed a deep appreciation for literature and the arts.
The Sultan was regularly in and out of a war with his European counterparts in the Age of Enlightenment: specifically, with Russia and the Holy Roman Empire.
The heightened state of warfare which existed on the peripheral borders of the Turkish Empire more-or-less until the rise of Napoleon led Selim III to issue a series of reforms. The enlightened despot introduced enlightened tenets in a military reform based on western European military tactic , as well as the importation of western written work translated into Turkish, and a broader compulsory education system.
The Ottoman Empire has a long history of religious tolerance as the empire was so expansive at its height. King Charles III of Spain was an enlightened despot and proponent of regalism : the doctrine of the secular authority of a monarch overpowering ecclesiastical faculty. A central tenet of the Age of Enlightenment was an emphasis on humanism. The enlightened reforms of Charles III took on a similar rational humanist policy to his enlightened despot contemporaries.
The Spanish reforms included economic and social reform in which the authority of the church was reduced in the sphere of public life. The Spanish state took enlightened policy a step further by totally suppressing monasteries, confiscating their land, and even exiling the Jesuits from Spain. Though the enlightened despot managed to shift his political operation to a more humanist outlook, his harsh treatment of his clergy dealt a massive blow to his noble class.
Charles is widely seen by scholars as the savior of a drowning Spanish crown. He is often viewed as the quintessential enlightened despot. Much of the enlightened reforms promulgated by his mother were instigated by Joseph. Though his early reign was eclipsed by his mother, Joseph did not hesitate to further issue enlightened reform when he succeeded the throne himself.
Joseph II fought to abrogate the power of both the clergy and the aristocracy. The enlightened despot was also an immense patron of the arts.
The political philosophy behind the Age of Enlightenment was one of romantic altruism. Absolutist enlightened despots sought to govern benevolently for the betterment of their people. With a firm autocratic grip on political power, the guise of governmental reform that strengthened the government, in turn, strengthened the sovereign.
The humanism highlighted in the Age of Enlightenment exemplified monarchs as human beings responsible for the other human beings in their domain, rather than divinely appointed leaders.
John Locke was the first to radically suggest: if our human rulers cannot adequately protect our human rights, we the people have the power to change that ruler. The Age of Enlightenment sits nestled in our historical narrative on the eve of the Age of Revolution: in , the United States revolted; in , France revolted.
Put so eloquently by Joseph II, the enlightened policy is conducted for the people, but never by the people — the self-government of the young United States being the remedy. He has studied the historical narrative of the western world as well as pre and post-Christian political thought and ideology spanning from BCE to CE. The Age of Enlightenment: Enlightened Despots in the Absolutist Era The 18th and early 19th centuries were an era when politics were gripped by monarchs.
Are you enjoying this article? Sign up to our Free Weekly Newsletter. Please check your inbox to activate your subscription Thank you!
Read more by Alexander Standjofski.
0コメント