Section 8.37

Enlightened Despotism:

France, Austria, Prussia

Enlightened despots differed from absolutists• Similar Reform Activities

– Drained marshes, codified law, repressed localism, curtailed power of church and nobles, trained a salaried officialdom

Differences• Attitude

– Said little of Divine Right, hereditary rights– Justified authority on grounds of usefulness– Rule by the use of reason– Frederick the Great (first servant of the state)

• Tempo– Impatient with custom, less willing to compromise

• Secular– Favored toleration in religion

• Idea of the state is changing – From estate: private property of the king– To state: abstract authority exercised by public officers and

king is the highest: executive• Rise of enlightened despots was helped by wars of the 1700s

The Failure of Enlightened Despotism in France

• Least success in France• Louis XV was indifferent to ruling

– Après moi le deluge (After me the deluge)

• Those around him were enlightened• Inequality/Inefficient tax collection• Taille = land tax paid by peasants

– Nobles, Church, and most bourgeoisie were exempt

• Thought taxes were degrading• Resisted because they were

kept out of policymaking of France

• Not enough money could be raised• “twentieth” was passed but resisted

by the parlements

René-Nicolas-Charles-Augustin de Maupeou • chancellor of France (1768–74)• chief mover in the attempt of King Louis XV to

master the Parlement and end its opposition to the fiscal measures needed to replenish the treasury.

• dissolved (1771) all the parlements• exiled the magistrates from Paris• abolished the sale of many offices. • substituted a new high court (nominating all the

members) and a system of superior courts• they had no property rights, became salaried

officials• forbidden to reject govt. edicts or pass on their

constitutionality• became highly unpopular with the nobility, whose

interests had been protected by the parlement• Reforms viewed as tyrannical by some philosophes• Could have prevented “the deluge”

Louis XVI comes to power• 20 years old in 1774• Wanted to govern well but could not bear to offend people• Revoked Maupeou’s reforms• Restored the old parliaments • Appointed Jacques Turgot to a ministry of reform• 1761 to 1774, Turgot was chief administrator (intendant) for

Limoges – One of the poorest areas of France

• Became a showpiece for enlightened administration• "Six Edicts" 

– Suppressed the guilds– Replaced the corvee with a uniform tax on all– l'impôt unique (the single tax on property)

• Refused to appoint Queen Marie Antoinette’s friends• Forced to resign • "Do not forget, Sire, that it was feebleness that placed the

head of Charles I on the block." • Replaced by Jacques Necker in 1776

Austria: The Reforms of Maria Theresa• War of the Austrian Succession exposed weakness• Lack on unity, common purpose• Maria Theresa initiates reform under diverse leadership

– Moravians, Austrians, Czechs, Hungarians in ministry • Kaunitz, a Moravian

– Prevented dissolution of the monarchy by enlarging and guaranteeing the flow of taxes and soldiers

• Hungary was left alone• Creates free trade zone (Bohemia, Moravia, Austrian)• Limited guilds• consolidate the bureaucracy of much of the empire• Serfdom

– Passed laws against the abuse of serfs– Limited robot

• MT motives probably more humanitarian – also to increase army

• She was cautious

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor • Moves abruptly • ‘greatest good for the greatest

number’• Abolishes serfdom• Equalized taxes• Equality under the law

– Punishments were made less cruel

• Freedom of the press• Religious toleration

– Equal rights to Jews– Demanded increased power

in the appointment of church officials

– Suppressed monasteries

• Makes German the official language– Arouses nationalistic

resistance (Poles, Czechs, Magyars)

• Reforms the bureaucracy– training courses, promotion

schedules, pensions, efficiency reports, inspections

• Created a secret police to monitor reform efforts– ironic that 1st police state

built as instrument of enlightenment and reform

• Few of his reforms prove lasting• Showed the limitations of

enlightened despots• died in 1790 at 49

Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

Prussia under Frederick the Great (Old Fritz)• Codified law• Made the law courts cheaper, more expeditious, and more

honest• Gave religious freedom• Decreed a modicum of education for all children• Clear social divisions existed to support the military

(almost segregated)• Peasants used as soldiers & Junkers commanded the army• Paid different taxes, couldn’t buy property from other

classes• Serfs still “hereditary subjects and not free to leave, marry,

etc.• Little reform was achieved for serfs (not as bad off as their

neighbors)• Didn’t gamble serfs away as property• Leadership was centralized around Frederick• “No one reasons, everyone executes!”• Collapse of Prussia under Napoleon showed the weakness

of government by a mastermind

Frederick and Voltaire