Limitations of Enlightened Despotism 281
important political class, and to this class royal governments had to make conces-
sions. The result was a reaction against the Enlightenment, or a new understanding
between throne and nobility, which was in general to last until the beginning of
the twentieth century in Eastern Europe.
The present chapter deals mainly with the Hapsburg monarchy under Joseph II
and Leopold II, with observations, since not everything can be told, on Prussia,
Sweden, and Russia. No attempt is made to discuss enlightened despotism in
Spain, Naples, or Denmark. After a chapter on the special case of Poland we shall
turn to France, examine the conflict which developed there between a reforming
monarchy and a resurgent aristocracy, and trace the beginnings of the French Rev-
olution. Events in these countries will be followed to the eve of the war of 1792.^1
Joseph II: The Attempted Revolution from Above
What happened at Pressburg in Hungary on April 13, 1784, or at least is reported
to have happened, may serve as a parable on the reign of Joseph II. The Emperor
had ordered the crown of St. Stephen removed to Vienna. Four officers of the
Hungarian Noble Bodyguard arrived to escort the venerable object with appropri-
ate honor and ceremony. When the climactic moment came, all four declared
themselves ill, to avoid having to execute so horrifying a command. The keepers of
the crown bolted the doors to the strong room and hid the key, so that a locksmith
had to be brought to let the Emperor’s agents in. A weeping throng surrounded
the castle. As the crown was at last borne through the gates, a perfectly clear sky
gave out three loud claps of thunder. They were an omen of punishment, people
said, for this profanation of the religion and the freedom of Hungary.
The crown of St. Stephen, first worn by that king who had brought the rude
Magyars into the Christian and Roman church, was the supreme emblem of Hun-
garian nationality and independence. It was regarded with profound awe; when it
was safe, Hungary was thought to be safe. In its troubled history, it had once been
held by the Turks. After 1945 it was for some years in the custody of the United
States, to the great annoyance of Hungarian communists, not otherwise given to
royalist imagery or historic forms of superstition. Joseph II, on taking it to Vienna,
demonstrated his obstinacy, showed what he meant by centralization of the em-
pire, and paraded his contempt for the national, constitutional, and religious senti-
ments that rose up against him. And he provoked the thunders in which his reign
came to an end.
1 The two following sections depend mainly on P. von Mitrofanov, Joseph II: seine politische und
kulturelle Tätigkeit, aus dem russischen übersetzt (Vienna and Leipzig, 1910); F. Valsecchi, L’a s s o l u t i s m o
illuminato in Austria e in Lombardia, 2 vols. (Bologna, 1931); R. J. Kerner, Bohemia in the 18th Century:
a Study in Political, Economic and Social History with Special Reference to the Reign of Leopold II, 1790–92
(N.Y., 1932); H. Marczali, Hungary in the 18th Century (Cambridge, Eng., 1910) (translated from the
Hungarian); and on articles by two of my former students, Donald A. Limoli, “Pietro Verri: A Lom-
bard Reformer under Enlightened Absolutism and the French Revolution,” Journal of Central Euro-
pean Affairs XVIII (1958), 254–80, and Peter F. Sugar, “The Influence of the Enlightenment and the
French Revolution in 18th Century Hungary,” Ibid., XVII (1958), 331–55.