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Cited by 36Central European national historyEuropean Political History AnalysisHistorical Studies on Spain

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The False Joseph II

Beales, Derek·1975·The Historical Journal
DOI 10.1017/s0018246x00008414
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Abstract

‘Since I have ascended the throne, and wear the first diadem in the world, I have made philosophy the legislator of my empire.’ Of all the sayings attributed to the Emperor Joseph II, this is easily the most hackneyed. It figures in many surveys of eighteenth-century history, whether old like W. O. Hassall's and A. H. Johnson's or new like those by Stuart Andrews, Maurice Ashley, R. W. Harris and E. N. Williams; in what is regarded as the best biography of Joseph in German, by Viktor Bibl; in the most extended and best known Life in English, Saul K. Padover'sThe Revolutionary Emperor; in Herbert H. Rowen's collection of documents,From Absolutism to Revolution; in Albert Sorel'sL'Europe et la Révolution française; in Victor-L. Tapié'sThe Rise and Fall of the Habsburg Monarchy; and in the recent monograph by Walter W. Davis,Joseph II: An Imperial Reformer for the Austrian Netherlands. The remark is the first sentence of a letter which the emperor is supposed to have written to Cardinal Herzan, his minister in Rome, in October 1781, and which goes on:

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Research works printed but not linked: 151

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Metadata

Authors
Beales, D.
Affiliations
University of Cambridge (GB)
Corresponding author
Beales, Derek
Venue
The Historical Journal
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Published
1975-09
Volume
18
Issue
3
Pages
467-495
ISSN
  • 0018-246X (ISSN-L)
  • 1469-5103
DOI
10.1017/s0018246x00008414
OpenAlex
W2044566568
Cited by
36
References
0
Citations by year
2015: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
0.00
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
www.cambridge.org/core/terms (unspecified, 12217 d)
Locations
The Historical Journal (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Central European national history
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › European Political History Analysis
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Historical Studies on Spain
Keywords
Joseph II, Habsburg Monarchy, 18th-century Austria, absolutism, Enlightenment reforms, Habsburg court, historiography

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Beales, D. (1975). The False Joseph II. The Historical Journal. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0018246x00008414