JOSEPH II., Emperor of Germany, son of Francis I. and Maria Theresa (q.v.), was b. Mar. 13, 1741, at a time when his mother's fortunes were in their lowest state of depres sion. Ile early gave proof of excellent abilities. After the peace of Ilubcrtsburg, he was elected king of Rome, and after the death of his father (Aug. 18, 1765) emperor of Germany. Maria Theresa also associated him with herself in the government of the Austrian states; but for some time his actual share in it amounted to little more than the. chief command of the army. On her death in 1730 he inherited all her dignities and power. He was ambitious of increase of territory, and although he failed in his object. of adding Bavaria to the Austrian dominions, which he thought to consolidate by obtaining it in exchange for the Low Countries, yet he was successful in acquiring, Galicia, Lodomeria, and the county of Zips, at the first partition of Poland, in 1772; and lie approp4ted, in 1780, great part of the bishoprics of Passau and Salzburg. He was a zealous jformer, having imbibed, like Frederick the great, the principles of the philesophy which prevailed in that age, but he attempted his reforms too rashly, and too, much by the exercise of mere authority, and was compelled to restore many things again_ to their former condition; the hostility of the nobles and clergy, whose power and privileges he sought to reduce, producing rebellions in various parts of his dominions. The clergy in particular regarded him with detestation. He had early shown a dislike to them, which caused no little vexation to his mother; and as soon as he found himself in full possession of the government of Austria, he proceeded to declare himself inde pendent of the pope, and to prohibit the publication of any new papal bulls in his dominions without his placet regium. The continued publication of the bulls Unigenitut
(q.v.) and In c,cenci Domini (q.v.)Was also prohibited. Besides this he suppressed no fewer than 700 convents, reduced the number of the regular clergy • from 63,000 to 27,000, prohibited papal dispensations as to marriage, and on Oct. 15, 1781, published the celebrated Edict of Toleration, by which he allowed the free exercise of their religion to the Protestants and not-united Greeks in his dominions. Pope Pius VI. thought to check this course by a personal interview with the emperor, and for that purpose made a visit to Vienna in 1782; and although he was quite unsuccessful in his object, he carried away with him the conviction, that the people were utterly unprepared for the reforms which their sovereign sought to accomplish, a conviction the correctness of which the event abundantly proved. Joseph II. engaged in a war with Turkey in 1788, in which he was unsuccessful; and the vexation caused by this, and by the revolts in his own dominions, and the necessity under which he felt himself of revoking many of the edicts by which he had sought to promote the welfare of his people, hastened his death, which took place on Feb. 20, 1790. He founded many valuable institutions, and did_ much to promote the progress of arts, manufactures, and commerce in