Conceptul de toleranţă la Iosif al II-lea. Reperele analizei
THE CONCEPT OF TOLERANCE IN THE VIEW OF THE EMPEROR JOSEPH II. THE LANDMARKS OF THE ANALYSIS

Summary/Abstract: Joseph II offers twenty-first century historiography multiple possibilities of approach. In this case, we chose to address a topic that, by its nature, has preserved its timeliness: religious tolerance. For Joseph II, the concept of tolerance was first and foremost the result of theoretical accumulations, reflected in the way he was brought up. The period as co-regent of the Hapsburg Empire enabled him to fully express his views on the issue of religious tolerance. By publishing the correspondence between Joseph II and his mother, the empress Maria Theresa, Austrian historiography allowed us to access the most intimate thinking processes of the future emperor. We insisted in our present paper on the letters written during 1775-1777, a period marked by tense events in the Empire (the conflicts of Bohemia and Moravia) to show not only the two opposed visions in late eighteenth century associated to Joseph II and to Maria Theresa, but also to underline the modern character of the principles promoted by the future emperor of the Hapsburg Empire.

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