Joseph II (b. 1741, d. 1790) was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa, the ruler of Austria, Bohemia and Hungary, and her husband, Francis I of Lorraine, the Holy Roman Emperor. Joseph II is considered to be one of the most significant European representatives of enlightened despotism along with Empress Catherine II of Russia, also known as Catherine the Great, and King Friedrich II of Prussia. In 1760, Joseph II married Isabella of Parma, with whom he had his only daughter Maria Theresa; Isabella however died no later than in 1763 and their daughter four years later - in 1767. After the death of his beloved wife Joseph II married Maria Josepha of Bavaria in 1765. The marriage was however concluded purely for political reasons and was not the show of free will of the future Emperor but that of his mother. After the death of his father in 1765, Joseph became the Holy Roman Emperor. At the beginning he had no real power; it was his mother who had sovereign control in the empire. After her death in 1780 he took charge of the empire, and was elected King of Bohemia and Hungary. In this period he issued his most significant edicts that reformed the empire. One of the most important was the Patent of Tolerance, which abolished the monopoly of the Catholic religion in Austrian crown lands and provided limited guarantee of freedom of worship. The second major edict was the decree abolishing serfdom. Pursuant to the edict the serfs were free to move, marry, learn and be educated without necessitating the approval of their lords.

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