Inhaltsverzeichnis/Table des matières - Dr. Dieter Winkler Verlag

Abstracts/Résumés 317
economic activities. Until now, we lack studies which would analyze the connection
between particular enterprises and the role of the aristocracy or the bourgeoisie.
In the following, the paper will investigate opinions that the aristocracy
did not take part in industrial economic decisions, because it lacked qualifications
and interest in these sorts of economic activities by means of the example
of the “Chartered Commercial Loan and Exchange Bank” (“k.k. oktroyierten
Wiener Kommerzial-, Leih- und Wechselbank“). In this sense, the social background
of the involved people is of particular importance and shall be contextualized
with the background of the reforms of enlightened absolutism under Emperor
Joseph II. It will be analysed whether noblemen only followed their own
economic interests and profit in this respect. These questions will be analysed by
means of the example of the content of normative sources such as Charter and
other Regulations (Reglement and Convention) of the bank between the main
partners, who were of bourgeois and noble origin.
ERNST WANGERMANN
Joseph’s II. reforms and the political public
This paper attempts a balanced verdict on the failures and successes of Joseph’s
II reforms which takes into account the verdict reached by contemporaries. Censorship
relaxation allowed the reformers to appeal to a public sphere, which developed
significantly as a result. Hence there is no lack of documentation on
contemporary verdicts. The debate on the Church reforms in the popular literature
contributed substantially to their generally successful implementation, despite
clerical obstruction on a significant scale. However, Joseph’s autocratic
style of government, his arbitrary interventions in the judicial process, and the
harsh penal code of 1787, resulted in widespread protest and criticism. At the
same time, the powerful landowning classes rejected his reform of the land tax
and the regulation of seigneurial dues linked to it. While this opposition prevented
many of Joseph’s II reforms from being brought to a successful conclusion
before his premature death caused by an infection caught in the battle zone
of the Turkish War, the development of the people’s political consciousness and
of an independent critical public opinion which his actions had provoked, was
the great and lasting success of his reign.
Pour se faire une idée de l’échec ou des réussites des réformes joséphistes, on
peut se fier à l’opinion des contemporains. Le contrôle gouvernemental s’étant
relâché, les courants réformateurs ont pu diffuser leurs idées dans le public.
L’extension considérable des brochures offrait un forum jusqu’à lors inaccessible
pour propager leurs opinions sur la monarchie, l’empereur, la vie politique et so-