1782 Edict of Tolerance

The 1782 Edict of Tolerance (Toleranzedikt vom 1782) was a religious reform of Emperor Joseph II during the time he was emperor of the Habsburg monarchy as part of his policy of Josephinism, a series of drastic reforms to remodel Austria in the form of the ideal Enlightened state. Joseph II's enlightened despotism included the Patent of Toleration, enacted in 1781, and the Edict of Tolerance in 1782.^[1] The Patent of Toleration granted religious freedom to the Lutherans, Calvinists, and Serbian Orthodox,^[2] but it was not until the 1782 Edict of Tolerance that Joseph II extended religious freedom to the Jewish population.