Western Civilization_ Volume B_ 1300 to 1815 - Jackson J. Spielvogel [269]
Nevertheless, some progress was made toward religious toleration. No ruler was more interested in the philosophes’ call for religious toleration than Joseph II of Austria. His Toleration Patent of 1781, while recognizing Catholicism’s public practice, granted Lutherans, Calvinists, and Greek Orthodox the right to worship privately. In all other ways, all subjects were now equal: “Non-Catholics are in future admitted under dispensation to buy houses and real property, to practice as master craftsmen, to take up academic appointments and posts in public service, and are not to be required to take the oath in any form contrary to their religious tenets.”16
MAP 17.2 Religious Populations of Eighteenth-Century Europe. Christianity was still a dominant force in eighteenth-century Europe—even many of the philosophes remained Christians while attacking the authority and power of the established Catholic and Protestant churches. By the end of the century, however, most monarchs had increased royal power at the expense of religious institutions.
To what extent were religious majorities geographically concentrated in certain areas, and what accounted for this?
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TOLERATION AND THE JEWS The Jews remained the despised religious minority of Europe. The largest number of Jews (known as the Ashkenazic Jews) lived in eastern Europe. Except in relatively tolerant Poland, Jews were restricted in their movements, forbidden to own land or hold many jobs, forced to pay burdensome special taxes, and also subject to periodic outbursts of popular wrath. The resulting pogroms, in which Jewish communities were looted and massacred, made Jewish existence precarious and dependent on the favor of their territorial rulers.
Another major group was the Sephardic Jews, who had been expelled from Spain in the fifteenth century. Although many had migrated to Turkish lands, some of them had settled in cities, such as Amsterdam, Venice, London, and Frankfurt, where they were relatively free to participate in the banking and commercial activities that Jews had practiced since the Middle Ages. The highly successful ones came to provide valuable services to rulers, especially in central Europe, where they were known as the court Jews. But even these Jews were insecure because their religion set them apart from the Christian majority and served as a catalyst to social resentment.
Some Enlightenment thinkers in the eighteenth century favored a new acceptance of Jews. They argued that Jews and Muslims were human and deserved the full rights of citizenship despite their religion. Many philosophes denounced persecution of the Jews but made no attempt to hide their hostility and ridiculed Jewish customs. Diderot, for example, said that the Jews had “all the defects peculiar to an ignorant and superstitious nation.” Many Europeans favored the assimilation of the Jews into the mainstream of society, but only by the conversion of Jews to Christianity as the basic solution to the “Jewish problem.” This, of course, was not acceptable to most Jews.
The Austrian emperor Joseph II attempted to adopt a new policy toward the Jews, although it too was limited. It freed Jews from nuisance taxes and allowed them more freedom of movement and job opportunities, but they were still restricted from owning land and worshiping in public. At the same time, Joseph II encouraged Jews to learn German and work toward greater assimilation into Austrian society.
Popular Religion in the Eighteenth Century
Despite the rise of skepticism and the intellectuals’ belief in deism and natural religion, religious devotion remained strong in the eighteenth century.
CATHOLIC PIETY It is difficult to assess precisely the religiosity of Europe’s Catholics. The Catholic parish church remained an important center of life for the entire community. How many people