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CHAPTER THREE The Grievances By1790, when the long-awaited Diet was finally convoked, the Italians of the Confines had accumulated many grievances, some of their own and some shared with the rest of Tyrol. The Etschland,dominated Estatesl sought to undo most of five decades of inno, vations by Maria Theresa (1740-80) and Joseph II (1780-90}.2 Their dissat, isfaction began soon after Maria Theresa ascended the throne and refused to hold a ceremony of hereditary homage where she would have had to confirm Tyrol's freedoms, privileges, and constitution. When in 1749 the Estates submitted a petition asking that their previous rights be restored, she replied that although she would seek their opinion in many questions, she would do so only out of grace and not because it was a right of the Estates.3 She also refused to convoke the open Diet, despite repeated pleas from the Estates, for the entire forty years of her reign. (She promised an open Diet in 1762 but never issued the order of convocation.) In Tyrol Maria Theresa was very much the absolutist, but rather than abolish Estate institutions, she chose to ignore or bypass most of them. She simply created her own institutions to stand alongside and gradually take over the functions of the traditional bodies, especially those that dealt with the administrative business of the princely county. In 1774, continuing the Habsburgs' attempts to build a Gesammtmonarchie, she extended the Guber' nium system to Tyrol, creating the office of Landes,Gouvemeur, an official named by and representing the interests of the ruler. At the same time, she combined this new office with that of Tyrol's Landeshauptmann, tradition' ally chosen by the Estates and representing their interests. This new official was to be an intermediary between the Estates and their ruler, but he was in fact primarily and essentially a representative of his sovereign. By uniting 46 47 THE GRIEVANCES these two offices, then, Maria Theresa effectively deprived the Estates of their own spokesman. Maria Theresa's reforms touched the church only lightly, but Joseph II altered both the power of the Catholic church and the performance of religious rituals, all of which greatly unsettled the very pious Tyroleans, though not their various bishops. Joseph's Toleration Patent, issued on 13 October 1781, granted full civil rights and the open but still limited practice of religion to Lutherans, Calvinists, and Greek Orthodox (referred to as Acatholics). Tyrol's bishops made little fuss about the patent; their Tyrolean parishes were but a small part of their dioceses. Of all these ecclesiastics only the Prince,Bishop of Brixen, Joseph Spaur, openly op' posed the patent; the Bishop of Gorz, whose seat was in another Habsburg province, was slow in confirming it, but an invitation and visit to Vienna persuaded him of his duty. In Italian,speaking Tyrol the arrival of the Toleration Patent caused a· minor flurry. The new law was ordered to be published in local newspapers in German, Italian, or Latin, or in all three languages. But the newspapers that most Italian Tyroleans read were published in Trent, a territory directly subject not to the Habsburgs but to the prince,bishop. Perhaps as a result of pressure from Prince,Bishop Thun or because the Trentine newspapers feared his displeasure, these papers denied the Rovereto Kreis office's re, (' quest to publish the patent. The Gubemium at Innsbruck then stepped in and took the request directly to Thun, who ordered the patent published4 (perhaps in exchange for some sort of quid pro quo). From the time tolera, tion was decreed in 1781, Tyrol's Estates tried repeatedly, and unsuccess, fully, to have the patent rescinded, at least for the princely county. They protested that it would lead to discord and unrest and affect Tyrol's pre' scribed oaths ot homage and duty, which were based on the Catholic reli, gion. And-not of least importance-the patent also violated their traditional constitution because Tyrol's laws could not be changed without the Estates' agreement.s Further changes also disturbed the pious Tyroleans. In October 1784 Joseph II began dissolving monasteries throughout the princely county (and the rest of the Habsburg lands) until most, both male and female, were closed. The proceeds from the sale of the confiscated properties were placed in a state,administered Religion Fund, which was used to establish parishes and churches in remote or poorly served areas and to support retired or sick priests and schoolteachers...

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