USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Expert-Verified Answer. The best example of a monarch supporting enlightenment reform is Joseph II abolishing serfdom in Austria. Explanation: Joseph II ruled over the most substantial kingdom of Central Europe during 1780 and reflected as the best instance of a monarch who supported enlightenment reform.

Detailed explanation-2: -Joseph II, along with Catherine the Great and Frederick the Great, have been deemed the three most influential Enlightenment Absolutist monarchs.

Detailed explanation-3: -Joseph II is one of the best-known representatives of Enlightened Absolutism. As a monarch he was indebted to the ideas of Enlightenment rationalism and implemented numerous reforms in the Habsburg Monarchy, some of them far-reaching, in the name of ‘usefulness’.

Detailed explanation-4: -He ordered the abolition of serfdom; by the Edict of Toleration he established religious equality before the law, and he granted freedom of the press. The emancipation of the Jews within a short time endowed cultural life with new vitality.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Enlightened Despot Joseph’s reforms included abolishing serfdom, ending press censorship and limiting the power of the Catholic Church. And with his Edict of Toleration, Joseph gave minority religions, such as Protestants, Greek Orthodox and Jews, the ability to live and worship more freely.