What did Joseph II's 1781 reforms change in the Czech lands?
Toleration, and the end of serfdom
Toleranční patent a zrušení nevolnictví
1781. In 1781 Emperor Joseph II allowed Lutherans, Calvinists and Orthodox Christians to worship again with the Patent of Toleration, and abolished serfdom in the…
Where: Czechia
What happened
In 1781 Emperor Joseph II allowed Lutherans, Calvinists and Orthodox Christians to worship again with the Patent of Toleration, and abolished serfdom in the Czech lands: peasants could now marry, move and learn a trade without their lord's permission, though they still owed him unpaid labour, the robota, until 1848. His reforms also pushed German as the language of the state, which helped start the Czech reaction that became the National Revival.
Say it
Josef II. zrušil nevolnictví.
Joseph II abolished serfdom.