II. Józsefhez intézett beadványok 1773. évi erdélyi látogatása során
Petitions to Joseph II. during his Visit to Transylvania in 1773

Summary/Abstract: Joseph II is known as the ‘travelling emperor’. He not only travelled widely in Europe but took pains to acquaint himself personally with the various provinces of the Habsburg Monarchy. During the period of the co-regency (1765–1780), he visited the Grand Principality of Transylvania three times, in 1773, 1783 and 1786. Before he set out for these journeys, Joseph II announced that anyone could hand him a petition, and those which were signed would be looked into. His decree to such effect mobilized the Transyilvanian society in 1773. The emperor received an unexpectedly large number of petitions (Memoralien). Michael Conrad von Heidendorf, notary of Mediaș, estimated their number to be 19 000. On the basis of official documents to be found in the Hungarian National Archives, it can be established that the emperor received altogether 16 148 petitions during his Transylvania tour of 1773. These were handwritten Memoralien composed in Latin, German, Hungarian or Old Romanian. They provide an insight in the language usage, the language proficiency and the literacy levels of contemporary Transylvania. They also shed light on the type of issues that induced the emperor’s subjects to turn to their ruler for redress not to mention how the authorities dealt with these petitions, what solutions were proposed and what the emperor’s final decision was.

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