Secularization of Book Censorship under Maria Theresa: Between Catholic Tradition and Moderate Enlightenment

Abstract

Censorship of books in the Habsburg hereditary lands was initially effectively controlled by the Catholic Church and was secularized only under Maria Theresa (1740–1780). During the process, the Church gradually lost its decisive influence: in 1751, the Court Book Censorship Committee was established, in 1764 the last Jesuit member of the commission was ousted, and in 1772 the state took over censorship of even theological and religious publications. The new censorship differed from the old one in many ways; for example, with grounding in moderate Enlightenment. In some respects, it resumed the tradition (e.g., favoring Catholicism), and in others it even became more restrictive (e.g., when dealing with literature).

Knjižna cenzura v habsburških dednih deželah je bila sprva v največji meri pod nadzorom Katoliške cerkve, sekularizirana pa je bila šele pod Marijo Terezijo (1740–1780). V tem procesu je Cerkev postopno izgubila odločilen vpliv: leta 1751 je bila ustanovljena Dvorna komisija za knjižno cenzuro, leta 1764 so iz nje izrinili zadnjega jezuita, leta 1772 pa je država prevzela celo cenzuro teoloških in verskih knjig. Nova cenzura se je v marsičem ločila od stare, na primer z izho-diščem v zmernem razsvetljenstvu. V nekaterih pogledih je nadaljevala tradicijo (na primer s favoriziranjem katoliške vere), v drugih pa je bila celo restriktivnejša (na primer pri obravnavi leposlovja).