is now Flanders. Reforms of Joseph II Propelled by his belief in the Enlightenment, soon after taking power, Joseph launched a number of reforms which he hoped would make the territories he controlled more efficient and easier to govern. From 1784, Joseph launched a number of "radical and wide-ranging" reforms in the fields of economics, politics and religion aimed at institutions which he judged outdated. Some have drawn parallels between Joseph's rule in the Holy Roman Empire and that of Philip II in the Netherlands as both attempted to suborn local traditions in order to achieve more effective central rule. Like Philip, Joseph's perceived attacks on important institutions succeeded in uniting multiple divergent social classes against him. His initial reforms were aimed at the Catholic church which, because of its allegiance to the Vatican, was viewed a potentially subversive force. Joseph's first act was the proclamation of the Edict of Tolerance of 1781–82 which abolished the privileges which Catholics enjoyed over other Christian and non-Christian minorities. As an attack on the place of the church, it was deeply unpopular among Catholics, but because the non-Catholics were a tiny minority, it did not win any real support. The Edict was condemned by Cardinal Frankenberg who insisted that religious tolerance, the relaxation of censorship and the suppression of laws against the Jansenists all constituted an attack on the Catholic Church. Later, 162 monasteries whose inhabitants led a purely contemplative life were abolished. In September 1784, marriage was made a civil, rather than a religious, institution. This sharply reduced the church's traditional influence and power in its parishioners' family lives. Following this, in October 1786, the government abolished all seminaries in the territory to establish a single, state-run General Seminary (seminarium generale) in Leuven. Within the General Seminary, training would be in liberal and state-approved theology which was opposed by the upper ranks of the clergy. In December 1786, he followed up his belief in liberalisation and earlier attacks on guild privileges by removing all tariffs on grain trade, but this was revoked in the economic slump that soon followed. Replaced local charity or poor-relief organisations with a single, central Brotherhood of Active Charity in April 1786. Schools were reformed. Above all, however, Joseph attempted to break up the structure of autonomous states which provided the framework for the Austrian Netherlands. He introduced two reforms in early 1787 instituting new administrative and judicial