Emperor Incognito - Joseph Ii''s Journey Through Enlightenment Europe

An emperor meets his people: the extraordinary journeys of Joseph II.

It is the end of the eighteenth century, and the European royal houses are beginning to falter. The young Habsburg emperor Joseph II realizes that reform is inevitable, and he eagerly soaks up Enlightenment ideas. Incognito, and without the usual pomp and entourage, he travels through his vast empire to see with his own eyes how his subjects live, suffer, and starve.

Along with princes and kings, he meets ordinary people and visits hospitals and factories in his search for new insights that will help him build a modern state. When he visits his sister Marie Antoinette in Versailles, he can see the French Revolution looming on the horizon. By the end of his journey, he had spent a quarter of his twenty-five-year reign on the road. With an introduction by Dominic Lieven and based on countless sources, Monika Czernin's The Emperor Travels Incognito tells the story of an extraordinary man in an age of great upheaval, who was far ahead of his time.

About the author

Monika Czernin is an internationally renowned author and filmmaker. Her most recent book is Anna Sacher and Her Hotel. Dominic Lieven is currently a visiting professor in the Department of International History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, and chair of the board of the Paulsen Programme at LSE, hosted by the Department of International History. His most recent book is Towards the Flame: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia. Jamie Bulloch is a historian and has worked as a professional translator from German since 2001. He has been shortlisted for the Schlegel-Tieck Prize for translation from German four times, winning in 2014 for his translation of Birgit Vanderbeke's The Mussel Feast.

Product details

• Authors: Monika Czernin, Monika Czernin
• Assisted by: Dominic Lieven (Introduction), Jamies Bulloch (Translation)
• Publisher: Haus Publishing
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 16
• Product format: Hardback
• Release: 02.06.2026
• EAN: 9781914979439
• ISBN: 978-1-914979-43-9
• No. of pages: 336
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Biographies, autobiographies; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Europe, European History, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Historical, Biography: historical, political & military, HISTORY / Modern / 19th Century, HISTORY / Europe / Austria & Hungary, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, General & world history, Empires & historical states, General and world history, Biography: historical, political and military, Austro-Hungarian Empire