From Encouragement to Critique of Enlightened Absolutist Reforms

Abstract

In this paper, the example of Nikola Škrlec Lomnički (1729 – 1799), a distinguished legal expert and public servant in Croatia during the era of enlightened absolutism, is used to posit that the dissemination of knowledge and ideas was not a linear progression, flowing solely from top to bottom. Rather, the experience of living and working within a specific political milieu significantly impacted political choices made by premodern public servants. Škrlec’s involvement in local administration and his writings directed towards higher authorities underscore that the introduction of progressive changes necessitated a confluence of both contemporary intellectual currents and influence from “below”. Such reforms needed to be firmly grounded in changes that were practicably feasible within a specific local political and social context. For understanding political history, resistance to change emerges as being equally valuable a phenomenon as alignment with enlightened ideas.