Despots are not enlightened or they wouldn't be despots. A despot is someone who wants to enslave people.
Spain did not have any enlightened despots. By the mid-1600s, Spain was an empire in decadence and lacked the kind of inspirational leaders found in Prussia, Russia, Austria, and France, some of whom could be called Enlightened Despots.
Enlightened Despots were a subset of absolute monarchs that made legal, social, and educational reforms in accordance with Enlightenment principles. All Enlightened Despots were absolute monarchs, but there were a number of European absolute monarchs that were not Enlightened Despots.
Enlightened despots attempted to bring about reforms to their social and government systems during their rules.
The philosophies and enlightenment ideas influenced the enlightened despots by promoting concepts such as reason, natural rights, and the social contract theory. This led to reforms such as religious tolerance, education, and legal reforms in their respective countries. The enlightened despots believed in using their power to improve society based on these principles.
The reforms of the enlightened despots varied in success. For example, Frederick the Great of Prussia made significant improvements in the economy and legal system, while Catherine the Great of Russia focused on expanding territory and promoting education. Overall, the enlightened despots made some advancements in centralizing power and modernizing their countries, but their reforms were limited by their authoritarian rule.
They undertook reforms in their empire to retain power and receive better graces from the people.
Enlightened despots implemented reforms such as promoting religious tolerance, modernizing infrastructure, improving education and strengthening the economy. They believed in the concept of benevolent absolutism, where the ruler's power was used to benefit the state and its citizens. Examples of enlightened despots include Frederick the Great of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria, and Catherine the Great of Russia.
The enlightenment despots supported the philosophes' ideas. But they also had no intention of giving up any power. The changes they made were motivated by two desires: they wanted to make their countries stronger and their own rule more effective.
Enlightened Despots used their power to bring about social and political changes
The major enlightened despots were Frederick the Great of Prussia, Catherine the Great of Russia and Joseph II of Austria.
The goals of enlightened despots was to bring political and social change.