The Ideas of Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Poland in the Late 16th – Early 17th Centuries

Religious tolerance in the late XVI - early XVII centuries. In the Commonwealth is a legal system in which representatives of the Orthodox and Protestant population are considered equal subjects of the state. The functioning of this system is the act of the Warsaw Confederation, which became part of the Pacta convent, which every new king signed at the coronation. But in this case, the dominant role in the state belongs to Catholics. Within the multi-confessional state, which is Rzeczpospolita, religious tolerance was a means of peaceful coexistence. However, along with tolerance, there was also intolerance, which was expressed in the programs of churches and parishes of non-Catholics, mutual insults. In addition, during the reign of Sigismund III, one can observe the open Catholic orientation of the king, which contributed to the creation of conditions for the conversion of Orthodox and Protestant populations to Catholicism.