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Tolerance, Society, and Sovereignty: The Retreat from Pluralism in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 April 2023

Francesco Quatrini Open the ORCID record for Francesco Quatrini [Opens in a new window]
Francesco Quatrini*
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University College Dublin
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Abstract

The Polish Brethren were fervent advocates of religious tolerance. Johann Crell's “Vindiciae pro Religionis Libertate” (1637) is prominent among their works, because of its far-reaching and progressive arguments for freedom of religion. This article outlines the historical and intellectual context of this pamphlet, and its reception in seventeenth-century Europe. Despite being familiar with a historical situation in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth where toleration was practiced on a societal level, Crell strongly argued that freedom of religion had to be enacted through a public law. Only in this way could freedom of religion be truly effective and guarantee safety for all citizens.

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Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , Spring 2023 , pp. 124 - 165
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Renaissance Society of America

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Footnotes

The research upon which this article is based was conducted as part of the research project “War and the Supernatural in Early Modern Europe,” funded by the European Research Council under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 677490). I would like to thank Ian Campbell, Crawford Gribben, Diego Lucci, the journal reviewers, and the journal editors for their comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the present article.

References

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