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Poland Poland-Lithuania in the Reformation Era
In modern eyes, the most saliently liberal aspect of
Jagiellon Poland is its exceptional toleration of
religious
dissent. This tolerance prevailed in Poland even during
the
religious upheavals, war, and atrocities associated with
the Protestant
Reformation (see Glossary)
and its repercussions in
many parts of sixteenth-century Europe. The Reformation
arrived in Poland between 1523 and 1526. The small Calvinist,
Lutheran, and Hussite groups that sprang up were harshly persecuted
by the Roman Catholic Church in their early years. Then in 1552
the Sejm suspended civil execution of ecclesiastical sentences for
heresy. For the next 130 years, Poland remained solidly Roman
Catholic
while refusing to repress contending faiths and providing
refuge
for a wide variety of religious nonconformists.
Such broad-mindedness derived as much from practical
necessity as from principle, for Poland-Lithuania governed
a
populace of remarkable ethnic and religious diversity,
embracing
Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, and
numerous nonChristians . In particular, after the mid-sixteenth century
the
Polish lands supported the world's largest concentration
of Jews,
whose number was estimated at 150,000 in 1582. Under the
Jagiellons, Jews suffered fewer restrictions in
Poland-Lithuania
than elsewhere in Europe while establishing an economic
niche as
tradesmen and managers of noble estates.
Data as of October 1992
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