Amor libertatis e tolleranza nell’Europa centrale dell’età moderna: questioni politiche e religiose.

Abstract

The essay aims to highlight some new interpretations that are emerging in the history of Central and Eastern Europe, especially regarding the tolerance and peaceful coexistence of groups of different religions and faiths (Jews, Catholics, Orthodox, Muslims, Lutherans, Calvinists, Socinians), while in the rest of Europe expulsions and religious wars were raging. In particular, the different readings of the Warsaw Confederation of 1573 examine the outcome of a political decision-making process. Retracing the history of tolerance and peaceful coexistence, without neglecting the numerous violent episodes, in that political-geographical area is important due to the centuries-old presence of different religions to explore political decisions. It is relevant to analyse the role of Poland, in particular, as a Christian bulwark to the Ottoman Empire. Recent studies enrich our knowledge of that area by analysing previously neglected documentation to reconstruct Poland's transition from a refuge for heretics to Catholic Poland and then to its disappearance from the European geopolitical map.