The Religious Policy of Sigismund I and Sigismund II Augustus in the Reformation Period: status quaestionis

Abstract

The article examines the role of the last Jagiellonian monarchs, Sigismund I (1506-1548) andhis son Sigismund II Augustus (1548-1572), in promoting and securing religious peace in themulti-confessional society of the 16th-century Rzeczpospolita. The author argues that the Jagielloniandynasty, which ascended to the Polish throne in 1386 and ruled until 1572, contributedsignificantly to the rise of religious pluralism in Poland and Lithuania, and paved the way for amechanism of tolerance which made it possible for religious groups to live together and to respecttheir religious diversity. The author analyses the anti-heretical laws passed by Sigismund Iin the 1520s, and Sigismund II in the 1550s, which were intended to suppress the disseminationof Reformation ideas. In these documents, both monarchs declared their loyalty to the RomanChurch, and threatened followers of the Reformation with severe penalties. All these documentsgive an insight into the religious policy of the Polish kings. Anti-heretical legislation was just onepart of a more complex and sophisticated policy of the Jagiellonian kings, which aimed at preservingthe religious status quo in the multi-ethnic and multi-confessional Rzeczpospolita. Key words: Reformation, Poland, religious policy, confessional relations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.15181/ ahuk.v29i0.1065