Sigismund III’s Attitude towards the Attempts of Heterodoxes Aiming at the Execution of the Warsaw Confederation

Przemysław Szpaczyński

Abstract

Non-catholic minority in the Republic of Poland attempting to coerce Sigismund, by threatening to break off seyms, to support the passing of the process leading to the Warsaw confederation, was expecting the impossible, namely that the king would persuade the Catholic hierarchs in the Senate to be ready, at the time of reformation, to explain to the Catholic senators and the Catholic nobility not only that tolerance was not a sin, but also that its defence was not a sin. The use, for the reason of the grounded in fact desire to prevent , for example, the absolutely reproachable devastation of assemblies by Catholic students or appropriation of orthodox churches by Uniates, of breaking off seyms which adversely affected the interest of the country, irrespective of the legitimacy of the actions, should be condemned as a phenomenon by far worse than turmoils. Particularly taking into consideration the fact that the cases of intolerance in the Republic of Poland at the time of Sigismund IIIs rule were local and, above all, incidental, and tolerance was a common sensation as compared internationally about which people in Europe, particularly in the neighbouring superstates aggressive towards the Republic of Poland, such as Sweden or Russia, could only dream on. As ironic should certainly be regarded the fact that where fanaticism was something natural, nobody today accuses such rulers as, for example, Gustav II Adolf, of fanaticism, but Sigismund III who, in comparison to his Swedish cousin and, also, remaining colleagues on thrones of that time Europe, was the embodiment and example of tolerance, cannot get rid of this calumnious invective.