The Violent Origins of Religious Toleration in Early Modern Europe, 1520-1800

FAIN: FEL-268461-20

Scott Sowerby
Northwestern University (Evanston, IL 60208-0001)

Completion of a book on the origins of religious toleration in early modern Europe, 1520-1800.

This book project, based on exhaustive archival research in multiple languages, offers a new explanation for the growing inclusion of religious minorities in European state institutions in the early modern period. We often attribute the growth of religious toleration in early modern Europe to the Enlightenment, as radical intellectuals invented novel justifications for toleration that eventually spread to the population at large. My project emphasizes the importance of violent conflict, rather than comity and curiosity, in driving toleration forward. Early modern Europe had a fiercely competitive state system, and toleration offered key advantages, especially in military affairs. Rulers granted liberties to religious minorities as a way of enlisting their support in military conflicts. Geopolitical instability and the inclusion of minorities often went hand in hand: toleration spread across Europe not because states sought to abandon violent warfare, but because they embraced it.