Edict of toleration
An edict of toleration is a declaration made by a government or ruler and states that members of a given religion will not be persecuted for engaging in their religious practices and traditions. The edict implies tacit acceptance of the religion rather than its endorsement by the ruling power.
Edicts of toleration in history
- 311 – The Edict of Toleration by Galerius was issued in 311 by the Roman Tetrarchy of Galerius, Constantine and Licinius, officially ending the Diocletian persecution of Christianity.
- 1568 – The Edict of Torda (or Turda), also known as the Patent of Toleration (Act of Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience), was an attempt by King John II Sigismund of Hungary to guarantee religious freedom in his realm. Specifically, it broadened previous grants (to Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Calvinists) to include the Unitarian Church, and allowed toleration (not legal guarantees) for other faiths.
- 1598 – The Edict of Nantes, issued by the King of France, Henry IV, was the formal religious settlement which ended the first era of the French wars of religion. The Edict of Nantes granted to French Huguenots legal recognition as well as limited religious freedoms, including: freedom of public worship, the right of assembly, rights of admission to public offices and universities, and permission to maintain fortified towns. The Edict of Nantes, however, would be revoked in 1685 by Henry IV's grandson, Louis XIV, who once again proclaimed Protestantism to be illegal in France through the Edict of Fontainebleau.
- 21 April 1649 – Maryland Toleration Act in the early American colony Province of Maryland, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was passed by Maryland's colonial assembly mandating religious tolerance for Catholicism. It was the second law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies and created the first legal limitations on hate speech in the world. The Calvert family, who founded Maryland partly as a refuge for English Catholics, sought enactment of the law to protect Catholic settlers and those of other religions that did not conform to the dominant Anglicanism of Britain and her colonies. The Act was revoked in 1654, before being reinstated again, and finally, repealed permanently in 1692 following the Glorious Revolution. The Maryland Toleration Act influenced related laws in other colonies and was an important predecessor to the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which enshrined religious freedom in American law over a century later.
- 16 September 1664 – Edict of Toleration in the Electorate of Brandenburg (Germany), tolerance of the Protestant denominations with each other.
- 29 October 1685 – Edict of Potsdam – For reform of Hugenots in Lutheran Prussia.
- 29 March 1712 – Tolerance Act of Ernst Casimir in Büdingen. It guaranteed "vollkommene Gewissensfreiheit" (complete freedom of conscience) and demanded in return, the civil authorities and subjects both in their homes to behave as honorable, decent and Christian. The real aim was to counteract the war and plague which had caused the population decline.
- 17 June 1773 – Tolerance Edict of Katharina II of Russia, in response to domestic political disputes with the Muslim Tatars. In the tolerance edict, she promised the toleration of all religious denominations in the Russian empire, except for the large number of Jews who had been the first partition of Poland in their subjects.
- 1782 – An Edict of Toleration, also known as the Patent of Toleration, issued by the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II, extended religious freedom to non-Catholic Christians living in Habsburg lands, including: Lutherans, Calvinists, and the Greek Orthodox. However, in the end, Joseph's Catholic conscience got the best of him, as he rescinded his own toleration patent while on his deathbed.
- 1784 – Tolerance Edict of Elector Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony - toleration of Protestants in the Electorate of Trier.
- 29 November 1787 – The Edict of Versailles, issued by Louis XVI of France, ended persecution of non-Catholics - including Huguenots.
- 11 March 1812 – Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, extended by the Prussian Jews Edict, the rights of Jews already in the old Prussian parts of the country eingebürgeten Jews.
- 23 March 1844 — Edict of Toleration, allowing Jews to settle in the Holy Land. The original documents are available from the Public Record Office in London, which states in one of its letters: "A translation of the edict, an acknowledgment from Stratford Canning to the Sublime Porte, and an accompanying letter from Canning, dated 23 March 1844, is in Foreign Office, Turkey, FO78/555/No.49. There are several other letters from Canning in the same volume on the question of the religious intolerance of the Turks. The draft of a letter from the Foreign Office, dated 16 January 1844, which made plain the attitude of the British Government and which provided the direct impetus for the negotiations leading eventually to the issue of the edict, is in FO78/552/No.4."
See also
References
- ^ "In the Light and Shadow of an Emperor: Tomás Pereira, S.J. (1645-1708), the Kangxi Emperor and the Jesuit Mission in China", An International Symposium in Commemoration of the 3rd Centenary of the death of Tomás Pereira, S.J., Lisbon, Portugal and Macau, China, 2008, http://www.viadeo.com/hub/affichefil/?hubId=0021blweg7pn3crr&forumId=002hj6ldao5cz20&threadId=00226fi31xx53g5d
- ^ S. Neill, A History of Christian Missions (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books,964), pp. 189l90.
External links