Becoming Begrudgingly Tolerant

The concept of religious tolerance and toleration has been the subject of much scholarly discussion for centuries. In the wake of the Reformation, however, it became a much more practical concept, with Europeans living next door to people perceived as heretics. A certain level of tolerance had to be achieved or else the entire continent would fall into a state of mass violence and disarray. Religious tolerance as a social practice was tested to its limits in the principality of Transylvania during the mid-sixteenth century. The multiconfessional state was home to five competing denominations and somehow managed to establish and maintain a certain level of peace in the region during the age in which religious warfare was rife throughout the continent. This article analyzes the unique emergence of the Unitarian, or anti-Trinitarian, confession in the Transylvanian principality, in order to answer broader questions on the concept of religious tolerance in early modern Europe. After initially outlining current thinking on the concept of religious tolerance, it describes the unique emergence of Unitarianism in Transylvania, aided greatly by political rulers. Challenging the idea of Transylvania being a haven for religious freedom in this time period, the article addresses contemporary debates surrounding the emergence of Unitarianism, namely in the 1567 Debrecen Reformed Synod. It also analyzes legal actions taken to sanction multiconfessionalism in the region, before ultimately situating this study within the broader context of religious tolerance in early modern Europe.