Religious Persecution and Practical Toleration in England (1500-1640) The Social Context of Tolerance Between Neighbors (Principle and Practice)

This study overlooks any attempt to trace the path of transformation of the history of tolerance "from persecution to toleration" and points out that it is a mistake to concentrate only on the history of the elites or politicians when detecting the essential observations that European societies passed in their struggle for liberty of religion, and in particular English society, and suggests instead, the history of tolerance it would be better if studied as part of a connected and complex chain that can flow in two directions (political and social). This study approaches the topic in an objective rather than chronological manner, and seeks to examine the tripartite interaction between ideology (Established Church), official decree (the state), and the practical rational tolerance (social tolerance) that appears at the grassroots level. Despite the difficulties of discovering this elusive phenomenon in the available sources, the study will argue that there is much to suggest that historians have underestimated both the extent and ability of the instinct for communication, harmony and peace to shape social relations. As we will see, the development of principled defenses of toleration was not necessarily a precondition for its realization in practice: sometimes there would be subsequent justifications for changes that were already well underway, where sectarian adherence to a faith did not conflict with a charitable disposition to love one's neighbors despite their religious peculiarities, indeed the implications of the frequent disconnect between polemical discourse and actual reality deserve much attention.