Cultural History of Tolerance

Lucia Felici is Professor of Modern History at the University of Florence. Her research interests concern the religious, cultural, and social history of Early Modern Europe. Among her recent publications are: Senza frontiere: L’Europa di Erasmo (1538-1600) (2021); La Livornina: Alle origini di Livorno, città cosmopolita in età moderna (ed.; 2024), and Olimpia Fulvia Morata: Una vita tra Rinascimento e Riforma (2024).Girolamo Imbruglia is Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the University ‘L’Orientale’. His research interests concern the history of political ideas and the history of Christianity in Early Modern Europe. Among his recent publications are: The Jesuit Missions of Paraguay and a Cultural History of Utopia (1568–1789) (2017), Utopia. Una storia politica da Savonarola a Babeuf (2021), and ‘Fausto Sozzini, la teoria del sacrificio e il socinianesimo’ (2021).

• Introduction: Background: The Genesis of the Idea of Tolerance from the Gospel Age to the Middle Ages Part I: The 16th and 17th Centuries 1. From Catholic Unity to the Multiplicity of Worlds 2. Religious Freedom and Tolerance in the Age of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation 3. Practising Coexistence, Theorising Tolerance 4. The 17th Century: From Religious Tolerance to Modern Freedom Part II: From Religious Toleration to Political Freedom 5. The 16th Century: Community, Civic Religion, and the Need for Toleration 6. The 17th Century: The Strength of Faith 7. The 17th Century: Tolerance and Sovereignty 8. The 18th Century: Holland, Germany, and Empire 9. The 18th Century: After the Glorious Revolution – Great Britain 10. The 18th Century: France 11. The 18th Century: The American Revolution and Diderot