1573: The Warsaw Confederation Act

On 28 January 1573, the Sejm of Poland-Lithuania passes the Warsaw Confederation Act. It includes a clause on religious freedom:

 

“…we mutually promise for ourselves and our successors forever … that we who differ with regard to religion will keep the peace with one another, and will not for a different faith or a change of churches shed blood nor punish one another by confiscation of property, infamy, imprisonment or banishment…”