The Middle Ages, on the other hand, have no reputation for tolerance, the lack o f which is usually attributed to the influence of a powerful Church that w as able and willing to suppress all major deviations from the exclusive truth it w as convinced it possessed. Only the Reformation, it is often argued, forced the Church to change its attitude and to redefine its relation towards dissi dents.2 As a consequence, many historical studies of the idea o f tolerance begin on ly in the sixteenth century.3This representation o f the history of tolerance is, however, distorted. In the Middle Ages tolerantia was a highly developed political concept, and it was
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