Religious Persecution (Civ3)/Civilopedia

Religious persecution is as old as religion itself; in Europe it was especially common from the 6th century C.E. onwards, as the Church struggled to find and then enforce some orthodox teachings. When the Church began to dominate secular as well as ecclesiastical affairs, religious persecution became a political tool, since church law provided for the confiscation of property belonging to heretics or the excommunicated. Catholic monarchs were obliged to support crusades against both Muslims and Christian dissenting sects, and they were often permitted to send money to the pope rather than actual troops. Many monarchs did just that, and the Church realized it had discovered an excellent way to extract money above and beyond the usual tithes from the secular rulers of Europe.