DP16121 Religion and Persecution

Author(s):	Umair Khalil, Laura Panza
Publication Date:	May 2021
Date Revised:	May 2021
Keyword(s):	middle ages, Minority persecution, Religiosity, Religious institutions
JEL(s):	D74, N33, N43, N93, Z12
Programme Areas:	Economic History
Link to this Page:	cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=16121

This paper investigates the relationship between Christian institutions and religiosity and the persecution of minorities in a sample of over 2,100 European cities during 1100-1850. We measure both the influence of local ecclesiastical authorities and the religious fervour of the general population by employing a novel proxy: the existence of the cults of saints in early Western Christianity (pre-1100). Our findings show that cities with an established cult of a saint are associated with a 13 percentage points (pp) increase in the likelihood of Jewish persecutions and were 21 pp more likely to engage in witch trials. However, cities with more progressive gender norms, measured by the presence of a female saint cult, are less likely to persecute witches compared to male-only saint cities. Our baseline relationship persists after controlling for a range of city-level economic, geographic and institutional characteristics and after accounting for other major confounders. We find two plausible mechanisms behind the saints-persecution relationship: (i) changes in norms induced by longer exposure to Christianity; and (ii) proximity of religious groups due to congruence of religious festivities.