Jak i dlaczego powstał wizerunek Zygmunta III jako władcy nietolerancyjnego?

This article seeks to verify the established view that the King Sigismund III of Poland (1587–1632) bears the main blame for deepening religious conflicts in Poland during his reign because of actions and omissions resulting from his intolerant attitudes. The fact that the few commotions could not be prevented can be explained by the fact that then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was not a police state. On the other hand the impunity of the perpetrators was the result of the state judiciary in Poland. Moreover, without change of a "constitutional law" it was impossible to enactment of the so-called process of the Confederation of Warsaw, the allegations of propaganda laying blame at the king’s door for violations of religious peace and support of the Union of Brest were to raise the non-Catholic nobility to support the activities organized by political opponents of Sigismund III Vasa. A great number of occasional writings containing those accusations, which occurred also in the statements of the many noble conventions and lack of the knowledge on the specifics of political system in Poland created – also in historiography – the thesis of Sigismund III Vasa as most intolerant of the Polish kings.