the Polish Sejm as (factually) the oldest. The system was frequently compared to Republican Rome and to the Greek polis – though each of these eventually surrendered to imperial rule or to tyrants. The Henrician Articles were considered to be the foundation of the system. Every attempt to infringe on these laws was treated as a great crime. Yet despite fruits of golden age Poland and the Sarmatist culture, the country would enter a period of national decline; it brought in a narrow cultural conformity. Nonetheless, a crippling political anarchy came to reign, due to cynical use of the free veto by individual szlachta in the Sejm, and/or to the acts of unpatriotic kings. During the late eighteenth century, the woeful state of the polity resulted in the three Polish Partitions by neighboring military powers. "Was the Sarmatian way of life worth preserving? Some aspects of it, no doubt. But because the gentry insisted on jealously guarding its privileges, preventing their extension to other social groups, it doomed the structure of the Commonwealth to atrophy and to the revenge of the lower orders. ... Sarmatism was an ideological shield against the historical realities which contradicted it at every turn." Since its original popularity among the former szlachta, Sarmatism itself went into political decline. It has since seen revision and revival, followed by eclipse. Religion "Certainly, the wording and substance of the declaration of the Confederation of Warsaw of 28 January 1573 were extraordinary with regard to prevailing conditions elsewhere in Europe, and they governed the principles of religious life in the Republic for over two hundred years" – Norman Davies. Poland has a long tradition of religious freedom. The right to worship freely was a basic right given to all inhabitants of the Commonwealth throughout the 15th and early 16th centuries, and complete freedom of religion was officially recognized in Poland in 1573 during the Warsaw Confederation. Poland maintained its religious freedom laws during an era when religious persecution was an everyday occurrence in the rest of Europe. The Commonwealth of Poland was a place where the most radical religious sects, trying to escape persecution in other countries of the Christian world, sought refuge. "This country became a place of shelter for heretics" – Cardinal Stanislaus Hosius, papal legate to Poland. In the sphere of religion, Catholicism was the dominant faith and heavily emphasized because it was seen as differentiating