The current position of the Roman Catholic Church is that the medieval persecution of the Knights Templar was unjust, that nothing was inherently wrong with the Order or its Rule, and that Pope Clement was pressed into his actions by the magnitude of the public scandal and by the dominating influence of King Philip IV, who was Clement's relative.

However, immediately afterward Roman-Persian conflict led to the persecution of the church by the Sassanid King Khosrau I ; this ended in 545.

This is following years of persecution of the Knights Templar, initially started on Friday, October 13th, 1307 in collusion with King Philip " the fair " Le Bel of France.

Mieszko II's half-brother Bezprym took the government of Poland and began a cruel persecution against the followers of the former King.

Emperor Valerian I, who had led the persecution, was captured and killed by the King of Persia in 260.

Religious persecution in France became severe when King Louis XIV issued the Edict of Fontainebleau in 1685, which revoked the Edict of Nantes, that had given substantial rights to French Protestants.

During King John's persecution of William de Braose in 1209, William Marshall gave de Braose shelter on his Irish lands.

Religious and ethnic persecution of the Serer people dates back to the 11th century when King War Jabi usurped the throne of Tekrur ( part of present-day Senegal ) in 1030, and by 1035, introduced Sharia law and forced his subjects to submit to Islam.

Wylie presents numerous historical references for the persecution of the Kelede by the Roman church and the opposition of Queen Margaret and King David I, staunch supporters of the continental church who would have no reason to fear a sect professing continental practices.

* 9th-century Tibet: Decline of Buddhism ; persecution by King Langdarma.

The persecution had another effect on Dutch public opinion – the conduct of the Catholic King of France made them look more anxiously at James II, now the Catholic King of England.

People fleeing persecution by King Charles I were responsible for settling most of New England, and the Province of Maryland was founded in part to be a haven for Roman Catholics.

Sir Thomas More ( 1478 – 1535 ), Catholic Lord Chancellor of King Henry VIII and author, described a world of almost complete religious toleration in Utopia ( 1516 ), in which the Utopians " can hold various religious beliefs without persecution from the authorities.

The Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685 by King Louis XIV with the Edict of Fontainebleau, leading to renewed persecution of Protestants in France.

Buddhist persecution of Muslims arose from religious reasons, and occurred during the reign of King Bayinnaung, 1550 – 1589 AD.

Russian secret police commanded by Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev started persecution of Polish secret organizations and in 1821 the King ordered the abolition of Freemasonry which represented patriotic traditions of Poland.

Cooke was a Separatist who fled religious persecution under English King James I, and in 1620 traveled to the New World on the Mayflower.

During her generalate the institute passed through the most critical period of its existence, owing to the persecution of religious institutes by William of Orange-Nassau, King of the Netherlands.

Her services during the persecution under King William were invaluable.

The plot was frustrated by the Queen Consort but Heungseon Daewongun was kept safe from persecution because he was still the father of the King.

He rebuked the King of Naples for his ill-doing and in consequence suffered persecution.

Groza flatly rejected the request, and relations between the two figures remained tense over the next few years, with Groza and the King differing on the persecution of war criminals and in the awarding of honorary citizenship of Romania to Stalin, in August 1947.

Charles II's reign was also marked by the persecution of Roman Catholics after Titus Oates falsely suggested that there was a " Popish Plot " to murder the King.

Early Christendom would close at the end of imperial persecution of Christians after the ascension of Constantine the Great and the Edict of Milan in AD 313 and the First Council of Nicaea in 325.

The Diocletianic Persecution ( 303 – 11 ), the Empire's last, largest, and bloodiest official persecution of Christianity, did not destroy the Empire's Christian community ; indeed, after 324 Christianity became the empire's preferred religion under its first Christian emperor, Constantine.

The Roman persecution of Christians ended in AD 313 under the reign of Constantine the Great, who in 325 prompted the First Council of Nicaea, the beginning of the period of the First seven Ecumenical Councils.

During the 4th century, after more than 300 years of repression and sometimes fierce persecution under various Roman emperors, the church became established as a political as well as a spiritual power under the Emperor Constantine.

* 306 – 337: Constantine I, ends persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire ( see also Constantinian shift ) and Constantinople becomes new seat of government ( New Rome )

In the beginning of the 5th century Petilianus, the Donatist bishop of Constantine, says that Marcellinus and his priests had given up the holy books to the pagans during the persecution and offered incense to false gods.

Constantine, hoping to diffuse the unrest, gifted monies to the " catholic " bishop Caecilian as payment for church buildings that had been damaged or confiscated during the prior period of persecution.

Though the persecution of Christians officially ended in 313, when Constantine I and his co-emperor, Licinius, issued the Edict of Milan which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire and freedom of worship, Theodotus martyrdom and persecution only ended in 324 and it is this event that the Church annually commemorates on March 2.

Before the Peace of Constantine ( 313 AD ), in which Rome ceased its persecution of Christians, Noah is normally shown in an attitude of prayer, a dove with an olive branch nearly always flying toward him or alighting on his outstretched hand.

Constantius II, who succeeded Constantine, was an Arian sympathizer Following the abortive effort by Julian the Apostate to restore paganism in the empire, the emperor Valens — himself an Arian — renewed the persecution of Nicene hierarchs.

Having received the emperor Galerius ' instruction to repeal the persecution in 311, Maximinus had instructed his subordinates to desist, but had not released Christians from prisons or virtual death-sentences in the mines, as Constantine and Licinius had both done in the West.

Following Constantine the Great's victory on Milvian Bridge, which he attributed to a Christian omen he saw in the sky, the Edict of Milan declared that the empire would no longer sanction persecution of Christians.

* 311 – The Edict of Toleration by Galerius was issued in 311 by the Roman Tetrarchy of Galerius, Constantine and Licinius, officially ending the Diocletian persecution of Christianity.

* Constantine issues Edict of Milan, ending persecution of Christians and establishing religious toleration throughout the Empire.

In 313, when Constantine I proclaimed Christianity to be a tolerated religion in the Roman Empire, the Sassanid rulers of Persia adopted a policy of persecution against Christians, including the double-tax of Shapur II in the 340s.

With the Edict of Milan in 313, Constantine I ended the persecution of Christians.

With persecution by the orthodox Christians from the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the 4th century, Jewish Christians sought refuge outside the boundaries of the Empire, in Arabia and further afield.

When Emperor Constantine of Rome issued the Edict of Milan in 313, thus ending all Roman-sponsored persecution of Christianity, the area became a haven for Christians.

There is no firm evidence for Sergius and Bacchus ' schola gentilium having been used by Galerius or any other emperor before Constantine I, and given that persecution of Christians had begun in the army considerably before the overall persecutions of the early 4th century, it is very unlikely that even secret Christians could have risen through the ranks of the imperial bodyguard.

Because of references to persecution and martyrdom, it is unlikely that the text was written after 313, when Constantine I ended Christian persecution.

Persecutory laws were nullified by different emperors at different times, but Constantine and Licinius's Edict of Milan ( 313 ) has traditionally marked the end of the persecution.

His son, Constantine, on taking the imperial office in 306, restored Christians to full legal equality and returned property that had been confiscated during the persecution.