Although the name has since taken on connotations of repressive morality, the first Puritans were reformers and dissenters against the established Church. The following areas were important issues for most Puritans:
- separation from the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions
- simplified forms of worship; a dislike of church ritual, robes, music, idolatry &c
- an emphasis on personal interpretation of the Bible
- attendance of public sermons by gifted lay preachers rather than state-regulated services in local parish churches
- strict observance of the Sabbath and a disregard of festivals and Saints' days
The term came into general use in England during the reign of the Catholic Queen Mary I (1553-8), usually as a term of derision. Its use as a label to identify a particular viewpoint within the Church of England dates from the early reign of Elizabeth I. The first Puritans wanted to purge or "purify" the Anglican Church of any traces of Catholic influence that remained after the Elizabethan Church settlement.
During the reign of King James I, many Puritans were driven abroad, some to Holland and Germany, some to America, notably the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620.
Puritans suspected King Chales I of having Catholic sympathies from the beginning of his reign. His marriage to the Catholic princess Henrietta Maria and his support for attempts impose strict doctrines upon the Anglican church were regarded with deep mistrust.
Most of the members of the Long Parliament who remained at Westminster after the outbreak of civil war in 1642 were Puritan in outlook. After the defeat of the Royalists in the First Civil War, the settlement of religion began to dominate proceedings in Parliament.
The Puritan ideal of a commonwealth ruled by a godly government of "Saints" reached its peak with the short-lived Nominated Assembly of 1653. The Assembly was replaced by the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, who tried to establish a broadly-based national Church with toleration of law-abiding Protestant sects. Cromwell's attempt to reform the morals of the nation under the Rule of Major-generals (1655-7) proved deeply unpopular.
The Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 also restored Anglicanism and the rule of the bishops. Puritan clergy were expelled from the Church of England under the terms of the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Thereafter, English Puritans were classified as Nonconformists
After you read, answer!
Why were they called puritans?
When did this happen?
When did it change?
Did they leave England? When? Why? Where to?
What did they prohibit during the commonwealth rule?
what are they called now?
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