Puritanism

Who were Puritans?

These were strict Protestants who wanted to purify the Church by getting rid of the Catholics

How common was Puritanism?

When Mary I was Queen, she was Catholic and so strictly opposed Protestantism - this resulted in the burning of over 300 Puritans at the stake and leading many Puritans to flee England to safer countries (although most of Europe was Catholic at that point). However, since Elizabeth was Protestant, many Puritans returned to England

Why were Puritans a threat to Elizabeth’s power?

Since Elizabeth adopted a Middle Way, they opposed the merging of Catholicism to their faith and therefore caused Elizabeth several problems as some wanted to overthrow her

How threatening were the Puritans?

They were more passively resistant to Elizabeth’s efforts to unite the religious division as they brought up topics in Parliament but rarely plotted to kill Elizabeth and destabilise the country

Why were the Puritans less threatening?

They did not believe that plots would be successful, there were fewer Puritans than Catholics so fewer people to oppose Elizabeth. If they overthrew Elizabeth, they would find it difficult to replace her with a Puritan leader as the next in line for the throne was Mary Queen of Scots who was Catholic. Finally, the Middle Way was successful in that it pacified most people including many Puritans

Which key figures were Puritans?

Robert Dudley (Earl of Leicester) and Sir Francis Walsingham

What did Walter Strickland do?

In 1571, he was leader of the Puritan group in Parliament and wanted to reform Elizabeth’s new prayer book and ban clergy vestments. However, Elizabeth did not like this, so she closed Parliament, which prevented him from discussing these ideas

What were prophesyings?

Prayer meetings organised by Puritan clergy particularly present in the 1570s - however these didn’t follow the approach to prayer that Elizabeth specified in the Middle Way as they were more free and preached Puritan beliefs and viewpoints, causing Elizabeth some concerns over the spreading of these ideas causing more people to resist the Middle Way. She ordered the Archbishop of Canterbury (Edmund Grindal) to ban the meetings. When he protested against this, she suspended him and suggested that he should resign and also removed 200 Puritan priests from their roles. When Grindal apologised, she reinstated him. This happened between 1575 and 1583

Why did Grindal refuse to ban prophesyings?

He believed that they had a useful purpose as they promoted the church (as despite being firmly Protestant, he had some Puritan sympathies), so he increased the Puritan threat as they were permitted to continue to spread their ideas

What did John Stubbs do?

John Stubbs was a Puritan who published a pamphlet in 1583 criticising Elizabeth’s marriage negotiations with the brother of the Catholic French King. Stubbs was found guilty of stirring up trouble so he was sentenced to have his right hand cut off

What was Seperatism?

An extreme form of Puritanism which wanted to break away from the Church of England and create a new church which eliminated all Popish (relating to the Pope) and superstitious activities, many of which were encouraged by Catholicism - therefore, this removed all Catholic elements from the new planned church

Was the Separatist movement successful?

No and it did not generate much force (therefore didn’t act as much of a threat) since the original leader Robert Browne went into exile and had to submit to Whitgift (who hated the Puritans and passed many anti-Puritan laws during his time as Archbishop of Canterbury) upon his return. Since the numbers of Puritans who supported the Separatist movement were small, it was not a huge threat to Elizabeth

What was the ‘Puritan Choir’?

A group in the House of Commons who encouraged Puritan ideas to be passed in Parliament. Some historians suggest that their influence and involvement in politics resulted in a more Protestant Religious Settlement than Elizabeth had previously intended, showing the strength of the Puritans within politics

However, some historians debate over how much of an impact the Puritan Choir in Parliament had, since Elizabeth was personally Protestant (so wanted the nation to support this side of Christianity), and there is evidence to suggest that similar groups existed within much of Tudor parliament so this was not a new force which Elizabeth had to deal with

What did Peter Wentworth do?

He was an outspoken and Puritan-leaning MP who disagreed with Elizabeth’s approach that some topics should be banned within Parliament - in 1576, he opposed the lack of freedom of speech that many MPs faced, hoping to persuade the Queen to decree further religious reform as well as other banned topics such as marriage - Elizabeth’s response was to send him to the Tower of London to be imprisoned

What was the controversy around vestments?

Vestments are the clothing worn by priests in church. Protestants and particularly Puritans wanted these to be simple or not worn at all, while Catholic tradition dictated that bishops and clergy should wear expensive, decorated and elaborate vestments in services. Elizabeth’s settlement agreed that all priests should wear some vestments, which several Puritan clergy disagreed with as they thought that their new clothes looked too similar to what Catholics usually wore. Elizabeth ordered Matthew Parker (the Archbishop of Canterbury) to ensure that vestments were being worn properly, which resulted in 37 members of the clergy to be dismissed from their posts due to insubordination and refusals to conform

How successful were the Puritans?

Elizabeth was not convinced by any of these actions and the movement gradually lost momentum as the Puritan leaders died - by 1590, most people accepted the Church of England as the national church