Bible & Christianity › Reformation › Henry VIII and the Church of England
Puritans and the Pilgrims
Mayflower 1620; Massachusetts 1630· Church or tradition· Bible story & events
Historical recordConfirmed by archaeology, outside sources or contemporary records.
English Protestants who wanted to 'purify' the Church of England of Catholic remnants; some, the Pilgrims, left to found New England.
See it on the Bible & Christianity map →What it is
Influenced by Calvin, Puritans objected to bishops, vestments and set prayers, and stressed preaching, Bible reading and a strict Sabbath. Separatists, who gave up on the national church, sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, signed the Mayflower Compact on board and founded Plymouth. A larger, non-separating wave of about 20,000 built Massachusetts Bay from 1630 under John Winthrop, who called it 'a city upon a hill' (Matthew 5:14). In England, Puritans fought for Parliament in the Civil War (1642–1651).
Why it matters
Their town meetings, schools (Harvard, 1636) and covenant ideas shaped American self-government and the idea of America as a nation with a mission.
Sources and history
William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, Winthrop's journal, sermons, church covenants and court records survive in large numbers; New England was among the most literate societies of its day.
Questions and debates
Whether and where Winthrop delivered his 'city upon a hill' sermon is uncertain (it was little known until the 1800s), and historians debate how 'puritanical' Puritans really were.
Connections (2)
▸Henry VIII and the Church of England was pushed further by Puritans and the PilgrimsHistorical record
The connection
Elizabeth I's 1559 settlement kept bishops, vestments and the Prayer Book, a compromise that many Calvin-minded Protestants called only half-reformed. These 'Puritans' pushed for more preaching and less ritual inside the church. When rulers resisted, especially Charles I and Archbishop Laud in the 1630s, some separated or emigrated, and others fought the king in the Civil War.
When and where
England, from the 1560s 'vestments controversy' to the 1640s; 'Puritan' began as an insult in the 1560s.
Historical evidence
Puritan pamphlets such as the Admonition to Parliament (1572), Laud's church records and emigrants' letters show the push and the resistance.
Questions and debates
Historians debate whether 'Puritan' names a distinct movement or simply the more zealous wing of the mainstream English church.
▸Puritans and the Pilgrims laid the ground for The Great Awakenings (revivals)Mostly agreed by scholars
The connection
New England's Puritans made a personal, felt conversion the sign of true faith, and their churches, colleges and sermons carried that ideal into the 1700s. Jonathan Edwards, grandson of the Puritan minister Solomon Stoddard, revived it in Stoddard's old Northampton church in 1734, sparking the First Great Awakening.
When and where
Northampton, Massachusetts, 1734–1735, in the pulpit Stoddard had held for about 60 years; Edwards was a Yale-trained heir of Puritan theology.
How do we know?
Edwards's writings cite Puritan authors heavily, and New England church records show earlier 'harvests' of conversions under Stoddard.
Questions and debates
Whether the Awakening revived Puritanism or broke with it, by prizing emotion and splitting churches into 'New Lights' and 'Old Lights', is debated.