![]() Nothing but chaos could ensue if subjects were free to believe whatever they wished.By the second half of the century, the impact of religious radicalism had smashed gaping holes in several of Europe’s Christian commonwealths. Religion fell within the remit of kings, for the prevailing principle was “cuius regio, eius religio”, interpreted as “the ruler’s religion is the religion of the people”. The Reformation pioneer, Martin Luther, was the first to rush into print against the leaders of the Peasants’ War (1524–5) – men who claimed religious sanction for rising against their overlords. Nothing was more feared (not only by those at the upper levels) than rebellion. It was self-evident to most people that God ordained the structure of a ‘Christian commonwealth’ with the pope at the top, then the king, nobles, gentry and so on down the scale of political authority. They refused to attend their parish churches and, when the government imposed fines upon them, some decided to leave the country. All Puritans were critical of the established church, but members of this radical fringe were ‘separatists’. ![]() They believed that the official church was too similar to the Roman Catholic church and they wanted forms of worship and church organisation that would, in their opinion, be closer to what the Bible taught. They were extreme Puritans, that is to say they disapproved of several of the rituals and practices of the Church of England that had been established by parliament at the beginning of Elizabeth I’s reign. The pilgrims who risked their lives to settle in a strange land were more – and less – than folklore heroes. By 1605 this group had come to believe that their Christian faith was incompatible with the Church of England. The group of English colonists who settled in North America and later became known as the Pilgrim Fathers originated as a group of Puritans from Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. ![]() Who were the Pilgrim Fathers and what did they believe?
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