Essay on King James 1 and the Church

In 1957, Lord Darnley was murdered and Queen Mary was forced to renounce her throne. He made her son King of Scotland. He became the official King of Scotland when he was one year old. James was a devout scholar who studied the English language. The kingdom was strong and centralized during his rule, and he eventually married Anne of Denmark. He was a devout Protestant, and fought against the Puritans who tried to get rid of Roman practices in the church. He was not liked much, because of favoritism, and his schemes to get an alliance with Spain. During his rule, William Ruthven, one of the leaders of the Church of Scotland, kidnapped James, and held him captive for almost a year. When James finally escaped, he did not take any more chances, and executed William. With Queen Elizabeth the First aging, James realized that he had the highest chance of becoming the King. The only problem was that his mother, Mary, was still in live. She was prosecuted, and then executed. Once Elizabeth died, we move onto the chapter of King James’ life.

Upon the death of beloved Queen Elizabeth in England, her cousin James I was announced the new king of England. As a Catholic from the rival nation Scotland, King James I was inherently distrusted by his Anglican subjects, and his guarded, haughty personality only further decreased his popularity (Matthew). King James was also known for his strong belief in the Divine Right of Kings, in which the king is second only to God (Matthew). However, his greatest disadvantage was that he was previously Catholic; the English were never truly confident in his conversion to the Anglican Church (Matthew). Skeptical,

Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.

The Puritans tried to purify the Church of England by protesting. They wanted to purify all Roman Catholic practices but were prevented from doing so. In the 1600’s the Puritans started arriving in America to form their own religious freedoms and practices of worship hoping to share the “light” of their religion to the rest of the

With religious reforms causing controversy in England came the Puritans, known for their simplicity in their way of life. They wore basic clothing and were against consumption of alcohol and sex (unless married). With the disagreements of the religious conflicts happening in England, the puritans “wanted to purify the Church of England from within.” The sole reason the idea sparked to settle a colony in America was in search of a Puritan lifestyle and the freedom to do so. On March 4, 1629 King Charles gave the Massachusetts Bay Company a charter while not knowing the true nature of what this colony was to become and for the reasons behind it. Still, the Puritans left for America in March 1630. In contrast to the type of people who immigrated to Virginia, the Massachusetts population was mostly nuclear families, meaning husband, wife, and kids. Also differing from the colonists in Virginia, the settlers in Massachusetts Bay worked together for the common good of the colony. Along with their lives and beliefs, their government and politics were religiously based as well and soon they decided upon a Congregationalism form of church government. Their churches were a matter of choice but in order to become a member they had a strict regulation “In order to join one (a church) a man or woman had to provide testimony–a confession of faith–before neighbors who already had been admitted as full members.” Because religion was the bases behind Massachusetts being colonization crimes and religious disagreements called for serious

The Protestant Reformation was a major 16th century European movement aimed initially at reforming the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church. The Reformation in western and central Europe officially began in 1517 with Martin Luther and his 95 Theses. This was a debate over the Christian religion. At the time there was a difference in power. Roman Catholicism stands with the Pope as central and appointed by God. Luther’s arguments referred to a direct relationship with God and using the local vernacular to speak to the people. Luther’s arguments remove the absolute power from the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church in general. The revenue from the taxes paid to the Church would be reduced with Luther’s ideas, in part because of

Clashes over religion were a never-ending battle with England. The church was being used for corruption and power, and citizens had the Catholicism religion forced upon them. They had no choice but to accept this religion because going against the church meant going against the king. So many people dealt with the situation and conformed to Catholicism. However, there was a vast majority that didn’t. These rebels would start something that would forever be a major part of history. It may seem as though these non-conformists did good, but they actually did not. Puritans did not set a good example for England to learn from, the Quakers did.

James VI formed a new Stuart dynasty that replaced the Tudor rule. His rule as the king of England and Scotland affected the lives of millions of people all over Europe. Because of this, English Catholics becoming even more marginalized due to the Protestant King.

1. "Describe the Puritans and their beliefs, and explain why they left England for the New World." What the Puritans desired was the purification of the English church. Puritans wished to simplify worship and control the regularity of its occurrence. The protestant reformation which seemed everlasting caused conflict with the Puritans. Some Individuals believed only “visible saints” would be allowed a house in the Church. King James threatened the persecution of the separatists so the fled in search of religious freedom inside of the new found colonies.

These two very different reasons to come to the New World caused them to develop different perspectives towards their society which caused them to differ. This is evident in document C where the list names all the people from Virginia who are confirming their allegiance to the Church of England. Yet in In Document A of this DBQ, it’s also evident who is speaking is a puritan himself; John Winthrop, and the Puritans came over here exclusively to seek religious freedom to separate from the church of England.

For many years, James’ puritan success continued and all were content, until however, the year 1618 when things seemed to be heading for a dip in the practice of worship and policy. During this year, James had reason to believe a new policy needed introduced, therefore issuing a rather dramatic change ‘The Book of Sports’. This idea came to him whilst travelling down the country on return from Scotland. He received the impression that people felt the country had slipped too far puritan and were being deprived of any concept of fun. On his arrival back in London, his first priority was to loosen the strict puritan practices which had been implicated, alternatively imposing the ‘Book of Sports’. This was a bad move on James’ part as it caused puritans to grow in frustration and anger, leading them to believe James was leaning towards Catholicism. His Jacobean compromise was now on the road to breakdown.

Summarize the many religious complaints that were raised against King James I. In defending the episcopacy, what did James mean when he retorted “No bishops, no king (pg. 452).”- James viewed the proposal to replace bishops with presbyteries as an attempt to diminish his power in the church so he quoted that.

In 1559 Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was crowned Queen. Elizabeth sought to find a middle ground during her rein (1558-1603) in England, by allowing both Catholics and Protestants to worship without fear of any repercussions. However, Gilbert (1976) that ‘Elizabeth I and her successors had legislated to make Anglican worship compulsory’ (p. 4). By introducing the Act of Uniformity of 1559 it laid out the rules of worship that both religions were to follow and reissued the Book of Common Prayer for use in worship. The Thirty-Nine Articles of 1563 also set to define the doctrine of the Church of England which set out a middle path between the beliefs and practices of the Catholic Church and the Protestants (Wolffe, 2008). By the end of Elizabeth’s I forty five year reign, the majority of people in English society were Protestant. As the older, mainly Catholic members of society had died through old age (Christianity in Britain, 2011). Knight and Mason (2006) describe a dissenter during

By The Middle Ages, one understands a relatively long historical period extending from the end of the Roman Empire to the 1500's. The conquest of The Roman Empire by Germanic tribes, and synthesis of Germanic and Roman ways of life formed the civilization which we call medieval (medieval-from Latin words; medium (middle) and aevum (age)). Medieval civilization was greatly influenced by the Muslims in Spain and The Middle East, and by Byzantine Empire and Christians in Southeast Europe.

The puritans believed in the doctrine of a “calling” to do God’s work on Earth. One could only be a part of the church clergy if they had experienced a conversion and followed the doctrine of the “calling”. However, Puritans were not tolerant to others that did not share the same religion or beliefs as them.