Puritan
Puritan a member of a group of English Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who regarded the Reformation of the Church under Elizabeth as incomplete and sought to simplify and regulate forms of worship.
Oppressed under James I and Charles I, in particular by Archbishop Laud, many (such as the Pilgrim Fathers) emigrated to the Netherlands and America. The Civil War of the 1640s led to the temporary pre-eminence of Puritanism. Soon, however, the movement fragmented into sects, and the term Puritan began to be less used; after the Restoration such people tended to be called Dissenters or Nonconformists.
Oppressed under James I and Charles I, in particular by Archbishop Laud, many (such as the Pilgrim Fathers) emigrated to the Netherlands and America. The Civil War of the 1640s led to the temporary pre-eminence of Puritanism. Soon, however, the movement fragmented into sects, and the term Puritan began to be less used; after the Restoration such people tended to be called Dissenters or Nonconformists.
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