The Puritans were English Protestant Christians, primarily active in the 16th-18th centuries CE, who claimed the Anglican Church had not distanced itself sufficiently from Catholicism and sought to 'purify' it of Catholic practices. The term was originally an insult used by Anglicans to refer to people whom they claimed were too easily offended by the liturgy of the Anglican Church and were nitpicking at details and causing trouble while justifying their efforts through proof-texting of the Bible. Puritans did not use the term to refer to themselves, primarily using 'Saints' as a self-referent.
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Definition
Timeline
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1509 - 1547Reign of Henry VIII of England.
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28 Nov 1534The Act of Supremacy declares Henry VIII of England the head of the Church in England and not the Pope.
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1547 - 1553Reign of Edward VI of England.
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1549A new Book of Common Prayer is issued in England.
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1549The Act of Uniformity makes the new Book of Common Prayer compulsory in England.
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1552A new, even more radical Book of Common Prayer is issued in England, removing many of the Catholic elements of religious worship.
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1553 - 1558Reign of Mary I of England.
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Oct 1553The First Act of Repeal reverses all the religious-aimed legislation of Edward VI of England.
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Jan 1555The Second Act of Repeal abolishes all post-1529 CE legislation concerning religious matters in England.
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Feb 1555Mary I of England begins her persecution of Protestant 'heretics', eventually burning 287 of them at the stake.
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1559 - 1563The Elizabethan Religious Settlement, a set of acts and decisions which continue the English Reformation.
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Apr 1559Elizabeth I of England reinstates the Act of Supremacy.
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1563The 39 Articles define English Protestantism.
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1588 - 1589The Marprelate Controversy; Anonymous Puritan writer publishes tracts attacking Anglican Church.
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1603 - 1625Reign of James I of England; Puritans are persecuted; King James Bible created to counter Geneva Bible of the Puritans.
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1620 - 1640The Great Migration (Puritan Migration) from England to North America.
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1630 - c. 1740Puritans exert almost complete control over governmental policies in New England and influence other colonies on the eastern coast of North America.
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1630John Winthrop migrates to North America with 700 Puritan colonists to become governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
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1636 - 1638Anne Hutchinson is the primary voice of the Antinomian Controversy, defending her belief in the supremacy of God's Grace in salvation against Puritan authorities.
