Question 6

Was James I more successful in dealing with the problems of Puritanism after 1618 than in the years 1603-1611?

• Firstly, define Puritanism: extreme Protestants who desired the further reformation of the Church; the ‘godly’ or ‘elect’ who through predestination saw themselves as better than others; ‘The hotter sort of Protestants’ (Collinson)
• The essential problem of Puritanism for James was their wish to reform the Church
• No matter how James responded they would always be a potential problem as their desire for reform and depth of belief could undermine his religious authority
• As James was only Supreme Governor, as monarch, Puritanism was a political problem too
• However, the majority of English Puritans were essentially moderate
• James’s recognition of this plus his pragmatism shaped his response
• It might be argued that the problem of Puritanism was not that great in real terms – even if a potential problem remained
• The Millenary Petition was important in shaping his response because its moderate nature showed James the difference between most English Puritans and the Scottish Presbyterians

James’s Response

• He was a Calvinist and had some sympathy with some of the Puritan agenda
• James responded to Puritanism as part of his way of dealing with religion ie moderation with moderates and the persecution of radicals who posed a more serious problem
• He wanted a broad church in which moderate Puritans (the vast majority) felt they could conform and would not then pose an overt problem
• James wanted to deal with the moderate Millenary Petition but also outline his general religious position
• He did this through the Hampton Court Conference
• This would be reinforced by Bancroft’s Canons
• Both could then be seen as part of the same process – of establishing a broad church but with the machinery to remove those who could pose a threat
• Make use of the key events of the period to illustrate your argument: The Millenary Petition; The Hampton Court Conference; Bancroft’s Canons; the appointment of Abbott as Archbishop

The Millenary Petition

• You can make a distinction between the potential threat of the Petition and how it was shaped to appeal to James’s authority
• The authors (mainly Henry Jacob) wanted to make clear to James that they weren’t Presbyterians
• They did it by appealing to his authority asking him to lead reformation of the Church
• They said they did ‘not aim at the dissolution of the state ecclesiastical’
• It gave James the context to proceed in maintaining a broad Church  as a means to deal with Puritans

The Hampton Court Conference

• This was James’s response to the Petition
• It also served to outline his religious position
• So it was important in his response to Puritanism
• He invited moderate Puritans to shape what he wanted
• This was clear in the ‘no bishop, no king’ episode when he made it clear that he would not allow Presbyterianism
• The Conference’s most lasting legacy was the King James Bible of 1611
• Most Puritans were happy with an English Authorised Version
• Like the Conference it was another example of James securing his authority
• By removing the need to use the Geneva Bible and its potentially republican marginalia , he was shaping the language of political discourse open to the Puritans
• James saw the Conference as a settlement
• He was determined to impose his authority
• Bancroft’s Canons were designed to do this and so were part of the same process as James’s response to ensure that moderates could recognise his authority and radicals deal with it

Bancroft’s Canons

• James wanted to separate the radicals from the moderate Puritans
• Bancroft was chosen because he was proto-Arminian
• The key measure was Canon 36 which enforced the 39 Articles
• It removed 1% of Church ministers – thus showing that most were moderates
• It also showed that James’s Church was left so broad that most felt able to conform
• Many of this ‘Silenced Brethren’ went to the Netherlands or America which helped James even more
• It would be fair to say that the Canons were the most important part of James’s response to the problems of Puritanism
• Maintaining a broad Church (and the removal of radicals) was the cornerstone of James’s approach to this question – the ‘Jacobethan balance’

Abbott

• His appointment in 1610 was symptomatic of James’s maintenance of a ‘Jacobethan balance’
• A broad church allowed as many to conform as possible and not drive too many into opposition
• Abbott was an orthodox Calvinist who had a genuine sympathy with Puritans
• That he could be an archbishop was part of James’s response in a Church in which all moderate Protestants could belong
• By 1611 with the Puritans generally moderate, James dealt with them successfully
• Material from pre-1611 can indicate James’s success
• Further to this make reference to the limited agitation by the Puritans between 1611 and 1618

Post 1618

• Foreign policy reignited Puritanism and it changed it as a problem
• The anti-Catholic temper of the nation meant that Puritanism  became more of a broad protest movement against the Spanish match – and hence more of a potential problem for James
• There was pressure on him in Parliament – refer to the Common’s Petition and Protestation and the 1624 Patriot Coalition
• James’s response  with the 1622 Direction to Preachers indicates his concerns
• Refer also to the broad nature of the Puritan agenda by the fact that Abbott saw the Thirty Years’ War as the ‘Battle of Armageddon’
• Another central issue post 1618 was the Book of Sports and the subsequent Sabbath Act
• Both illustrate tension with Puritan Sabbatarianism and James’s pragmatism

Judgement

• It can be argued that either period was more problematic but link it to the nature of Puritanism pre-1611 and its broader nature post 1618
• The Puritans were more of a political problem post 1618 – their potential threat could never be removed