Puritanism

Puritanism, a Protestant religious movement, appeared in England after the Reformation. In 1534, the English Parliament acknowledged King Henry VIII as the supreme head of the Church of England. This led to the separation, in effect, of the Church in England from the papal authority in Rome. The parliamentary act required an oath of loyalty from all English subjects. The Reformation, led by Lutherans, Calvinists, and other continental religious groups, adduced theological motives to first aim to reform the Roman Catholic Church and later to separate from it. The British Protestant movement, however, was spearheaded by Henry VIII’s desire to divorce his consort the Catholic Catharine of Aragon and legally wed Anne Boleyn. His separation from the Catholic Church took place in fertile ground, since ...