With Americans celebrating Thanksgiving at the end of the month, November seems a good time to consider the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower from Europe in 1620. Whilst researching my Alexander Baxby mystery Paying in Blood, I learnt more about their roots in early 1600s Lincolnshire. The Pilgrims were Independent Protestants, not Puritans as is often stated, with a different understanding of the relationship between religion and politics.
From Queen Elizabeth’s reign, England’s
government and courts enforced the national religion through a series of strict
conformity laws. They prosecuted, imprisoned and executed Catholics who
retained the older faith, and Puritans who wanted to ‘purify’ the Church with more
Reformed Protestant (Calvinist) practices. The latter hoped for leniency when
James succeeded Elizabeth, but the new king reinforced the conformity laws
instead, ominously threatening to “harry them from the land or do worse”.
Subsequently, some left the established Church to become Independent Separatists.
Gainsborough and Scrooby
Pastor John Robinson, William
Brewster, William Bradford and others met secretly at Gainsborough Old Hall and
Scrooby Manor, in Lincolnshire and neighbouring Nottinghamshire. Abandoning the
Church’s prayer book and hierarchical structure, they encouraged congregational
debate and participation in worship. Both male and female members spoke at
business meetings and voted on important decisions, including choosing their
own leaders.
Their novel way of understanding
religious responsibility and authority is evident in the words they used to
express their common bond, which William Bradford later quoted in his book Of
Plymouth Plantation
We as the Lord's free people
join ourselves by a covenant of the Lord
into a church estate
The Pilgrims believed God gave them
freedom and responsibility to choose their religious affiliation, this being a
matter of individual conscience rather than the role of the state. They knew
the risk they took, such covenants being illegal at the time.
1607 was a particularly hard year, with
plague, famine, floods, and a comet which was widely seen as predicting doom. Things
came to a head when Archbishop Richard Bancroft’s High Commission Court issued
a warrant for Robinson and Brewster’s arrests. Despite it being illegal to
leave the country without a licence, the Pilgrims trekked across country to
Boston, hoping to escape by ship, only to be imprisoned in the town’s
guildhall. With the help of sympathising locals, eventually they sailed to join
Puritans and Independents who had already settled in the Dutch Republic.
Amsterdam and Leiden
The seven northernmost low country provinces
had had looser ties between religion and politics since declaring independence
from Spain in 1581. Booming Amsterdam allowed Anabaptists, Huguenots,
Lutherans, Sephardic Jews, Muslims and even some Catholics to follow their own customs
providing they were discreet, particularly during the Twelve Years’ Truce. The
Pilgrims lived amongst these groups in Amsterdam, before moving to Leiden where
they were active members of society, finding employment and contributing to
national debates.
Undoubtedly, such
experiences helped to broaden their understanding of political authority and
responsibility. They thought states should provide stability and security for
differing religious groups, and prevent conflict between them, rather than mandating
a particular one. Pastor Robinson does not seem to have gone as far as fellow
Independent Thomas Helwys who made the first English plea for religious
tolerance, for people of all faiths and none
For men’s
religion is between God and themselves. The king shall not answer for it.
Neither may the king be judge between God and man. Let them be heretics, Turks,
Jews, or whatsoevers, it appertains not to the earthly power to punish them in
the least measure
However, Robinson and the other
Pilgrims definitely believed in rtolerance for all Protestant groups. It is
likely that Thomas’ death in Newgate Gaol, influenced their decision to seek a
new home as the Twelve Years’ Truce drew to an end, rather than return to
England.
Legacy
The Pilgrims’ understanding of separation
between religious and political domains has persisted alongside more Puritan
ones, in wide range of debates, including arguments about school curriculums, headwear
choice, Muslim mayors and political endorsement of a Bible.
With hindsight, the Mayflower
Pilgrims appear to have made a wise choice. Along with gratitude for their
harvest, they must have been relieved to leave Europe before religious and
political differences fuelled the horrors of the Thirty Years’ War.
Karen Haden
Karen Haden’s historical crime novel Paying in Blood, set in early 1600s Lincolnshire, is available from Sharpe Books for 99p on Kindle Monthly Deal during November 2025 at UK Book , and also US Book