‘Explain Why Religion Was an Issue for James in the Years of 1603-1606.’

512 Words3 Pages
Before 1603 Scotland and England were separate countries and this was the first time a kind of England had been king of Scotland as well, this didn’t make them one country but James was determined on a union. When James became King, there was a crisis of raised hopes and expectations by those groups who wanted a change to the Elizabethan Settlement, the Protestants (Puritans) and the Catholics. Catholics had hoped for relief from the increasingly harsh anti-Catholic penal laws that had been progressively introduced during Elizabeth’s reign. These penal laws were where that everyone had to attend Anglican Church on Sundays, it was illegal for Catholics not to abide by this law and where charged with heavy fines if they failed to do so. Puritans wanted further reform of the Anglican Church, specifically a move towards a more Protestant Church. In 1603 James was presented with a Millenary Petition, this was a list of requests given to James by Puritans when he was travelling to London in order to claim the English throne, it is believed that it had a thousand signatures of Puritan ministers, The Petition was careful not to challenge the royal supremacy in the Church of England. The document expressed Puritan distaste regarding the state of Anglican Church, basically Puritan’s felt was that, despite Elizabeth's best efforts and the introduction of the new Book of Common Prayer, the Anglican Church still remained too popish. The Demands of the Millenary Petition where the signing of the cross during baptism, Confirmation, the administration of baptism by women, use of the ring in marriage, bowing at the name of Jesus, dress of the ministers and priests living in the church. They also disagreed with popish terms such as ‘Priest’ and ‘Absolution’, and rejected popish garments the clergy were obliged to wear at service. The Hampton Court Conference was a meeting in
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