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Pilgrim or Puritan?
The religious separatists known as the Pilgrims were often confused with the religious sect known as Puritans. Though both groups existed during the same era and were superficially alike, in many ways they were quite different.
In 1534, when the Pope would not grant King Henry VIII of England a divorce, King Henry VIII broke ties with the Catholic church in Rome and established the Church of England. The Church of England is also known as the Anglican Church. King Henry VIII made himself the head of this church and the only official church that the people of England could belong to.
As part of the break, English language Bibles were made available (instead of Latin). This meant that any Englishman, or woman, who could read had access to a Bible.
For the rest of the 16th and 17th centuries, the later kings and queens of England continued to make changes to the Anglican Church. This caused disagreements and other splinter religious groups to form. The two groups who were most vocal about change in the church at that time were the Puritans and the Separatists.
The Puritans wanted to change the Church of England from the inside. They wanted to "purify" it by removing its remaining Catholic traditions. Hence the name "Puritan".
Others believed that so many reforms were needed in the Church of England that the only way to have a pure church was to completely separate from the church and start a new one. This is how they became known as "Separatists".
So you can see, while they may have dressed similarly, talked similarly, lived during the same era, this major difference in their relationship with the Church of England beings their radical differences.
During that time, there was zero religious tolerance in England. The Church of England was the only church people were supposed to belong to. Actually all of the countries of Europe had official church -- all countries except the Netherlands.
So as soon as officials in the Church of England found out about the new church that the Separatists had created, the persecutions began. They were watched night and day. They were fined large sums of money. Some were imprisoned for having beliefs other than those sanctioned by the King.
In 1607, King James I of England made things even worse for the Separatists. The Separatists dreamed of moving to Holland where there was supposed to be more religious freedom. There was a catch though. They needed the King's permission to leave and he wasn't giving it to them.
The Separatists were determined, and the walked sixty miles in secret, only to be betrayed, arrested, and imprisoned. The next year, after some harrowing adventures, they finally made it to Holland.
Life in Holland wasn't what the Separatists expected. They couldn't speak the language. Most of the Separatists had lived in small farming villages. Now they had to learn to live in a large and crowded city whose main industry was fishing. Also, the Separatists watched as their children grew up and become more Dutch than English, and began to marry outside the Separatist family groups and religion. They were afraid their way of life was coming to an end. So after 12 years in Holland, the Separatists left to help colonize American and eventually became known as the Pilgrims.
See further information in Who Were the Pilgrims... Really?
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