“They decided that God must be leading them to North America”

Launched in 1620, the Mayflower voyage – which carried the first English Puritans to North America – had a long gestation period in England. Stephen Tomkins’ new book explores the Protestant separatist movement that eventually culminated in the journey.

Puritanism emerged under the Protestant regime of Elizabeth I, fuelled by dissatisfaction at perceived church corruption. The dissenters splintered into several groups – including Baptists and Brownists – all of which were illegal. Faced with fierce state persecution, they looked to move abroad, eventually turning to North America.

Ellie Cawthorne: How did Puritanism begin in England?

Stephen Tomkins: England had a state church at the time, which every person in the country would be expected to attend. Anyone who went against this would be breaking the law.

During Elizabeth I’s reign, the government knew they would have to deal with Catholics, but then a rather unexpected problem sprung up: Protestant dissenters. In 1559, Elizabeth introduced far-reaching church reforms, but many Protestants thought she hadn’t gone far enough. These people had lived through Mary’s attempts to burn Protestantism out of England – many of them had suffered and their peers had even died for the sake