The Pilgrims May Not Be Who You Think They Were: An Interview with Jay Milbrandt

Bible Gateway Blog ^ | November 2, 2017 | Jonathan Petersen

[SunkenCiv]

Mayflower Passenger List

[2ndDivisionVet]

[Billthedrill]

To flesh this out a little, we have to recall exactly what transpired in Europe to seal their determination to flee to a savage, unsettled land from what was one of the most tolerant societies in the world at the time. It was the onset of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), an epochal conflict that ravaged central Europe and culminated in the liberation of the Netherlands from the Spanish after nearly a century of fighting. Our own War of Independence lasted for eight years; for the Dutch it was eighty.

In the meantime, warfare and Europe herself underwent a transformation - from a battle of religions it became a battle of dynasties, of nations in a sense. Catholic fought Protestant in what was to become Germany for the seat of Holy Roman Emperor in the beginning; in the end the Protestant Swedes and the Catholic French fought all of the others for their own ends. Certain areas in Germany experienced a depopulation of 50% or more. Villages, towns, all dead, burnt, gone.

If we are to understand the Pilgrims within the context of their own times, that's what we have to digest. It was on the crest of that wave that they entered the New World. Starvation, torture, mass and individual murder - that was truly the currency of the time. I don't know if that excuses the funny hats, though.

[YogicCowboy]

My favorite lie is the way modern urban leftists portray bith Pilgrims and Puritans as prudes.

Sure: With large families, animal husbandry, and faith in God as its Creator, they were embarassed about sex. Sure, I believe that. /sarcoff

[bert]

For us visually challenged

[Alas Babylon!]

Good article!

I really like that he explains the differences between the Separatists and Puritans.

My ancestors were Puritans, arriving at Boston in 1632. They went on to found Springfield, Mass, and then Milford, Connecticut. Then Vermont, Tennessee and finally Alabama. Others drifted and bred with various peoples all over the place...

That’s where I came in. An American Mongrel!

[Little Ray]

All of this was taught to us in US History in middle school or elementary school.
Back when US schools still taught US history.
How far we have fallen. ):

[colorado tanker]

Some more context. The Pilgrims fled before the English Revolution, which brought to power at least for a while more like minded people. When the Pilgrims went to America, James I was on the throne and he saw to it his bishops were firmly in control. He believed in the divine right of kings and would brook no dissent.

With no hope of tolerance in England and continental Europe exploding, why not take a chance on the New World?

[Billthedrill]

With no hope of tolerance in England and continental Europe exploding, why not take a chance on the New World?

Absolutely. Of course, that chance involved stuffing 135 people into a 110-foot wooden ship and sailing the Atlantic for two months plus to arrive in balmy Massatoochets in November. And surviving. That, my FRiends, is tough.

[Revolutionary]

Read the story of Squanto. That was truly the hand of God at work. Exactly what the Pilgrims needed.