[schmelvin]

I was under the impression that even though they were given the name "Puritans" in the 1570's that they still existed prior to that and were persecuted under the reign of Mary Tudor from 1553-1558.

I don't know if they were persecuted under Queen Elizabeth I. I do know that they separated from the Anglican Church, because they didn't think it was reforming fast enough.

[RobbyS]

I don't know if they were persecuted under Queen Elizabeth I. They were. The message of Elizabeth to both Catholics and (true) Protestants was: MY WAY OR...ELSE: This included everything frtom mutilation to drawing-and quartering. The "Pilgrims" moved to Holland to get away from Elizabeth's government. The Puritans moved to Massachusetts to get away from the government of Charles I.

[Aristophanes]

Perhaps you might be interested to know that from the time of Henry VIII, and through the reign of Elizabeth and beyond, Catholics in England were imprisoned, tortured and executed merely for being Catholic.

My third son is named after two such English martyrs: John Fisher and Edmund Campion (we named him John Campion.) Fisher was the only English bishop to remain loyal to the Faith under Henry VIII. Campion was imprisoned, tortured, drawn and quartered under the regime of "Bloody Bess" (Elizabeth I) for the crime of being a Catholic priest. Since the time of Elizabeth, the English have been among the chief persecutors of the Faith.