History of the Puritans under King James I Scots since the abdication of his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1567 (when James was 1 year old). James had little contact with his mother and was raised by guardians in the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. John Knox had led the Scottish Reformation, beginning in 1560, and the Church of Scotland looked broadly like the type of church that the Puritans wanted in England. In his 1599 book "Basilikon Doron", the king had had harsh words for Puritans, but his criticisms seemed directed at the most extreme of the Puritans and it seemed likely that the king would agree
History of the Puritans under King James I reformed theologians that drew up the Canons of Dordt in defense of the Five Points of Calvinism, refuting the Arminian heresy. It was moreover during the reign of King James that the Pilgrim movement within the reformed churches separated from the Church of England and began their colonizing venture in America known as the Plymouth Colony (1620) under the leadership of William Bradford and William Brewster. These great achievements of the Puritan movement in England under King James shows how widespread the influence of Puritanism was at this time, and how they adapted to the King's authority in different ways.