History of the Constitution of the United Kingdom and applied it to their form of government. When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603 without issue, she was succeeded by her cousin James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and he became King James I of England. This was a major step towards creating a single British state, although the Kingdom of Great Britain did not come about until a hundred years later. James VI faced a fractious religious England since it contained Anglicans (of the Church of England), Puritans, Separatists (who wanted to break from the Church of England), and also many Roman Catholics,
History of the Puritans under King James I wrote a book on the subject. To that end, he continued to suppress many of the important aspects of the Puritan movement, including the many Puritan's Congregationalist and Presbyterian views of Church government. The King knew though that he needed the Puritans to strengthen the Protestant establishment in England, as well as every aspect of the nation's prosperity and success. To that end, King James supported and even advanced many of the Puritan pastors, academics, and gentry, just as Queen Elizabeth did, if and when they were willing to work with the Anglican establishment under the authority of the bishops.