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
Descendants of James VI and I daughter, Sophia of Hanover, became the nearest Protestant relative to the English, Scottish and Irish crowns (later British crown). Under the English Act of Settlement, the succession was settled on Sophia and her issue, so her son George Ludwig ascended the throne as George I. Charles I, the second son of James VI and I was King of England, Scotland and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. The monarchy was then abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England, also referred to as the Cromwellian Interregnum, was declared. Charles's son, Charles II, became king after