Puritans
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The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to rid the Church of England of what they considered to be Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. Puritanism played a significant role in English and early American history, especially during the Protectorate.
The Westminster Assembly, which saw disputes on Church polity in England (Victorian history painting by John Rogers Herbert).
Interior of the Old Ship Church, a Puritan meetinghouse in Hingham, Massachusetts. Puritans were Calvinists, so their churches were unadorned and plain.
Death's head, Granary Burying Ground. A typical example of early Funerary art in Puritan New England
English Reformation
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The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England was forced by its monarchs and elites to break away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Reformation, a religious and political movement that affected the practice of Christianity in Western and Central Europe.
The Tyndale Bible was the basis for later English translations.
Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII's first wife. Attributed to Joannes Corvus, National Portrait Gallery, London.
Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII's second wife, by an unknown artist. National Portrait Gallery, London.