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The Mayflower
The very term, Pilgrim Fathers, denotes a biblical
patriarchy. They called themselves, pilgrims, a religious term describing
people who go on a religious journey to get close to their God. Father denotes
male dominance.However, was it entirely like that?
They sailed to the the province of Virginia to create a “new world,” based
on their beliefs in 1620 during a period in English history that was full of turmoil
and changing views about society and the individual.
Elizabeth 1 died in 1603 unmarried and childless. James IV
of Scotland, a great great grandson of Henry Tudor was Elizabeth’s closest
living relative, and so he was asked to become King of England. He became James
I of England. The Reformation had already caused a great upheaval in religion in
England and had been the cause of many executions, both Catholic and Protestant.
Although James was a protestant his mother, Mary Queen of Scots had been a
devout catholic and James had catholic sympathies. The downtrodden Catholics in
England had hopes for more toleration for their cause. In fact all aspects of
the religious spectrum in England hoped for more toleration.
The Gunpowder Plot Conspirators
During the years 1605 and 1606 separatist or non conformist
religious groups were being formed in various parts of the country. In
Yorkshire, Richard Clifton, who was the rector at Babworth, was assisted by John
Robinson from Sturton le Steeple in setting up non conformist groups at a
village nearby called Scrooby. A similar congregation was begun by John Smyth
at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire. They were breaking the law because all English
people had to attend services on a Sunday at their local Church of England
parish church. It was an offence not to do so but these groups continued under duress.
These non conformist groups were not lead by people who formed their ideas
from pure imaginings. John Robinson had been the Dean of Corpus Christi
Cambridge so he was an intellectual of the highest order. Groups of people
throughout the country were reading and interpreting the Bible for themselves.
This was termed as self-prophesising and from this process new ideas and
philosophies emerged.
John Robinson
During Henry VIII’s reign the bible was translated into
English for the first time. This was called The Great Bible. In 1568 came The
Bishop’s Bible another English translation.
These bibles theoretically enabled every Englishman, or rather those who
could read, access to the Bible and therefore enable them to interpret it.
Henry had begun the Reformation in England in response to what he saw as the
interfering authority of the Pope. He believed that the monarch had direct
authority from God so he became the head of the Church in England. He began to
remove the excesses of the Catholic Church, first by closing the monasteries
and reorganising the church. However groups of people such as the Scrooby congregation
wanted to go much further. They wanted to completely purify the church as they
saw it. They became known as the Puritans. They wanted to cleanse the church of
all it’s finery and catholic style services. They wanted to simplify it with
the individual’s relationship to God paramount. Being able to interpret the
Bible for themselves was an integral part of this. The Puritans were not happy
with the first interpretations of the Bible. They were too catholic oriented.
Between 1604 and 1611 James had a new interpretation of the Bible written.
This was known as The King James Bible. This became the standard bible used by
the Church of England for centuries to come and this was not enough for them
either.
The King James Bible
Groups of non-conformists such as those at Scrooby in
Yorkshire were not pleased with the pace of change in the church. The system of
governing the church in England had not substantially changed since Catholicism.
The King was the head instead of the Pope and the same hierarchy of Bishops and
rectors was still in place. The individual was at the bottom of the pile and
still had to follow the laws imposed from above. These groups were finding it harder
and harder to exist and worship as they wanted. They were not tolerated.
Between 1607 and 1608 the groups lead by Richard Clifton, John Robinson and
John Smyth from Lincolnshire fled to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. They joined
groups lead by Francis Johnson and Henry Ainsworth. They wanted to pattern
their life on their own interpretations of the New Testament. John Smyth died in
1612 and many of his followers joined the Mennonites. These were groups that
had formed around the teachings of Menno Simons (1496-1561) Their beliefs were
based on the belief and mission of the life of Jesus Christ. They were
persecuted by both the Catholics and the Protestant churches in Europe so they
had to retreat to the areas and states where they were accepted. Others in John
Smyths group returned to England with Thomas
Helwys and John Marton and began what was termed The Baptist Church. John
Robinson took his group on to Leiden. Leiden was experiencing economic
expansion at the time. The cloth industry was growing rapidly there. The separatist
groups in Leiden expanded and sympathisers from East Anglia, Kent and London
joined them in Leiden. There was an English military garrison in Leiden and some
of the soldiers of that garrison joined the separatist groups. Among the
soldiers to join was Myles Standish. Theologically many of these groups were
Calvinist. John Calvin lived (1509 – 1564) The Calvinists differed from some of the other groups such
as the Lutherans by not believing in the presence of Christ at the consecration
and differed also in other religious beliefs and rules. Calvinists believed in
predestination. This was a belief that every individual was already chosen at birth to go to heaven or hell. Other
groups such as the Lutherans believed that the way we lead our lives could
determine whether we went to heaven or hell.
Calvin
Within this atmosphere of the formation of beliefs John Robinson formed his theology. He
believed in predestination, (the Calvinist view), free will, lay prophesising (
the individual’s ability to interpret the Bible) and the analytical methods of
Petrus Ramus and Giacomo Zaberella. This was a way of explaining the Bible and
practicing it’s tenets through a form of logic. Ramus created a method for explaining Aristotles
thinking. He described logic as including summaries . headings, citations and
examples. He believed in a sort of binary tree system to explain knowledge.
It was these ideas that Robinson used to give authority for
his explanations of the Bible to his congregation. This use of logic is why
people who followed him formed strong beliefs and followed Robinson first to the Low countries
from England and eventually had the strength of faith in his teachings to
follow him to New England. He believed in a practice of lay prophecy where all
men including women were allowed to discuss possible interpretations of the
bible. Robinson also shifted away from rigid separatism which existed between
the Calvinists, the Lutherans and other separatist groups. He began to believe
in a cautious toleration of religious dissent and a variety of practice.
The Netherlands was becoming the home to many strands of
separatist groups. However a coup by
Prince Maurice of Orange only recognised Dutch Reformed control making the various
groups think that they would be forced to worship within one church again. From
1619 independent ministers were no longer allowed to discuss religion in
their own private homes. The Netherlands were under threat therefore and not a safe haven
for these new religious groups. This organisation of Protestantism under a national church, the Dutch Reformed Church within the Netherlands was a powerful reason for Phillip II of Spain to
try to reinforce his authority by revitalising the eighty years war. The Netherlands
were part of a Catholic dominated Empire. The Protestant English Government in response
promised military assistance to Prince Maurice of Orange under the condition
that the English Government would have supervision of all English language
congregations in the Netherlands.
The Pilgrim fathers walked down French Street to The Mayflower and Speedwell moored at the end of the street.
The separatist groups felt under pressure in
many ways. These adverse conditions created the climate in which Robinson’s congregation
planned to move to Northern Virginia then beginning to be known as New England.
English investors supported the Leiden group and enabled them to obtain a
charter to found a colony in the mouth of the Hudson River. In 1620 they set
sail on the Mayflower. The Pilgrims had purchased two boats, The Mayflower and
The Speedwell. They sailed first to Southampton on the south coast of England.
They purchased stores and other Pilgrims joined them. After setting sail from
Southampton bad weather and the unsuitability of the Speedwell for an Atlantic
crossing forced them to take refuge in Dartmouth in Devon.The Speedwell was repaired and they set sail once more. The Speedwell once more proved unseaworthy and they called at Plymouth, also in South Devon. This time all the pilgrims boarded the one ship, The Mayflower and set sail. There was no going back.
The Mayflower memorial Southampton.
The memorial is on the site where The Mayflower was anchored.
Arriving in Cape Cod
in November 1620 the prevailing winds prevented them from reaching their intended
destination. Some on board, because they had landed beyond the restrictions of
the charter they had obtained from the English Government wanted to set up a
colony free from England. The leaders of the Pilgrims responded by writing The
Mayflower Compact which all signed binding them to England and the English
Sovereign. The Compact also laid out that they should elect leaders
democratically and enact laws that they should choose. This early document was
the forerunner of the American Constitution and in fact some of its tenets were
similar to the Constitution.
The plaque on The Mayflower memorial
It is easy to think that emigration to the New World was the
answer for these separatist groups but it wasn’t the only answer. The majority
of non-conformist groups remained in England suffering for their faith. It all
came to a head twenty years later when Charles I closed parliament and ruled
independently under the belief that only he had the divine right to rule. There
were many non-conformist or Puritan groups now who wanted a much more
democratic approach. This rift in belief and philosophy caused a split in the
country between those who believed in the authority of a democratic parliament
and those who supported Charles in his belief in the divine right of kings.
This brought about the English Civil war which the parliamentarians lead by
Oliver Cromwell defeated the King and beheaded him for treason to the English
people. This brought about a situation where the Puritans set the tone for
authority and the laws of the country. They became strict and austere themselves in not
allowing the freedoms they had struggled for. They in their turn did not tolerate those who did not hold
their beliefs. Some groups went even further in their interpretation of the
Bible and, “pure,” way of living. One such group was termed The Levellers. They
got their name from their belief that everybody should be equal or level. An
offshoot of the Levellers were The Diggers who got their name from their ways
of digging the land to grow their own food. The Diggers, were formed in 1649,
the year after Charles II was beheaded. Gerard Winstanley was their leader. They settled first at a place called
St Georges Hill in Surrey near Weybrdge. They later moved to land near Cobham,
also in Surrey. Their beliefs and way of life was more extreme than most Puritans
and they were persecuted for this in their turn.
Gerrad Winstanley portrayed on a wall mosaic in Cobham Surrey
Gerrad Winstanley wote,
“everyone talks of freedome, butt here are few who act for
freedome, and the actors for freedome are oppressed by the talkers and verball
professors of freedome; if they wouldst know what true freedome is it lies in
the community, in spirit and in the earthly treasures…” (A watch word to The
City of London and the Armie 1649)
Sentiments not far removed from what The Pilgrim Fathers
might have stated.
This is a hot cross bun reputedly amongst the stores that The Pilgrim Fathers were going to take with them from Southampton. The fact that it never made it to The Mayflower is interesting. Hot cross buns had been banned since the reign of Queen Elizabeth. It was illegal to make them and be seen eating them. This continued into the reign of the Stuart kings. This was an illegal item. I can image a port official looking through the Pilgrim Fathers stores and finding the hot cross bun,
"Sorry sir, you can't take that with you to The New World. I'll have to take that with me."
And so it has remained in Southampton for the last 400 years. A nice thought.
This is an excellent post, Tony! And the photos -- I'm especially taken with the photo of French Street. Only you would think to include that!
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