In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England there were many who thought that the Reformation had not been thoroughly carried out. According to these religious dissenters, the Church of England (or Anglican Church) was still too close to Roman Catholic practices, which they denounced as corrupt and decaying. Many religious groups thought it necessary for the Reformation to be more far-reaching and called for more extensive reforms. A particularly prominent group were the Puritans, derogatively called so because they wanted to purify the Anglican Church from all Catholic vestiges. Others deemed the Anglican Church already too corrupt for attempting a reform and proposed separating from it; these were the Separatists. A particularly active congregation of the Separatist movement was the…

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Citation: Gomez-Galisteo, M. Carmen. "Mayflower voyage". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=704, accessed 24 November 2024.]