Although the name has since taken on connotations of repressive morality, the first Puritans were reformers and dissenters against the established Church. The following areas were important issues for most Puritans:
- separation from the Roman Catholic Church and its traditions
- movement away from Episcopacy towards a Reformed Protestant Church and theology
- simplified forms of worship; a dislike of church ritual, robes, music, idolatry &c
- an emphasis on personal interpretation of the Bible
- attendance of public sermons by gifted lay preachers rather than state-regulated services in local parish churches
- strict observance of the Sabbath and a disregard of festivals and Saints' days
The term came into general use in England during the reign of of the Catholic Queen Mary I (1553-8), usually as a term of derision. Its use as a label to identify a particular viewpoint within the Church of England dates from the early reign of Elizabeth I. The first Puritans wanted to purge or "purify" the Anglican Church of any traces of Catholic influence that remained after the Elizabethan Church settlement.
During the reign of King James I, Puritan influence resulted in the commissioning of a new English translation of the Bible — the Authorised Version of 1611 — but in general King James' religious policy was aimed at maintaining conformity and state control over the Church. Many Puritans were driven abroad, some to Holland and Germany, some to America, notably the Pilgrim Fathers in 1620.
Puritans suspected King Charles I of having Catholic sympathies from the beginning of his reign. His marriage to the Catholic princess Henrietta Maria and his support for Archbishop Laud's attempts to impose Arminian doctrines upon the Anglican church were regarded with deep mistrust. Laud himself regarded Puritanism as a greater threat to the Church than Catholicism because of the Puritans' opposition to Episcopacy.
Most members of the Long Parliament were Puritan in outlook. Parliament voted to abolish Episcopacy in October 1646, but two rival groupings of Puritan opinion emerged during the course of the First Civil War: the Independents and the Presbyterians. The Puritan ideal of a nation ruled by a godly government of "Saints" reached its peak with the short-lived Nominated Assembly of 1653.
The Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 also restored Anglicanism and the rule of the Bishops. Puritan clergy were expelled from the Church of England under the terms of the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Thereafter, English Puritans were classified as Nonconformists.