Who were the Puritans?

Puritans were strict Protestants. They aimed to eradicate any remaining Catholic practices in England. They saw Elizabeth's Religious Settlement as a step in the right direction, but that the Reformation remained unfinished. For example, they disliked the fact that priests were expected to wear surplices (robes).

Why were Puritans seen as a threat?

Elizabeth saw her Religious Settlement as final as she was determined to end the religious divisions that had torn the country apart. She therefore regarded any attempts to seek further religious changes as an attack on stability and on her own authority. Some puritans, called presbyterians, also wanted to abolish bishops and the hierarchy of the Church. Elizabeth saw this as a dangerous attack on the social order. Even worse were separatists who tried to set up their own churches outside the Church of England.

Actions taken against Puritans

1583: Elizabeth suspended Archbishop Grindal for supporting puritan prayer meetings known as prophesyings. He was replaced by John Whitgift who stopped them.
1583: John Stubbs had his right hand chopped off for publishing a pamphlet criticising Elizabeth's marriage negotiations with a Catholic prince.
1592: Separatists Barrow and Greenwood were hanged.
1593: Act against Seditious Sectaries allowed separatists to be imprisoned or executed.

How important were the Puritans?

Elizabeth saw puritans as a threat to her authority. In many ways the Puritans posed a less serious threat than the Catholics because they weren't trying to kill or overthrow her, or support a foreign invasion. However, they were more powerful than the Catholics as they had support within Parliament and the Privy Council. Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Sir Francis Walsingham were both puritan sympathisers. Therefore the puritans posed a more significant threat to her Religious Settlement. After the death of Dudley (1588) and Walsingham (1590), Elizabeth treated puritans more harshly.

GCSE Elizabethan England 1568-1603 AQA

The Puritan Threat