Abstract :
Traditionally puritanism has been treated as a religious phenomenon that only impinged on
the world of that ‘ secular ’ politics to a limited extent and mainly in relation to church reform. Such an
approach, however, is to employ a misleadingly narrow definition which ignores the existence of a much more
all-embracing puritan political vision traceable from the mid-sixteenth century. First clearly articulated by
some of the Marian exiles, this way of thinking interpreted the Bible as a manifesto against tyranny whether
in church or state. Under the successive regimes of Elizabeth I, James I, and Charles I, puritans can be
found who continued to judge the actions of government by the same biblical criterion, which also helps to
explain among other things their prominence in opposing unparliamentary taxation. Puritan ideology itself
was transmitted down the generations partly via a complex of family alliances, underpinned by teaching and
preaching, and this in turn provided a basis for political organization. Moreover, the undiminished radical
potential of puritanism is evident from responses to the assassination of Buckingham in 1628. Given these
antecedents the subsequent resort to Civil War appears less surprising than historians often claim.
