Engraving depicting Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620

Puritanism began during the reign of Elizabeth I (1558-1603) when some English Protestants objected to Catholic elements in worship. They also charged that bishops reinforced royal control over the church; Puritans believed that the church should be independent from the Crown. They also wanted to end abuses such as plural office holding, absenteeism, and low standards for clergy. Puritans wished to "purify" the church by several means. They gathered like-minded people into independent "congregational" churches, some declaring separation from the church of England and some remaining within it. Moderates advocated a polity or church structure called presbyterianism, as implemented by John Knox in Scotland. In the 1630s under Archbishop Laud, congregational churches were repressed. Thousands of Puritans left England, and their "great migration" contributed to the colonial settlement of New England. Puritanism's hallmarks were the authority of Scripture, the conversion experience, and a theology of sin and grace. Their chief theological mentor was John Calvin. Puritans believed community life to be defined by covenant, or solemn agreement. The Christian life was to be a pilgrimage of joyful discipline; John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress expresses this ideal.