Who were the Pilgrims?

The essay traces the religious lineage that produced the Pilgrims, identifying them as Separatists emerging from Puritan currents and earlier English reform movements. It outlines legal and ecclesiastical conflicts with papal authority, the spread of the English Bible, and shifting royal and clerical policies that alternately limited and promoted Protestant practices. The narrative shows how half-measures in reform and persistent controversies within the national church intensified dissent, highlights key reforming figures, and explains how these pressures led certain congregations to break away and form Separatist communities.