The Scrooby Congregation were English Protestant

separatists Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

who lived near

Scrooby Scrooby is a small village on the River Ryton in north Nottinghamshire, England, near Bawtry in South Yorkshire. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 329. Until 1766, it was on the Great North Road so became a stopping-off poi ...

, on the outskirts of

Bawtry Bawtry is a market town and civil parish in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. It lies between Doncaster, Gainsborough and Retford, on the border with Nottinghamshire and close to Lincolnshire. The town is historically part of ...

, a small market town at the border of

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. I ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. In 1607/8 the Congregation emigrated to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in search of the freedom to worship as they chose. They founded the "English separatist church at Leiden", one of several English separatist groups in the Netherlands at the time.

History

Richard Clyfton Richard Clyfton (Clifton) (died 1616) was an English Brownist minister, at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, and then in Amsterdam. Life He is identified with the Richard Clifton who, on 12 February 1585, was instituted to the vicarage of Marnham, nea ...

was rector of

Babworth Babworth is a village and civil parish in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England, about 1½ miles west of Retford. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,329, including Ranby and rising to 1,687 at the 2011 Ce ...

, from 1605 under suspicion of nonconformity. Suspended, he continued to preach at

, near Scrooby though just over the county boundary in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. From 1606 the congregation around Clyfton met in the house of William Brewster. This manor house has been identified as on the site of the old Scrooby Palace of the archbishops of York, though much of the older building had been demolished by then. In 1607 Clyfton was

excommunicate Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The purpose ...

d; at this time he had already met William Bradford.

John Robinson John Robinson may refer to: Academics *John Thomas Romney Robinson (1792–1882), Irish astronomer and physicist *John J. Robinson (1918–1996), historian and author of ''Born in Blood'' *John Talbot Robinson (1923–2001), paleontologist *John ...

from

Sturton le Steeple Sturton le Steeple is a village located east of Retford, Nottinghamshire, England. According to the 2001 census it had a population (including Littleborough, Notts) of 497, reducing slightly to 486 as at the 2011 Census. Origin of the name The ...

, also in northern Nottinghamshire, had lost his pulpit for his views and returned home by about the end of 1604; he made contact with separatist groups in

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...

, just over the eastern county boundary in

, as well as Scrooby. The minister at Gainsborough was John Smyth. In this way the two separatist churches were drawn together, with Robinson assuming authority in the Scrooby congregation alongside Clyfton after a process of ordination.

Emigration

From the end of 1607 and into 1608 the Gainsborough-Scrooby separatist group emigrated to Holland, in waves. An important organizer of the move was

Thomas Helwys Thomas Helwys (c. 1575 – c. 1616), an English minister, was one of the joint founders, with John Smyth, of the General Baptist denomination. In the early seventeenth century, Helwys was principal formulator of demand that the church and t ...

of Smyth's congregation, who had moved away to

Basford, Nottinghamshire Basford is a northerly suburb of Nottingham, England, incorporated into the city in 1877. It gave its name to Basford Rural District, which existed from 1894 to 1974. The ward population at the 2011 census was 16,207, estimated at 16,779 in 2 ...

before coming to attention for not taking communion. The emigrants went to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

Pilgrim Fathers Memorial, Immingham - geograph

At Leiden

After arriving at Holland they realized that as foreigners, they could only take unskilled jobs and were exempt from working organizations. The congregation also noticed that their children were growing up more

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

than

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

. The Congregation decided to emigrate to the Americas, where their children could be English, and they could worship freely. Leiden - Pilgrims (Pieterskerk, 20060719)

Leiden - Pilgrims (Pieterskerk, 20060719)

Historiography

The exact significance of Scrooby for the Pilgrim group is still debated. The first research on the congregation was published by the antiquarian Joseph Hunter in 1849. It was followed in 1853 by a popular book from

William Henry Bartlett William Henry Bartlett (March 26, 1809 – September 13, 1854) was a British artist, best known for his numerous drawings rendered into steel engravings. Biography Bartlett was born in Kentish Town, London in 1809. He was apprenticed to John B ...

, a topographical artist.

Henry Martyn Dexter Henry Martyn Dexter (August 13, 1821 – November 13, 1890) was an American Congregational clergyman and author. Biography Henry Marty Dexter was born in Plympton, Massachusetts. He graduated at Yale in 1840 and at the Andover Theological Sem ...

(

Henry Morton Dexter Henry Morton Dexter (1846–1910) was an American clergyman, historian, and editor. Life Henry Morton Dexter was born in Manchester, New Hampshire on July 12, 1846, the son of Henry Martyn Dexter Henry Martyn Dexter (August 13, 1821 – ...

) wrote the authoritative account ''The England and Holland of the Pilgrims'' (1905). Further documentary evidence was found by Walter Herbert Burgess (1867–1943) and Ronald Marchant. See also Sandra Goodall, "Beyond Bradford's Journal: The Scrooby Puritans in Context," Ph.D. Dissertation, August, 2015, Arizona State University.

Notes

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References

Alan Brinkley Alan Brinkley (June 2, 1949 – June 16, 2019) was an American political historian who taught for over 20 years at Columbia University. He was the Allan Nevins Professor of History until his death. From 2003 to 2009, he was University Provost. ...

, ''American History, a Survey'' (eleventh edition) Bassetlaw District Plymouth Colony Scrooby