The Brownists were a Christian group in 16th-century England. They were a group of English Dissenters or early Separatists from the Church of England. They were named after Robert Browne, who was born at Tolethorpe Hall in Rutland, England, in the 1550s. The terms Brownists or Separatists were used to describe them by outsiders; they were known as Saints among themselves.[1]
A majority of the Separatists aboard the Mayflower in 1620 were Brownists, and the Pilgrims were known into the 20th century as the Brownist Emigration.[2]
- ^ Hakim, Joy (2003). Freedom: A History of US. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 0-19-515711-7. OCLC 50348061.
- ^ Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers, 1920