Elizabeth I died withou having produced a male heir. The next nearest male relative and apparent heir to the throne was James VI of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots. Unlike his mother who was a strong Catholic, James, who had been raised in Scotland during her exile, was Protestant. His protestant views were as temporised as Elizabeth’s had been but they were still clearly protestant. He took the English throne as James I, thus uniting the two kingdoms which for centuries had been at war.  

The Puritans saw this new king as an answer to their prayers, believing that he would succeed in bringing facilitating true reform in England. They were doomed to bitter disappointment when they realised that he was as unwilling to support their ideas as Elizabeth I had been.