Hampton Court Conference

A conference of the Anglican Church held at Hampton Court Palace near London in 1604. Presided over by King James I, its aim was to consider the objections Puritans had raised to certain Anglican rites, ceremonies, and prayers. Few concessions were made to Puritan demands for change, but the Conference did lead to a major new translation of the Bible, the Authorized Version of 1611.

The Puritan demands were embodied in the Millenary Petition of 1603 (so called because it had a thousand supporters in clergy). John Rainolds was the leading spokesperson for the Puritans, and the archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Bancroft (1544-1610), led the bishops' side.

The bishops rejected the Puritans' demands on theological grounds, and King James decided in favour of the bishops, arguing that the logic of the Puritan position meant ‘no bishop, no king’. He did, however, accept Rainolds's suggestion that a new English translation of the Bible should be made, and a strong panel of theologians and scholars was set up to undertake the work.