ELIZABETH TILLEY’S ancestors and less than half of the English population in the 14th Century survived the Great Famine and Black Death. Henry VIII’s broke from the Catholic Church. Protestants broke into varying factions including Separatists and Puritans. Exploration and colonization of America by Europeans results in the establishment of commercial trade ventures like the Virginia Company. It also results in the corruption of Native Americans like Pocahontas and Squanto.
The Tudor leadership of King James I is stressed due to the conflicts between the Catholics and Protestants. This results in alternating support and violence against protestants and the establishment of the King James Bible. ELIZABETH TILLEY became the daughter to JOHN and JOAN TILLEY during the early 17th Century. ELIZABETH and her parents flee the continuing English religious violence for the Netherlands.
The Columbian Exchange
Columbus reached the Americas on his first voyage of discovery. He initiated the Columbian Exchange which portrays the European exploration and colonization of the American continent. It stands for the transfer of commodities, ideas and people between the Old World and New World. Columbus also performed an important role in the Age of Discovery, Western history, and human history at large. His place in history is despite his cruel treatment of Indigenous people.
Before his discovery, Christopher Columbus grew up in Genoa, Italy, He became a business agent for international trading and was sent to Madeira, Portugal on a sugar-buying trip where he married the daughter of the mayor of Porto Santo.
The Tudor Revolution
The Great Famine and the Black Death of the 14th century killed around half of England’s population. This and people moving to urban areas in search of better opportunities also contributed to the reduction in available agricultural labor. At the same time, English monarchs recognized the importance of the wool trade and supported policies that favored sheep farming. Wool became a highly lucrative commodity during this period and much of farmers converted England’s arable land to pasture.
Life during the 15th century was harsh and physical. Life expectancy at that time was just 35 years. Although most people lived in small rural villages, some cities had developed including London, Bristol and Norwich. While continents such as Australia and America were barely known about, England, Scotland and Wales were well established countries, each with their own kingdoms and rulers.
The Tudor period in England, which spanned all of the 16th Century, witnessed significant changes across various aspects of society. Here are the key transformations:
Religious Reformation: Henry VIII established the Church of England, followed by varying Protestant and Catholic influences in later reigns.
Political Consolidation: Stability under the Tudor dynasty and centralization of power by Henry VIII.
Cultural Renaissance: Flourishing arts and literature, exemplified by Shakespeare and others, during the Elizabethan era.
Economic Changes: Enclosure Acts, exploration efforts, and trade expansion affected land ownership, agriculture, and commerce.
Social Shifts: Dissolution of monasteries, changing roles of women, and evolving social structures.
Military Developments: Facing conflicts with France and Spain, Tudor monarchs set up a more professional military system.
Henlow, Bedfordshire, England
Henlow is a small village in central Bedfordshire, England about 11 miles SE of Bedford. The name Henlow is believed to derive from the old English henna hlaw, meaning in old English “hill of birds” or “hill frequented by birds”.
The three manors of Henlow known as Henlow Warden, Henlow Lanthony and Henlow de Grey are mentioned in the Domesday Book. The Domesday book is a manuscript record of the “Great Survey” of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of King William I, known as William the Conqueror.
The Hurst Family
The HURST family lived in a small village called Henlow in central Bedfordshire, England about the time Columbus arrived in the Americas. For three generations during the reign of Henry VIII and his successors the family multiplied.
For three generations the Hurst family grew around significant events involving multiple births and marriages. HENRY HURST married AGNES UNKNOWN at an early age. Shortly thereafter HENRY AND AGNES HURST had a son WILLIAM HURST. WILLIAM HURST, and ROSE MARSHE married about 1558. ROSE was the daughter of ROBERT MARSHE and AGNES FISHER. WILLIAM AND ROSE (MARSHE) HURST completed their family when their daughter JOAN HURST joined them ten years later in 1568.
The Tilley Family
Three generations of the TILLEY FAMILY also flourished in Henlow during the same time. WILLIAM TILLEY married AGNES BISHOP and about 2 years later had ROBERT TILLEY in 1571. ROBERT TILLEY married ELIZABETH ELLBORNE, the daughter of WILLIAM AND ELIZABETH (DE VERE) ELLBORNE. Later that year they had their first child, JOHN TILLEY.
JOHN TILLEY became a silk weaver. He married JOAN HURST at St. Mary the Virgin Church of Henlow during the fall of 1596. Eleven years later, about 1607, they had a daughter named ELIZABETH TILLEY who was baptized in the same church.
When ELIZABETH was maturing into her early teens the Protestants were forming into two separate factions. Those who wanted to Separate from the Church of England were called Separatists. Those who wanted to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices were called Puritans.
Church of England
King of England, Henry the VIII, and his wife Catherine of Aragon lost at least five children together. Only Mary, (“Bloody Mary”) born in 1516, survived beyond infancy. Henry became desperate for a male heir, trying to divorce his Queen for a younger woman. He argued that their marriage had been unlawful. Catherine, a staunch Catholic, was having none of it. Henry made up his mind. Henry VIII requested an annulment of his marriage, but Pope Clement VII refused.
In response, Henry showed his defiance of the papal authority. His Reformation Parliament (1532–1534) passed laws abolishing it in England and declared Henry to be head of the Church. His determination for a male heir and quest for legitimacy resulted in approving his own annulment. The establishment of the Church of England provided a legal and religious framework to legitimize his later marriages. After the death of Henry VIII in 1547, successive English monarchs supported Protestantism and Catholicism alternatingly.
The Separatists – Reform by Separation
The Separatists, or Independents, or Saints as they called themselves were English Protestants who occupied the extreme wing of Protestantism. The Separatists were severely critical of the Church of England and wanted to either destroy it or separate from it. Separatists believed in the Congregational Polity form of church governance.
Congregationalists emphasized the right and responsibility of each congregation to decide its own affairs. They did not have to give those decisions to the judgment of any higher human authority. As an organizing principle, congregational churches are bound together by a “covenant”. They make decisions democratically, including the choice of religious leaders.
In congregational churches, there is no prayer book, no formal creeds or belief statements. The head of the church isn’t a Pope or the King, but Jesus Christ as revealed in the scriptures. Sabbath worship doesn’t include sermons and preaching, but extemporaneous “testifying” by the Holy Spirit.
Separatists were unhappy with the established Church of England. They decided instead to meet in private to worship according to their own religious beliefs. This was a highly illegal and dangerous undertaking. They believed that the only way to live according to Biblical precepts was to leave the Church of England entirely.
The Puritans - Reform from within
Puritans had the same objections to the English church as the Separatist. Puritans also looked to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices. They alleged that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more protestant. They wanted to reform it from within, which stood in contrast to the territorial basis of the Church of England.
James I was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots and was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle. The Scottish ruling class brought up James I as a member of the Protestant Church of Scotland. Upon ascending the English throne, he suspected that he might need the support of Catholics in England, so he supported the Church of England. The Puritans made a series of formal requests of James I for reform. Consequently, he scheduled a meeting with representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans. The Hampton Court Conference as it was called, was originally scheduled for November 1603 but an outbreak of plague meant it was postponed until February 1604.
As an outcome of the conference, James I required the protestant reformers to conform to the Church of England. However, he authorized the translation of the Christian Bible into the English vernacular in an offering to the Puritans. He wished it to be read in churches.
The King James Bible
The King James Bible was commissioned by James I in 1604 and published in 1611. The 80 books of the King James Version include 39 books of the Old Testament, 14 books of Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. The New Testament was translated from Greek, the Old Testament from Hebrew and Aramaic, and the Apocrypha from Greek and Latin.
The 1611 Bible is a literary masterpiece of the first order, a triumph of both prose and verse. The spread of printing technology made it accessible to all those people who could read English. Even those who could not read, these were the words they would hear in the church and marketplace. The book gave English-speaking Christians a common standard through which they could express their faith. The King James Bible embodies a critical foundation of Protestant Christianity in the English-speaking world.
The Native Americans
George Weymouth was hired by the Dutch East India Company to find the NW passage In 1605. He sailed 300 miles into Hudson Strait. Weymouth had interactions with Native Americans, particularly the Abenaki people. His encounters were generally peaceful, and he engaged in trade with the indigenous inhabitants. The curiosity and opportunistic nature of his crew got the best of him. His crew abducted five Natives, three by deceit and two by forcing the Natives onto the lower decks. The idea was undoubtedly a way to become familiar with the land and inhabitants that they intended to colonize. All five of his captives were taken to England. He kept two of the natives and documented a dictionary of Abnaki words. Weymouth presented the other three captives named Manida, Sellwarroes, and Tasquantum (Squanto) to Sir Ferdinando Gorges.
Sir Ferdinando Gorges served as a naval and military commander and governor of the important port of Plymouth in England. He took the three captive Native American Indians including Squanto, into his home. After instructing them in the English language he gained valuable information relative to their country. His interest in exploration was piqued and he became determined to become a proprietor of land beyond the Atlantic.
The Virginia Company of London - Jamestown Colony - Pocahontas
King James I of England chartered two joint stock companies in 1606 with the goal of setting up settlements on the coast of North America for profit. The Virginia Company of London and the Virginia Company of Plymouth. These colonies overlapped between the 38th and 40th parallels. In 1607 the Virginia Company of London financed the expedition which would establish Jamestown.
John Smith was involved with the Virginia Company of London’s plan to colonize Virginia. Smith was the leader of the Virginia Colony at the Jamestown Settlement that became the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Smith trained the first settlers in farming and fishing and required all settlers to work. This obligation saved the colony from harsh weather, lack of food and water, the surrounding swampy wilderness, and attacks from Native Americans.
Indians captured John Smith, leader of the Virginia Colony, at Jamestown, in December 1607 while he was seeking food along the Chickahominy River. They took him to meet the chief of the Powhatans at Werowocomoco, the main village of the Powhatan Confederacy. Smith feared for his life. Due in part to the chief’s daughter Pocahontas, he released Smith without harm and later attributed his release to her.
The Virginia Company of Plymouth - Popham Colony
The Virginia Company of Plymouth financed the expedition that founded the Popham Colony. The Popham Colony was founded a few months after Jamestown. The Popham Colony became the short-lived English colonial settlement in North America located in the present-day town of Phippsburg, Maine. It was near the mouth of the Kennebec River. The would be settlers abandoned Popham after only 14 months. Apparently, it was more due to the death of patrons and the first colony president than lack of success in the New World.
The Tilley Family
ELIZABETH TILLEY and her parents JOHN and JOAN (HURST) TILLEY were Separatists. The Separatists were severely critical of the Church of England. They were an ostracized religious group that occupied the extreme wing of Protestantism. The TILLEY FAMILY moved from Henlow, Bedfordshire England to Amsterdam seeking freedom from the persecution of protestants. This showed JOHN TILLEY’S commitment to religious freedom. His wife and daughter ELIZABETH went with him showing their close-knit family bonds. In Amsterdam they found themselves joining a group of other Separatists with similar concerns and aspirations. They then moved with the group from Amsterdam to Leiden, in about 1607. There they became members of the Leiden Congregation and spent 11 or 12 years there.
Freedom, Captivity, and Exploration
John Smith returned to America seven years after his capture, imprisonment and release by the Powhatans at the insistence of Pocahontas. He brought Squanto with him on a voyage to explore the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts Bay in 1614. Two years later, Squanto and 23 other Indians were captured and taken to Europe and sold as Slaves. “Squanto” returned to America 3 years later, about 1619, with a European trip to explore the New Hampshire-Maine river that the Indians called “Piscataqua”.
Seven years after being captured and imprisoned and released by the Powhatans at the insistence of Pocahontas, in 1614, John Smith returned to America bringing Squanto with him in a voyage to explore the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts Bay. Two years after returning to the Americas with John Smith, Squanto was captured again with 23 other Indians and taken to Europe and sold as Slaves. “Squanto” returned to America 3 years later, about 1619, on a trip to examine the New Hampshire-Maine river and the Indians called “Piscataqua”.
