What’s the connection with Holland?
Led by a man named William Brewster, many of the Separatists had already fled England some years earlier.
In 1608 a group had moved from the village of Scrooby in Nottinghamshire to the Dutch city of Leiden.
In Holland the Separatists were to worship as they liked, but life was difficult because as migrants they could only get difficult and low paid jobs. The deeply religious community also became concerned that the younger generation were getting “drawn away,” by a more relaxed culture in Holland.
When England’s King James I negotiated an alliance with Holland against Spain, he set the condition that separatist church congregations must be banned in Holland.
It was time for the Leiden Separatists to leave – so they bought a small ship called the Speedwell and sailed to Southampton to meet the Mayflower before both ships could journey to the New World.