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Anabaptists in England

The English Reformation began with groups such as the gatherings at the White Horse Inn in Cambridge, and with other individuals who had been in contact with Luther's teachings, including William Tyndale, the Bible translator and martyr. Later, under Henry VIII and his son, Edward VI, Thomas Cranmer and others gradually introduced Reformation teachings in the form of revised orders of service in English, access to the Bible in English translation and so forth. Queen Mary Stuart temporarily reversed these changes, and martyred many. The subsequent reign of Elizabeth I consolidated the English Reformation, combining traditional forms with the Reformed teaching of the 39 Articles. 

It was during the reign of Elizabeth I, that the Puritan movement began. This was at first a movement within the national church pushing for a more thorough reformation along the lines of that in Geneva. However, others rejected the whole idea of a national church and from 1581, independent churches were started (another name for these is "separatists"). The independent churches continued the practice of infant baptism, but combined it with a church polity based on profession of faith and congregational church government. Later, in 1609, one such independent congregation, which originated in Gainsborough, but later went into exile in the Netherlands, adopted the Anabaptist practice of baptism on profession of faith. Their leaders were John Smyth and Thomas Helwys. These were the General Baptists. Around 1638, some from the LJL congregation in London followed the same path, and from 1640 they were baptising on profession of faith by full immersion. This second strand of Baptists is known as the "particular baptists". This is the origin of the Baptists. 

There was, however, an earlier movement called the Christian Brethren, or Anabaptists. The origins of this movement go back earlier than the English-speaking Baptists, at least to 1525, and to reformed cantons in Switzerland. The term "Anabaptists" is a catch-all term for those who were neither Roman Catholic nor Magisterial Protestant, and encompasses a whole range of groups and beliefs. However, the evangelical Anabaptists were mainly concentrated in places such as Switzerland, Moravia, Alsace-Lorraine, northern Germany, and the Netherlands. A leading figure in this movement was Dutchman Menno Simons. 

In the 1500s, some continental Anabaptists came to England/Britain to escape persecution. One such group is associated with Eyethorne in Kent, and included a believer called Joan Boucher, who was eventually burnt at the stake in 1500. 

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