# Puritans - Hotter sort of protestant



## SharpeningIron (Feb 7, 2006)

I'm writing an essay on the English puritans. The essay question asks: Why were the puritans a "hotter sort of protestant"?

Googling for the term "hotter sort" shows it's a fairly common way of describing the puritans but I can't locate the original source of the phrase. 



Has anyone come across the saying and able to give me the original source?

Thanks for the help.


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## NaphtaliPress (Feb 7, 2006)

Never heard it before now. _Killjoy,_ but not that one.


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## TimeRedeemer (Feb 7, 2006)

I googled "hotter kind of protestant" and found this.

_At first it [the word 'Puritan'] was the term used to describe those who wanted the Protestant Reformation to be carried out more thoroughly (some called them 'a hotter kind of Protestant')..._

"some" called them... Probably doesn't have a single source origin...


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## SharpeningIron (Feb 7, 2006)

> _Originally posted by TimeRedeemer_
> I googled "hotter kind of protestant" and found this.



Hmmm......interesting link, the author managed to misspell puritan in the url and the title!

You may be right about the "some" not pointing to an original source, but I've seen it in quotes a number of times which suggests there is one. Thanks for trying.

Anyone else!


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 7, 2006)

I may be mistaken but I think the term "hotter sort of Protestant" is employed by Patrick Collinson in his 1967 book _The Elizabethan Puritan Movement_.


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## SharpeningIron (Mar 9, 2006)

> _Originally posted by VirginiaHuguenot_
> I may be mistaken but I think the term "hotter sort of Protestant" is employed by Patrick Collinson in his 1967 book _The Elizabethan Puritan Movement_.



You're quite right, I subsequently found the reference. Sorry guys I should have posted here. Collinson uses the term, he is quoting a elizabethan pamphleteer. The reference is on pg 27 of _The Elizabethan Puritan Movement._


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## Semper Fidelis (Mar 9, 2006)

Is it because they were so physically attractive?


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## Philip A (Mar 9, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SemperFideles_
> Is it because they were so physically attractive?



True. You know what they said about all the powder that John Owen put in his hair... it must have made him a favorite among the lady types.


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## LadyFlynt (Mar 9, 2006)

Actually, ya'll are treading near the truth. According to Morgan's A Puritan Family, it was quite common for there to be confessions from the betrothed couples right prior to the weddings.


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## Puritanhead (Mar 9, 2006)

> _Originally posted by SemperFideles_
> Is it because they were so physically attractive?



No, it's because they wore two many layers of clothing...


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