The quality of the Clergy was another area, which needed serious addressing when James took over the throne. Many of the Clergymen who occupied the parishes of England were ill educated and some held more than one living and therefore did not live in their parishes. Also James was a Calvanist and he realised that the theory of pre-destination was a complex and somewhat demanding theory, so if it was explained in the wrong way, by an ill-educated member of the church it could have damaging affects. James undertook a reform of the church clergy and was successful in his mission, as by 1630 most clergymen were graduates.
There was a more potentially explosive issue than Catholicism, which faced James and this was due to the people who wanted to reform the English Church in the Protestant direction. This group of people was mainly made up of Puritans, people whose life was more influenced by the Protestant principals, and they were more concerned than other to reform the church. These Puritans mainly put forward fairly moderate reformist ideas, due to the impact of Elizabeth, who had severely punished the more radical Puritan reformists during her reign. Many of the reformists publicised their reformist views, for example the Millenary Petition of 1603, which was presented to James in 1603. James was also a prominent figure at Hampton Court and modern account describe him as "willing to listen to Puritan demands" and he executed some of their key demands at the end of the conference, such ass the reform of the court of high commission. Many of the reforms suggested were only simple requests, which did not affect the doctrine or organisation of the English church, such as the use of rings in the marriage ceremony. James was successful in the handling of these modest reforms put forward by the Puritans, as he always ensured that they did not pose any threat to the doctrine or organisation of the church and he often passed these reforms, which kept the members of the state church happy and willing to conform to the way in which the church was run by James.
