A discussion between James and representatives of the Church of England, including leading English Puritans had originally been scheduled for November 1603, but the outbreak of plague caused its postponement until January 1604.

The conference has been called in response to a series of requests for reform set down in the Millenary Petition by the Puritans, a document which supposedly contains the signatures of 1000 Puritan ministers.

Convened at Hampton Court Palace, the conference is set out in two main parties by James, one party of Archbishop John Whitgift and eight Bishops who represent the episcopacy, supported by eight deans and one archdeacon, and another party of four or five moderate Puritans.

Many historians and contemporary religious radicals have speculated that James, after a consultation with Whitgift, had deliberately arranged to have moderate Puritan reformers attend the conference.

The de facto leader of the Puritans is John Rainolds (sometimes Reynolds), the president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

There are three meetings over a period of three days.

The conference begins with a meeting between James and his bishops about some of the Puritan complaints detailed in the Millenary Petition, particularly the complaints about the Catholic terms Absolution and Confirmation.

The King, after ending his talks with the bishops, claims he is "well satisfied", and declares that "the manner might be changed and some things cleared".

Private baptism, especially when administered by women, proved to be a more intense argument between James and his bishops, but James eventually persuaded them that only ministers should administer baptisms.

James then turned his attention to ecclesiastical discipline.

Excommunication for "trifles and twelvepenny matters" is to be abolished, and the often hasty trial policies of the commissaries' court are to be reviewed and amended by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice.

For the Puritan complaint that punishment should be enforced by Christ's own institution, James holds the view that bishops should not exercise ecclesiastical discipline solely, though he does not speak of any specific method that he would use to remedy this.

All in all, James is pleased, and has good reason to be, with the first meeting.

Not only has he eloquently reached agreements on many of the Puritan demands, he has also avoided any major arguments.