The Hampton Court Conference was a meeting in 1604, convened at Hampton Court Palace between King James I of England and representatives of the English Puritans.

Although James I was willing to meet several of the Puritans' demands, he balked at allowing questions of doctrine to be settled by bishops and Church presbyters, as being too similar to Scottish Presbyterianism, fearing such a process would be incompatible with monarchism and would lead to clericalism and democracy.Uttering 'If you aim at a Scot’s Presbyterie, it agreeth as well with the monarchy as God with the devil.' and the famous 'No bishop, no king!'

When, soon after the conference, Archbishop John Whitgift died and the anti-Puritan Richard Bancroft, who had argued against the Puritans at Hampton Court was appointed to the See of Canterbury, the King's fears led to demands that Puritan ministers adhere to each of the Thirty-Nine Articles.

But the Hampton Court Conference also bore fruit for the Puritans, who insisted that man know God's word without intermediaries, as it led to James's commissioning of that translation of the Christian Bible into the English vernacular, which would be known as the King James Version.