though a brownist, jacob allowed that the church of england was a true church in need of a thorough reformation. hence he was commonly called a 'semiseparatist'. contemporary scholars refer to them as independents, brownists, semi-separatists, or puritans. they were calvinist in theological matters. jacob's relative moderation involved him in a fierce controversy with francis johnson. for a time jacob settled at middelburg in zeeland, where he collected a congregation of english exiles. his group of 'jacobites' included william ames, paul barnes, william bradshaw and robert parker. in 1610 he went to leyden to confer with john robinson. ultimately jacob adopted robinson's views on church government, but the influence was mutual.