# Recusancy > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Recusancy > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Recusancy.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recusancy > Source revision: 1355832102 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Religious nonconformism in Britain, 16th–19th centuries}} {{More citations needed|date=April 2024}} {{Catholic Church in England and Wales sidebar}} [[File:Catholics in England 1715-20.svg|thumb|Map of the [historic counties of England](/source/historic_counties_of_England) showing the percentage of registered Catholics in the population in 1715–1720{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/MN5014ucmf_0|title=The English Recusants: A Study of the Post-Reformation Catholic Survival and the Operation of the Recusancy Laws|last=Magee|first=Brian|publisher=[Burns, Oates & Washbourne](/source/Burns_%26_Oates)|year=1938|location=London|ol=14028100M|via=[Internet Archive](/source/Internet_Archive)}}]] '''Recusancy''' (from {{langx|la|recusare|translation=to refuse}}Burton, Edwin. (1911). [https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/12677a.htm "English Recusants"], ''[The Catholic Encyclopedia](/source/The_Catholic_Encyclopedia)''. New York: [Robert Appleton Company](/source/Robert_Appleton_Company); retrieved 11 September 2013 from ''[New Advent](/source/New_Advent)'') was the state of those who remained loyal to the [Catholic Church](/source/Catholic_Church) and refused to attend [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) services after the [English Reformation](/source/English_Reformation).{{cite book|last=Collins|first=William Edward|author-link=William Edward Collins|title=The English Reformation and Its Consequences|publisher=[BiblioLife](/source/BiblioLife)|year=2008|page=256|isbn=978-0-559-75417-3}} The [1558 Recusancy Acts](/source/Act_of_Uniformity_1558) passed in the reign of [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I), and [temporarily repealed](/source/Act_for_the_relief_of_the_religious_and_peaceable_from_the_Rigour_of_former_Acts_of_Parliament%2C_in_matters_of_Religion) in the [Interregnum (1649–1660)](/source/Interregnum_(1649%E2%80%931660)), remained on the statute books until 1888.{{cite book|first=John|last=Spurr|title=English Puritanism, 1603–1689|publisher=[Palgrave Macmillan](/source/Palgrave_Macmillan)|year=1998|page=117|isbn=978-0-333-60189-1}} They imposed punishments such as fines, property confiscation and imprisonment on '''recusants'''.See for example the text of the [https://history.hanover.edu/texts/engref/er80.html Act of Uniformity 1559] The suspension under [Oliver Cromwell](/source/Oliver_Cromwell) was mainly intended to give relief to [Nonconformist](/source/Nonconformist_(Protestantism)) Protestants rather than to Catholics, to whom some restrictions applied into the 1920s, through the [Act of Settlement 1701](/source/Act_of_Settlement_1701), despite the 1828–1829 [Catholic emancipation](/source/Catholic_emancipation).[Wood, Rev. James](/source/James_Wood_(encyclopaedist)). (1920) ''The Nutall Encyclopædia'', London: F. Warne, p. {{nbsp}}537. In some cases those adhering to Catholicism faced [capital punishment](/source/capital_punishment),{{cite book|last=O'Malley|first=John W.|author-link=John W. O'Malley|title=Early modern Catholicism: Essays in Honour of John W. O'Malley, S.J.|publisher=[University of Toronto Press](/source/University_of_Toronto_Press) |year=2001|page=149|isbn=978-0-8020-8417-0|display-authors=etal}} and some English and Welsh Catholics who were executed in the 16th and 17th centuries have been [canonised](/source/Canonization) by the Catholic Church as [martyrs of the English Reformation](/source/List_of_Catholic_martyrs_of_the_English_Reformation).{{cite book|author=Alban Butler|author1-link=Alban Butler|author2=David Hugh Farmer|title=Butler's Lives of the Saints: May|publisher=[Burns & Oates](/source/Burns_%26_Oates)|year=1996|page=22|isbn=0-86012-254-9}} Today, ''recusant'' applies to the descendants of Catholic families of the British [gentry](/source/gentry) and [aristocracy](/source/aristocracy). ==History== After the [English Reformation](/source/English_Reformation), from the 16th to the 19th centuries "recusants" were subject to civil penalties and sometimes, especially in the earlier part of that period, to criminal penalties. [Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholic)s formed a large proportion, if not a plurality, of recusants, and it was to Catholics that the term initially was applied. Non-Catholic groups composed of [Reformed Christians](/source/Calvinism) or [Protestant dissenters](/source/Protestant) from the [Church of England](/source/Church_of_England) were later labelled "recusants" as well. Recusancy laws were in force from the reign of [Elizabeth I](/source/Elizabeth_I) to that of [George III](/source/George_III), but were not always enforced with equal intensity.[Roland G. Usher](/source/Roland_G._Usher_(historian)), ''The Rise and Fall of the High Commission'' (Oxford, 1968 reprint ed.), pp.{{nbsp}}17–18. The first statute to address sectarian dissent from England's [official religion](/source/official_religion) was enacted in 1593 under Elizabeth I and specifically targeted Catholics, under the title "An Act for restraining Popish recusants". It defined "Popish recusants" as those {{Blockquote|convicted for not repairing to some Church, Chapel, or usual place of Common Prayer to hear Divine Service there, but forbearing the same contrary to the tenor of the laws and statutes heretofore made and provided in that behalf.}} Other Acts targeted Catholic recusants, including statutes passed under [James{{nbsp}}I](/source/James_VI_and_I) and [Charles I](/source/Charles_I_of_England), as well as laws defining other offences deemed to be acts of recusancy. Recusants were subject to various [civil disabilities](/source/civil_disabilities) and penalties under English [penal laws](/source/Penal_law_(British)), most of which were repealed during the [Regency](/source/Regency_era) and the reign of [George IV](/source/George_IV) (1811–30). ''The Nuttall Encyclopædia'' notes that [Dissenters](/source/English_Dissenters) were largely forgiven by the [Act of Toleration](/source/Toleration_Act_1688) under William{{nbsp}}III, while Catholics "were not entirely emancipated till 1829".[Wood, Rev. James](/source/James_Wood_(encyclopaedist)). ''The Nutall Encyclopædia'', London, 1920, p. {{nbsp}}537. Early recusants included [Protestant dissenters](/source/English_Dissenters), whose [confessions](/source/Creed) derived from the [Calvinist](/source/Calvinist)ic Reformers or [Radical Reformers](/source/Radical_Reformation). With the growth of these latter groups after the [Restoration](/source/English_Restoration) of [Charles{{nbsp}}II](/source/Charles_II_of_England), they were distinguished from Catholic recusants by the terms "nonconformist" or "dissenter". The recusant period reaped an [extensive](/source/Eighty-five_martyrs_of_England_and_Wales) harvest of [saints and martyrs](/source/Forty_Martyrs_of_England_and_Wales). Among the recusants were some high-profile Catholic aristocrats such as the [Howards](/source/House_of_Howard) and, for a time, the [Plantagenet](/source/Plantagenet)-descended [Beauforts](/source/House_of_Beaufort). This patronage ensured that an organic and rooted [English base](/source/English_culture) continued to inform the country's Catholicism. In the [English-speaking world](/source/English-speaking_world), the [Douay-Rheims Bible](/source/Douay-Rheims_Bible) was translated from the [Latin Vulgate](/source/Latin_Vulgate) by expatriate recusants in [Rheims, France](/source/Rheims%2C_France), in 1582 (New Testament) and in [Douai, France](/source/Douai%2C_France), in 1609 (Old Testament). It was revised by Bishop [Richard Challoner](/source/Richard_Challoner) in the years 1749–52. ==Prominent historical Catholics in the United Kingdom== ===Recusant families=== There were dozens of recusant families, some no longer extant. For example, the [Howard family](/source/Howard_family), some of whose members are known as Fitzalan-Howard, the [Dukes of Norfolk](/source/Duke_of_Norfolk), the highest-ranking non-royal family in England and hereditary holders of the title of [Earl Marshal](/source/Earl_Marshal), is considered the most prominent Catholic family in England. Other members of the Howard family, the Earls of Carlisle, Effingham and Suffolk are Anglican, including a cadet branch of the Carlisles who own [Castle Howard](/source/Castle_Howard) in Yorkshire. Recusancy was historically focused in [Northern England](/source/Northern_England), especially in [Cumberland](/source/Cumberland), [Lancashire](/source/Lancashire), [Yorkshire](/source/Yorkshire) and [Westmoreland](/source/Westmorland). A geographical exception was a branch of the Welds from [Shropshire](/source/Shropshire) who migrated via London to [Oxfordshire](/source/Oxfordshire) and [Dorset](/source/Dorset). The three sons of Sir [John Weld](/source/John_Weld_(merchant)) (1585–1622), founder of the [Weld Chapel](/source/Weld_Chapel) in [Southgate](/source/Southgate%2C_London), all married into recusant families and were technically "converts" in the 1640s. The eldest, [Humphrey](/source/Humphrey_Weld_(of_Lulworth)), began a lineage, referred to as the "Lulworth Welds".{{cite web| url =https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1660-1690/member/weld-%28wild%29-humphrey-1612-85|title=Weld (Wild), Humphrey (1612–85), of Lulworth Castle, Dorset and Weld House, St. Giles in the Fields, Mdx.| publisher= History of Parliament Online| access-date = 2 September 2020 }} They became connected by marriage to Catholic families across the kingdom, including the [Arundells](/source/Baron_Arundell_of_Wardour), [Blundells](/source/Weld-Blundell_family), [Cliffords](/source/Baron_Clifford_of_Chudleigh), [Erringtons](/source/Errington_(surname)), [Gillows](/source/Joseph_Gillow), [Haydocks](/source/Christopher_Haydock), [Petres](/source/Baron_Petre), [Ropers](/source/Baron_Teynham), [Shireburns](/source/Maria_Howard%2C_Duchess_of_Norfolk), [Smythes](/source/Maria_Fitzherbert), [Stourtons](/source/Baron_Stourton), [Throckmortons](/source/Throckmorton_baronets), [Fitzherberts](/source/FitzHerbert_baronets), [Vaughans](/source/Vaughan_(surname)) and [Vavasours](/source/Vavasour_family).''Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry'', Volume 2. H. Colburn, 1847. pp. 1545–1546 view on line [https://books.google.com/books?id=0NEKAAAAYAAJ&dq=Issue+of+Thomas+Weld%2C+Lulworth&pg=PA1545] The [Acton (also known as Dalberg-Acton and Lyon-Dalberg-Acton)](/source/Baron_Acton) family is another well-known recusant family. ===Individuals=== [[File:Cobbe portrait of Shakespeare.jpg|thumb|160px|right|[William Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare) came from a family background of English Catholic recusants.]] Although [William Shakespeare](/source/William_Shakespeare) (1564–1616) and his immediate family were conforming members of the established Church of England, Shakespeare's mother, [Mary Arden](/source/Mary_Shakespeare), was a member of a particularly conspicuous and determinedly Catholic family in [Warwickshire](/source/Warwickshire).{{cite book |last=Ackroyd |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Ackroyd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2tq0gqtNuEEC |title=Shakespeare: the Biography |publisher=[Chatto and Windus](/source/Chatto_and_Windus) |year=2005 |isbn=1856197263 |location=London |page=29}} Some scholars also believe there is evidence that several members of Shakespeare's family were secretly recusant Catholics. The strongest evidence is a tract professing secret Catholicism signed by [John Shakespeare](/source/John_Shakespeare), father of the poet. The tract was found in the 18th century in the rafters of a house which had once been John Shakespeare's and was seen and described by the reputable scholar [Edmond Malone](/source/Edmond_Malone). Malone later changed his mind and declared that he thought the tract was a forgery.Quoted in Schoenbaum (1977: 49) "In my conjecture concerning the writer of that paper I certainly was mistaken". Although the document has since been lost, [Anthony Holden](/source/Anthony_Holden) writes that Malone's reported wording of the tract is linked to a testament written by [Charles Borromeo](/source/Charles_Borromeo) and circulated in England by [Edmund Campion](/source/Edmund_Campion), copies of which still exist in Italian and English.[Holden, Anthony](/source/Anthony_Holden). [http://www.hbgusa.com/books/64/0316518492/chapter_excerpt10046.html ''William Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Genius''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071215022745/http://www.hbgusa.com/books/64/0316518492/chapter_excerpt10046.html|date=2007-12-15 }}. [Little, Brown](/source/Little%2C_Brown_and_Company) (2000). Other research, however, suggests that the Borromeo testament is a 17th-century artefact (at the earliest dating from 1638), was not printed for missionary work, and could never have been in the possession of John Shakespeare.Bearman, R. (''2003'') "John Shakespeare's Spiritual Testament, a reappraisal", ''[Shakespeare Survey](/source/Shakespeare_Survey) 56,'' pp. 184–204. John Shakespeare was listed as one who did not attend church services, but this was "for feare of processe for Debtte", according to the commissioners, not because he was a recusant.Mutschmann, H. and Wentersdorf, K., (1952) ''Shakespeare and Catholicism'', [Sheed and Ward](/source/Sheed_and_Ward): New York, p. 401. Another notable English Catholic, possibly a convert,Harley, John. (1998) "New Light on William Byrd", ''[Music and Letters](/source/Music_and_Letters)'', p. {{nbsp}}79, pp. 475–488. was composer [William Byrd](/source/William_Byrd). Some of Byrd's most popular ''[motet](/source/motet)s'' are theorised to have been written for the recusant communities in England, often lamenting the state of England and hoping to a return to Catholicism; a number of such motets were published in the two volumes of ''Cantiones Sacrae'' of 1589 and 1591. Byrd also shared correspondence with the Spanish composer [Philippe de Monte](/source/Philippe_de_Monte), with a popular story telling that the Spanish composer sent Byrd a motet in eight parts, set to verses of [Psalm 137](/source/Psalm_137), and Byrd responded by setting a number of following verses. [Dorothy Lawson](/source/Dorothy_Lawson_(recusant)) was a Catholic noblewoman who used her autonomy, financial independence and social status as a widow to harbour priests in her household.{{Cite ODNB |title=Lawson [née Constable], Dorothy (1580–1632), recusant and priest harbourer |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-69034 |access-date=2024-10-19 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/69034}} She was a patroness of the [Society of Jesus](/source/Jesuits), who met yearly at her home to discuss the mission in England, employed Catholic servants, held religious services for the local community,{{Cite journal |last=Binczewski |first=Jennifer |date=May 2020 |title=Power in vulnerability: widows and priest holes in the early modern English Catholic community |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-catholic-history/article/abs/power-in-vulnerability-widows-and-priest-holes-in-the-early-modern-english-catholic-community/EABBCC91FF5731F00888290BFB6628CF |journal=British Catholic History |language=en |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=1–24 |doi=10.1017/bch.2020.1 |issn=2055-7973|url-access=subscription }} and visited recusants who were imprisoned in gaol for their beliefs. Her children were raised in the Catholic faith. Three daughters entered convents on the continent and a son attended a [seminary](/source/seminary) in [Douai](/source/Douai).{{Cite web |date=2019-09-01 |title=Dorothy of Heaton - Heaton History Group |url=https://heatonhistorygroup.org/2019/09/01/dorothy-of-heaton/ |access-date=2024-10-19 |website=heatonhistorygroup.org |language=en-GB}} The Jacobean poet [John Donne](/source/John_Donne) was another notable Englishman born into a recusant Catholic family.{{cite news|first=Simon|last=Schama|author-link=Simon Schama|title=Simon Schama's John Donne|date=26 May 2009|publisher=[BBC2](/source/BBC2)|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo|access-date=18 June 2009}} He later, however, authored two Protestant-leaning writings and, at the behest of King [James I](/source/James_VI_and_I), was ordained into the Church of England.Kunitz, Stanley; Haycraft, Howard, eds. (1952). ''[British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary](/source/iarchive%3Abritishauthorsbe00kuni).'' New York: Wilson. pp. 156–158. {{ISBN|978-0-8242-0006-0}}. [Guy Fawkes](/source/Guy_Fawkes), an Englishman and a Spanish soldier,{{Cite web |date=2023-07-06 |title=What do Catholics do on Guy Fawkes night? {{!}} Notes and Queries {{!}} guardian.co.uk |website=[TheGuardian.com](/source/TheGuardian.com) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18627,00.html |access-date=2024-10-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230706132929/https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-18627,00.html |archive-date=2023-07-06 }} along with other recusants or converts, including, among others, Sir [Robert Catesby](/source/Robert_Catesby), [Christopher Wright](/source/Christopher_Wright_(plotter)), [John Wright](/source/John_Wright_(Gunpowder_Plot)) and [Thomas Percy](/source/Thomas_Percy_(plotter)), was arrested and charged with [attempting to blow up the King and Parliament](/source/Gunpowder_Plot) on 5 November 1605. The plot was uncovered and most of the plotters, who were recusants or converts, were tried and executed. ==Other countries== The term "recusancy" is primarily applied to English, Scottish, and Welsh Catholics, but there were other instances in Europe. The vast majority of native [Irish](/source/Irish_people), while subjects of the [British Crown](/source/British_Crown), rejected both the reformed [Church of Ireland](/source/Church_of_Ireland) and the dissenting churches, remaining loyal to the Catholic Church, suffering the same penalties as recusants in [Great Britain](/source/Great_Britain). The situation was exacerbated by land claims, paramilitary violence, and ethnic antagonisms on all sides.Burton, Edwin, Edward D'Alton, and Jarvis Kelley. ''[1911 Catholic Encyclopedia](/source/Catholic_Encyclopedia), Penal Laws III: Ireland''. Recusancy in [Scandinavia](/source/Scandinavia) is not considered to have survived much past the period of the [Liturgical Struggle](/source/Liturgical_Struggle) until anti-Catholicism lessened towards the end of the 18th century and freedom of religion was re-established in the mid-19th century (although there were individual cases of Catholic sympathies occurring even in the 17th and 18th centuries). Notable converts were [Christina, Queen of Sweden](/source/Christina%2C_Queen_of_Sweden),Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "[Christina Alexandra](/source/wikisource%3ACatholic_Encyclopedia_(1913)%2FChristina_Alexandra)". ''[Catholic Encyclopedia](/source/Catholic_Encyclopedia)''. New York: Robert Appleton Company. daughter of [Gustavus Adolphus](/source/Gustavus_Adolphus); and [Sigrid Undset](/source/Sigrid_Undset), Nobel Prize-winning author of ''[Kristin Lavransdatter](/source/Kristin_Lavransdatter)''. The number of ethnic Swedes who are Catholic is fewer than 40,000, and includes [Anders Arborelius](/source/Anders_Arborelius), a convert and the first Swedish Bishop since the Reformation. In 2017, he was made a cardinal.{{citation needed|date=December 2022}} ==See also== *[Cæsar Clement](/source/C%C3%A6sar_Clement) *[Catholic Church in the United Kingdom](/source/Catholic_Church_in_the_United_Kingdom) ** [Catholic Church in England and Wales](/source/Catholic_Church_in_England_and_Wales) ** [Catholic Church in Scotland](/source/Catholic_Church_in_Scotland) * [Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège](/source/Colleges_of_St_Omer%2C_Bruges_and_Li%C3%A8ge) * [Crypto-papism](/source/Crypto-papism) * [Dissenter](/source/Dissenter) ** [English Dissenters](/source/English_Dissenters) * [Dowry of Mary](/source/Dowry_of_Mary) * [List of Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation](/source/List_of_Catholic_martyrs_of_the_English_Reformation) * [Nonconformism](/source/Nonconformist_(Protestantism)) * [Papist](/source/Papist) * [Priest hole](/source/Priest_hole) * [Catholic (term)](/source/Roman_Catholic_(term)) * [Catholic Church in Ireland](/source/Catholic_Church_in_Ireland) ** [Recusancy in Ireland](/source/Recusancy_in_Ireland) ==References== {{Reflist|33em}} ==External links== {{Wiktionary|recusant|recusancy}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20120314054016/http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/tvp/tvpcontents.htm "Thames Valley Papists" (by Tony Hadland), ''Reformation to Emancipation, 1534–1829''] (published 1992; {{ISBN|0-9507431-4-3}}; the 2001 electronic version added illustrations) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20071012141720/http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~hadland/tvp/agnussk.gif "Lyford Grange Agnus Dei"], Global Net, banned Papal medallion, hidden in roof timbers for 400 years, found in 1959. * {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Recusant |volume= 22 |page= 967}} Category:Recusants Category:Anti-Catholicism in England Category:Anti-Catholicism in Ireland Category:Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom Category:History of the Church of England Category:History of Catholicism in England Category:Roman Catholic families --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Recusancy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recusancy) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recusancy?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.