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Recusancy (fromLatin:recusare,lit. 'to refuse'[2]) was the state of those who remained loyal to theCatholic Church and refused to attendChurch of England services after theEnglish Reformation.[3]
The1558 Recusancy Acts passed in the reign ofElizabeth I, and temporarily repealed in theInterregnum (1649–1660), remained on the statute books until 1888.[4] They imposed punishments such as fines, property confiscation and imprisonment onrecusants.[5] The suspension underOliver Cromwell was mainly intended to give relief toNonconformist Protestants rather than to Catholics, to whom some restrictions applied into the 1920s, through theAct of Settlement 1701, despite the 1828–1829Catholic emancipation.[6]
In some cases those adhering to Catholicism facedcapital punishment,[7] and some English and Welsh Catholics who were executed in the 16th and 17th centuries have beencanonised by the Catholic Church asmartyrs of the English Reformation.[8]
Today,recusant applies to the descendants of Catholic families of the Britishgentry andaristocracy.
After theEnglish Reformation, from the 16th to the 19th centuries those guilty of suchnonconformity, termed "recusants", were subject to civil penalties and sometimes, especially in the earlier part of that period, to criminal penalties.Catholics 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 ofReformed Christians orProtestant dissenters from theChurch of England were later labelled "recusants" as well. Recusancy laws were in force from the reign ofElizabeth I to that ofGeorge III, but were not always enforced with equal intensity.[9]
The first statute to address sectarian dissent from England'sofficial 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
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 underJames I andCharles I, as well as laws defining other offences deemed to be acts of recusancy. Recusants were subject to variouscivil disabilities and penalties under Englishpenal laws, most of which were repealed during theRegency and the reign ofGeorge IV (1811–30).The Nuttall Encyclopædia notes thatDissenters were largely forgiven by theAct of Toleration under William III, while Catholics "were not entirely emancipated till 1829".[10]
Early recusants includedProtestant dissenters, whoseconfessions derived from theCalvinistic Reformers orRadical Reformers. With the growth of these latter groups after theRestoration ofCharles II, they were distinguished from Catholic recusants by the terms "nonconformist" or "dissenter". The recusant period reaped anextensive harvest ofsaints and martyrs.
Among the recusants were some high-profile Catholic aristocrats such as theHowards and, for a time, thePlantagenet-descendedBeauforts. This patronage ensured that an organic and rootedEnglish base continued to inform the country's Catholicism.
In theEnglish-speaking world, theDouay-Rheims Bible was translated from theLatin Vulgate by expatriate recusants inRheims, France, in 1582 (New Testament) and inDouai, France in 1609 (Old Testament). It was revised by BishopRichard Challoner in the years 1749–52. AfterDivino afflante Spiritu, translations multiplied in the Catholic world (just as they multiplied in the Protestant world around the same time beginning with theRevised Standard Version). Various other translations were used by Catholics around the world for English-language liturgies, ranging from theNew American Bible and theJerusalem Bible to theRevised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition.
There were dozens of recusant families, some no longer extant. For example, theHoward family, some of whose members are known as Fitzalan-Howard, theDukes of Norfolk, the highest-ranking non-royal family in England and hereditary holders of the title ofEarl 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 ownCastle Howard in Yorkshire. Recusancy was historically focused inNorthern England, particularlyCumberland,Lancashire,Yorkshire andWestmoreland. A geographical exception was a branch of the Welds fromShropshire who migrated via London toOxfordshire andDorset. The three sons of SirJohn Weld (1585–1622), founder of theWeld Chapel inSouthgate, all married into recusant families and were technically "converts" in the 1640s. The eldest,Humphrey, began a lineage, referred to as the "Lulworth Welds".[11] They became connected by marriage to Catholic families across the kingdom, including theArundells,Blundells,Cliffords,Erringtons,Gillows,Haydocks,Petres,Ropers,Shireburns,Smythes,Stourtons,Throckmortons,Vaughans andVavasours.[12] TheActon (also known as Dalberg-Acton and Lyon-Dalberg-Acton) family is another well-known recusant family.
AlthoughWilliam Shakespeare (1564–1616) and his immediate family were conforming members of the established Church of England, Shakespeare's mother,Mary Arden, was a member of a particularly conspicuous and determinedly Catholic family inWarwickshire.[13]
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 byJohn 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 scholarEdmond Malone. Malone later changed his mind and declared that he thought the tract was a forgery.[14] Although the document has since been lost,Anthony Holden writes that Malone's reported wording of the tract is linked to a testament written byCharles Borromeo and circulated in England byEdmund Campion, copies of which still exist in Italian and English.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17]
Another notable English Catholic, possibly a convert,[18] was composerWilliam Byrd. Some of Byrd's most popularmotets were actually written as a type of correspondence to a friend and fellow composer,Philippe de Monte. De Monte wrote his own motets in response, such as the "Super Flumina Babylonis". These correspondence motets often featured themes of oppression or the hope of deliverance.
Dorothy Lawson was a Catholic noblewoman who used her autonomy, financial independence and social status as a widow to harbour priests in her household.[19] She was a patroness of theSociety of Jesus, who met yearly at her home to discuss the mission in England, employed Catholic servants, held religious services for the local community,[20] 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 aseminary inDouai.[21]
The Jacobean poetJohn Donne was another notable Englishman born into a recusant Catholic family.[22] He later, however, authored two Protestant-leaning writings and, at the behest of KingJames I, was ordained into the Church of England.[23]
Guy Fawkes, an Englishman and a Spanish soldier,[24] along with other recusants or converts, including, among others, SirRobert Catesby,Christopher Wright,John Wright andThomas Percy, was arrested and charged withattempting to blow up the King and Parliament on 5 November 1605. The plot was uncovered and most of the plotters, who were recusants or converts, were tried and executed.
The term "recusancy" is primarily applied to English, Scottish, and Welsh Catholics, but there were other instances in Europe. The vast majority of nativeIrish, while subjects of theBritish Crown, rejected both the reformedChurch of Ireland and the dissenting churches, remaining loyal to the Catholic Church, suffering the same penalties as recusants inGreat Britain. The situation was exacerbated by land claims, paramilitary violence, and ethnic antagonisms on all sides.[25]
Recusancy inScandinavia is not considered to have survived much past the period of theLiturgical 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 wereChristina, Queen of Sweden,[26] daughter ofGustavus Adolphus; andSigrid Undset, Nobel Prize-winning author ofKristin Lavransdatter. The number of ethnic Swedes who are Catholic is fewer than 40,000, and includesAnders Arborelius, a convert and the first Swedish Bishop since the Reformation. In 2017, he was made a cardinal.[citation needed]
