In the history of England, recusancy was a term used to describe the statutory offence of not complying with the establishment of the Church of England. From the 16th to the 19th century recusants were subject to civil penalties and sometimes, especially in the earlier part of that period, to criminal penalties. Roman Catholics formed a large proportion of recusants, and were those to whom the term initially was applied, but other non-Catholic groups who dissented from the Church of England were, later, also labeled recusants. The recusancy laws were in force from the reign of Elizabeth to that of George III, though not always enforced with equal intensity.

The first statute to address sectarian dissent was issued in 1593 under Elizabeth I and specifically targeted Roman 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 also targeted Roman Catholic recusants, including statutes passed under James I and Charles I, as well as laws defining other offenses deemed acts of recusancy.

Recusants were subject to various civil disabilities and penalties under English penal laws, most of which were repealed during the regency and reign of George IV in the early 19th century. The Nuttall Encyclopaedia notes that Dissenters were forgiven by the Toleration Act of William III, while Roman Catholics "were not entirely emancipated till 1829".

Early recusants included Protestant dissenters whose faiths derived from fundamentalist movements, although with their growth after the restoration of Charles II, these groups were later distinguished as nonconformist.

Recusant today tends to apply to the very small number of English Roman Catholics who are neither converts nor descended from immigrants, although some English-speaking sedevacantist Catholics have attempted to adopt the term to describe their own movement.

The Dukes of Norfolk (Howard (Fitzalan-Howard)) are probably the most prominent recusant family, while recusancy has been historically focused in Northern England. The Acton (also known as Acton-Dalberg) family is also well-known. Lord Acton authored the now famous maxim: "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Some of the other recusant families include the Throckmorton, Cary-Elwes or Elwes, Weld , Weld-Blundell, Ward, Holman, Pope, Fitzherbert-Brockholes, De Trafford (or de Trafford), Stourton, Vavasour, Clifford (of Chudleigh), Bedingfeld, Petre (some branches), Scarisbrick (some branches), Talbot, Hornyold, Towneley and Stonor families, as well as branches of non-wealthy families with such popular surnames as Payne, Wilson, Young, Simpson, Blount, Vaughan and Turner, among others.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of wealthy families converted to Roman Catholicism, including branches of the Bellingham (Ireland), Fraser (Scotland), Noel (Gainsborough), Radcliffe (England), Crichton-Stuart (Scotland) and Strickland (Malta) families, and provided the Church with much-needed financial support. But these would not be described as recusant families because of the late date of their conversion. The principal growth in the numbers of Roman Catholics in modern England has arisen from immigration, and not conversion.

Source

External links

*Catholic Encyclopedia article

Recusancy