Recusancy
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Recusancy(fromLatin:recusare,lit. 'to refuse'[2]) was the state of those who remained loyal to theCatholic Churchand refused to attendChurch of Englandservices after theEnglish Reformation.[3]
The1558 Recusancy Actspassed in the reign ofElizabeth I,and temporarily repealed in theInterregnum (1649–1660),remained on the statute books until 1888.[4]They imposed punishments such as fines, property confiscation and imprisonment on recusants.[5]The suspension underOliver Cromwellwas mainly intended to give relief tononconformingProtestants 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 toCatholicismfacedcapital punishment,[7]and some English and Welsh Catholics who were executed in the 16th and 17th centuries have beencanonisedby the Catholic Church asmartyrs of the English Reformation.[8]
Definition[edit]
Today,recusantapplies to the descendants of Roman Catholic families of the Britishgentryandaristocracy.It derives from the Latin wordrecūsant,meaning to demur or object.
History[edit]
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.Catholicsformed 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 ChristiansorProtestant dissentersfrom theChurch of Englandwere later labelled "recusants" as well. Recusancy laws were in force from the reign ofElizabeth Ito that ofGeorge III,but were not always enforced with equal intensity.[9]
The first statute to address sectarian dissent from England'sofficial religionwas 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 underJamesIandCharles I,as well as laws defining other offences deemed to be acts of recusancy. Recusants were subject to variouscivil disabilitiesand penalties under Englishpenal laws,most of which were repealed during theRegencyand the reign ofGeorge IV(1811–30).The Nuttall Encyclopædianotes thatDissenterswere largely forgiven by theAct of Tolerationunder WilliamIII, while Catholics "were not entirely emancipated till 1829".[10]
Early recusants includedProtestant dissenters,whoseconfessionsderived from theCalvinisticReformers orRadical Reformers.With the growth of these latter groups after theRestorationofCharlesII,they were distinguished from Catholic recusants by the terms "nonconformist" or "dissenter". The recusant period reaped anextensiveharvest ofsaints and martyrs.
Among the recusants were some high-profile Catholic aristocrats such as theHowardsand, for a time, thePlantagenet-descendedBeauforts.This patronage ensured that an organic and rootedEnglish basecontinued to inform the country's Catholicism.
In theEnglish-speaking world,theDouay-Rheims Biblewas translated from theLatin Vulgateby expatriate recusants inRheims, France,in 1582 (New Testament) and inDouai, Francein 1609 (Old Testament). It was revised by BishopRichard Challonerin 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 Bibleand theJerusalem Bibleto theRevised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition.
Prominent historical Catholics in the United Kingdom[edit]
Recusant families[edit]
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 Howardin Yorkshire. Recusancy was historically focused inNorthern England,particularlyCumberland,Lancashire,YorkshireandWestmoreland.A geographical exception was a branch of the Welds fromShropshirewho migrated via London toOxfordshireandDorset.The three sons of SirJohn Weld(1585–1622), founder of theWeld ChapelinSouthgate,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,VaughansandVavasours.[12]TheActon (also known as Dalberg-Acton and Lyon-Dalberg-Acton)family is another well-known recusant family.
Individuals[edit]
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 Holdenwrites that Malone's reported wording of the tract is linked to a testament written byCharles Borromeoand 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 popularmotetswere 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.
The Jacobean poetJohn Donnewas another notable Englishman born into a recusant Catholic family.[19]He later, however, authored two Protestant leaning writings and, at the behest of KingJames I,was ordained into the Church of England.
Guy Fawkes,an Englishman and a Spanish soldier, along with other recusants or converts, including, among others, SirRobert Catesby,Christopher Wright,John WrightandThomas Percy,was arrested and charged withattempting to blow up Parliamenton 5 November 1605. The plot was uncovered and most of the plotters, who were recusants or converts, were tried and executed.
Other countries[edit]
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 subject to theBritish crown,rejected both the reformedChurch of Irelandand the dissenting churches, remaining loyal to the Roman 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.[20]
Recusancy inScandinaviais not considered to have survived much past the period of theLiturgical Struggleuntil 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,daughter ofGustavus Adolphus;andSigrid Undset,Nobel Prize-winning author ofKristin Lavransdatter.The number of ethnic Swedes who are Roman 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]
See also[edit]
- Cæsar Clement
- Catholic Church in the United Kingdom
- Colleges of St Omer, Bruges and Liège
- Crypto-papism
- Dissenter
- Dowry of Mary
- Nonconformism
- Papist
- Priest hole
- Roman Catholic (term)
- Catholic Church in Ireland
References[edit]
- ^Magee, Brian (1938).The English Recusants: A Study of the Post-Reformation Catholic Survival and the Operation of the Recusancy Laws.London:Burns, Oates & Washbourne.OL14028100M– viaInternet Archive.
- ^Burton, E. (1911)."English Recusants",The Catholic Encyclopedia.New York:Robert Appleton Company;retrieved 11 September 2013 fromNew Advent
- ^Collins, William Edward(2008).The English Reformation and Its Consequences.BiblioLife.p. 256.ISBN978-0-559-75417-3.
- ^Spurr, John (1998).English Puritanism, 1603–1689.Palgrave Macmillan.p. 117.ISBN978-0-333-60189-1.
- ^See for example the text of theAct of Uniformity 1559
- ^Wood, Rev. James.The Nutall Encyclopædia,London, 1920, p.537
- ^O'Malley, John W.;et al. (2001).Early modern Catholicism: Essays in Honour of John W. O'Malley, S.J.University of Toronto Press.p. 149.ISBN978-0-8020-8417-0.
- ^Alban Butler;David Hugh Farmer (1996).Butler's Lives of the Saints: May.Burns & Oates.p. 22.ISBN0-86012-254-9.
- ^Roland G. Usher,The Rise and Fall of the High Commission(Oxford, 1968 reprint ed.), pp.17–18.
- ^Wood, Rev. James.The Nutall Encyclopædia,London, 1920, p.537.
- ^"Weld (Wild), Humphrey (1612–85), of Lulworth Castle, Dorset and Weld House, St. Giles in the Fields, Mdx".History of Parliament Online.Retrieved2 September2020.
- ^Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry,Volume 2. H. Colburn, 1847. pp. 1545–1546 view on line[1]
- ^Ackroyd, Peter(2005).Shakespeare: the Biography.London:Chatto and Windus.p. 29.ISBN1856197263.
- ^Quoted in Schoenbaum (1977: 49) "In my conjecture concerning the writer of that paper I certainly was mistaken".
- ^Holden, Anthony.William Shakespeare: The Man Behind the GeniusArchived2007-12-15 at theWayback Machine.Little, Brown(2000).
- ^Bearman, R., "John Shakespeare's Spiritual Testament, a reappraisal",Shakespeare Survey56 [2003]pp. 184–204.
- ^Mutschmann, H. and Wentersdorf, K.,Shakespeare and Catholicism,Sheed and Ward:New York, 1952, p. 401.
- ^John Harley. "New Light on William Byrd",Music and Letters,p.79 (1998), pp. 475–488
- ^Schama, Simon(26 May 2009)."Simon Schama's John Donne".BBC2.Retrieved18 June2009.
- ^Burton, Edwin, Edward D'Alton, and Jarvis Kelley.1911 Catholic Encyclopedia,Penal Laws III: Ireland.
External links[edit]
- "Thames Valley Papists" (by Tony Hadland),Reformation to Emancipation, 1534–1829(published 1992;ISBN0-9507431-4-3;the 2001 electronic version added illustrations)
- "Lyford Grange Agnus Dei",Global Net, banned Papal medallion, hidden in roof timbers for 400 years, found in 1959.
- Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)..Encyclopædia Britannica.Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 967.
