Crossword clues for recusancy
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Recusancy \Re*cu"san*cy\ (r?*k?"zan*s? or r?k"?-), n.
The state of being recusant; nonconformity.
--Coke.
Wiktionary
n. 1 obstinate refusal or opposition. 2 The state of being a recusant; nonconformity.
WordNet
n. refusal to submit to established authority; originally the refusal of Roman Catholics to attend services of the Church of England
Wikipedia
In the history of England and Wales, recusancy was the state of those who refused to attend Anglican services; these individuals were known as recusants. The term, which derives ultimately from the Latin recusare (to refuse or make an objection) was first used to refer to those who remained loyal to the Roman Catholic Church and did not attend Church of England services, with a 1593 statute determining the penalties against "Popish recusants".
The "Recusancy Acts" began during the reign of Elizabeth I and were repealed in 1650. They imposed various types of punishment on those who did not participate in Anglican religious activity, such as fines, property confiscation, and imprisonment. The repeal under Oliver Cromwell was mainly intended to give relief to nonconforming Protestants rather than to Catholics, and despite the repeal of the Recusancy Acts, restrictions against Roman Catholics were still in place until full Catholic Emancipation in 1829. In some cases those adhering to Catholicism faced capital punishment, and a number of English and Welsh Catholics executed in the 16th and 17th centuries have been canonised by the Catholic Church as martyrs of the English Reformation.
Usage examples of "recusancy".
As a result, the imposition of fines, as with so much to do with recusancy, largely depended on local administration.
Three days later a proclamation ordered all Jesuits and priests out of the realm, while the fines for recusancy were once more imposed.
At one point, when he was convicted for recusancy, Henry even set up a secret press in prison.
He was also a Catholic convert, whose life had come to be defined by his recusancy, but at this point it was the kind of religion of which Father Garnet would have approved: acquiescing in the status quo, trusting in God to bring about the conversion of England in His own good time.
Hindlip was traditionally one of the safest Catholic houses, in spite of the known recusancy of Thomas Habington, himself a convicted conspirator in the previous reign.