What is recusant?

A recusant, derived from the Latin recusare (to refuse), was a person who refused to attend services of the <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Church%20of%20England">Church of England</a> between 1558 and 1791. The term was first used during the reign of <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Elizabeth%20I">Elizabeth I</a>, who enacted laws requiring attendance at Anglican services.

Recusancy primarily applied to <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Roman%20Catholics">Roman Catholics</a>, who refused to attend services considered heretical. However, Protestant nonconformists, such as <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Puritans">Puritans</a> and <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Separatists">Separatists</a>, could also be classified as recusants if they refused to conform to the <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Anglican">Anglican</a> religious practices.

Recusants faced fines, imprisonment, and other penalties for their non-attendance. <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Recusancy%20laws">Recusancy laws</a> were enforced to varying degrees depending on the political climate and the monarch's disposition toward religious dissent. Over time, laws against recusancy were gradually relaxed, with full religious toleration for Catholics in Great Britain not achieved until the <a href="https://www.wikiwhat.page/kavramlar/Roman%20Catholic%20Relief%20Act%201829">Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829</a>.