The recusant view of the English past

Abstract

The English roman catholic, or recusant, community of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries has proved to be of considerable interest to historians in recent years for political, economic, and social reasons. But the community was intellectually important, too, having produced theological and devotional works which had a considerable impact upon the reading public, protestant as well as roman catholic, in England and on the continent. The recusants, however, were not content to argue their case on the basis of theology and the scriptures, but turned, as cardinal Baronius and cardinal Bellarmine were doing during these years, to the evidence of history. It was by no means the least of their achievements - though it is one which has been little noted - that they developed a distinctive view of their nation’s past and helped to launch an intensive investigation of some of the most important problems in English ecclesiastical history.