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In the history of England, recusancy was a term used to describe the statutory offence of not complying with the established 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 I 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Recusants were subject to various civil disabilities and penalties under English penal laws, most of which were repealed during the Regency and reign of George IV (1811–30). 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 confessions derived from the Calvinistic Reformers or Radical Reformers, although with their growth after the restoration of Charles II these groups were later distinguished as nonconformist or dissenters.

Insofar as the term is used of people living today, Recusant tends to be applied to the descendants of continuously Catholic gentry families. Although most contemporary English Roman Catholics are at least partly descended from immigrants into England (particularly from Ireland) or converts, Catholicism remained the majority religion in various pockets, notably rural Lancashire and Cumbria. Some English-speaking sedevacantist Catholics use the term to describe their movement.

The Dukes of Norfolk, whose surname is 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.

Other recusant families include Ainscough, Throckmorton, Cary-Elwes or Elwes, Berkeley (of Spetchley), De Lisle, Weld, Weld-Blundell (or Weld Blundell), Ward, Holman, Fitzherbert (of Swynnerton), Fitzherbert-Brockholes, De Trafford (or de Trafford), Trappes-Lomax (Trappes of Nidd), Stourton, Vavasour (family), Clifford (of Chudleigh), Bedingfeld, Petre (some branches), Scarisbrick (some branches), Stukley (also spelled as Stucley, Stukely, Stukeley), Swarbrick, Talbot, Hornyold, Towneley and Stonor, as well as branches of non-wealthy families with such surnames as Pope, Payne, Wilson, Young, Simpson, Blount, and Turner, among others. In Wales, the few recusant families include the Herberts of Treowen, the Morgans of Llantarnam, and the Vaughans of Courtfield (of the family of Cardinal Vaughan).

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of wealthy families converted or re-converted to Roman Catholicism, including branches of the Bellingham (Ireland), Fraser (Scotland), Lane-Fox, Noel (Gainsborough), Radcliffe (England), Crichton-Stuart (Scotland) and Strickland (Malta) families, and provided the Church with much-needed financial support.

Conversely, some old recusant families, like the earls of Shrewsbury, the viscounts Gage, and the Giffards of Chillington, embraced Anglicanism.

The principal growth in the numbers of Roman Catholics in modern England has been through immigration (in the past most notably the Irish, and in the last few years notably from Poland) and not dramatically through conversion (although there has been a steady flow of Anglican lay people and clergy into the Catholic church over the last two decades). Nonetheless, those who self-identify as English are second only to the Irish in membership in the Roman Catholic Church in the UK.^{[citation needed]}

A noteworthy recusant was composer William Byrd. Some of Byrd's most popular motets were actually written as a type of correspondence to a friend and fellow composer, Philip de Monte, who wrote his own motets in response, such as the Super Flumina Babylonis. These correspondence motets often feature themes of oppression or the hope of deliverance.

One infamous recusant was Guy Fawkes (aka Guido Fawkes), an English soldier, who was arrested while attempting to carry out the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament on 5 November 1605.

Others include a large proportion of Jacobites, such as the Earl of Derwentwater, particularly those ennobled in the Jacobite Peerage.

• Priest hole

• This article incorporates text from the public domain 1907 edition of The Nuttall Encyclopædia.

• "English Recusants". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
• Thames Valley Papists from Reformation to Emancipation 1534 - 1829 by Tony Hadland (published 1992 in hard copy as ISBN 0950743143, electronic version of 2001 added illustrations).
• Lyford Grange Agnus Dei a banned Papal medallion, hidden in roof timbers for 400 years, found in 1959.