ABSTRACT
The women of English recusant 1 families from 1560 to 1640 formed a distinct group. The state found it necessary to attempt to devise special measures to control them, and their church recognized their special role in the evolution of Catholicism in England. They are probably better documented than other women of the period, but the documentation available relates almost entirely to those who internalized the teachings of their religion and whose behaviour was rooted in, and sustained by, that assent. Even the documentation in public records arises from the attempts of the state to control those who refused to compromise. Thus the evidence is biased to reveal those women who were vigorous, active and capable of making an impression. No doubt such women were a minority within the overall spectrum of Catholic women of the period, but a study of this special group of the committed nevertheless reveals something of the attitudes of the state and of the Roman Catholic Church to women in general.
