"Recusant convict" was a phrase frequently used in the English penal laws. It literally referred to people who had been convicted of recusancy, i.e., of not conforming to the established church. If a person didn't conform to the established church but had not been convicted of non-conformity, they were simply recusants. Some of the penal laws applied only to "recusants convict" and not to plain old recusants. There's a discussion of the penal laws in England, Scotland, Ireland, and the colonies in the Catholic Encyclopedia, available online for free at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11611c.htm It at least lays out most of the laws, although it is very dated and doesn't reflect the scholarship of the past several decades showing how lax and selective enforcement mitigated the harshness of the laws. For an article on relief from the penal laws in England and Ireland, see: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13123a.htm Bea Hardy Beatriz B. Hardy, Director Special Collections Research Center Earl Gregg Swem Library College of William and Mary PO Box 8794 Williamsburg, VA 23187-8794 757-221-3054 To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html