'No one can serve two masters’:1 Female recusancy and rebellion during the Elizabethan period by Maria Neary

In its literal sense ‘recusant’ means a person who refuses to submit to an authority or to comply with a regulation. In its historical setting, it applies to those who maintained an attachment to the Roman Catholic Church and who refused to attend Anglican services. This article will use a portrait of Catherine Neville, Lady Constable in comparison with the Earl of Northumberland’s confession following the 1569 Northern Rebellion to deduce what we can learn about the life of a recusant woman from the scant material and written evidence that remains.