Contumacy Definition & Meaning

Origin of Contumacy

Middle English contumacie from Latin contumācia from contumāx contumāc- insolent

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

For this act of contumacy the king and kingdom were placed under interdict.
The pretext was the contumacy shown by the Locrian town Amphissa to the rulings of the Amphictyonic Council.
His long-deserved humiliation only began in the Winter of 1212-1213, when Innocent III., finding him so utterly callous as to the interdict, took the further step of declaring John does him deposed from the throne for contumacy, and the pope.
But the Druses still refused to pay taxes, to serve in the Ottoman army, or to recognize the kaimakam, and maintained their contumacy under the lead of the Jumblat, till 1896; when, as the result of a military expedition under Tahir Pasha and a great defeat at Ijun, a compromise was arrived at, under which the Druses agreed to pay taxes, but to serve in their own territory only as a frontier guard.
In 1592 parliament " ratified the liberty of the true kirk," leaving little liberty for king and state, since, in the phrase of one preacher, " the king might be excommunicated in case of contumacy and disobedience to the will of God," as interpreted by the ministers.

Find similar words to contumacy using the buttons below.