The study of the status of Catholics in England in pre-revolutionary decades of 17th century is one of important themes in contemporary British historiography. The Russian historiography has only outlined general approaches to these problems. There are no specialized works on this problem in Russian historiography. The author has examined the main works of contemporary British historians on the English Catholic community in 16th - first half of 17th centuries. The article shows the dynamics of the development of Catholicism in England in pre-revolutionary decades of 17th century and relations between different groups in English Catholic community and presents evaluations of the numerical size of Catholics in England in this period.