Jump to content

Edmund Plowden

From Catholicism Wiki
Edmund Plowden
Member of the English Parliament
for Wallingford
In office
1553
Member of the English Parliament
for Reading
In office
1554
Member of the English Parliament
for Wootton Bassett
In office
1555
Personal details
Born 1519/20
Plowden Hall, Lydbury North, Shropshire
Died 6 February 1585
London
Resting place Temple Church
Spouse Catherine Sheldon
Children 5
Occupation lawyer, legal scholar and theorist

Edmund Plowden (1519/20[1] – 6 February 1585) was an English lawyer, legal scholar and theorist during the late Tudor period.

Early life

Plowden was born at Plowden Hall, Lydbury North, Shropshire. He was the son of Humphrey Plowden (1490–1557), by his wife, Elizabeth Sturry (died 1559), widow of William Wollascot, and daughter of John Sturry, Esq., of Rossall, Shropshire.[2] Educated at the University of Cambridge, he did not take a degree, and proceeded to the Middle Temple in 1538 to study law. Subsequent to studies at Oxford, he qualified as a surgeon and physician in 1552.[3]

Upon the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary, Plowden was appointed one of the Council of the Marches (of Wales). In 1553, he was elected Member of Parliament for Wallingford (then in Berkshire now in Oxfordshire), followed, in the next two years, by the same office for both Reading, Berkshire and then Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire.[1] He lived mostly at Shiplake Court in Oxfordshire and Wokefield Park in Berkshire. The unusual breadth of his religious views were shown early in his career when he, however, withdrew from the House, on 12 January 1555, because he disapproved of the proceedings there.

Recusant under Elizabeth

His Roman Catholicism prevented Plowden from further promotion under Queen Elizabeth I, and he was increasingly regarded with suspicion by members of the Privy Council. At the beginning of the reign he undertook the management of the Shropshire lands of Sir Francis Englefield, an important Catholic courtier under Mary who went into exile.[4] In 1567 Plowden, with Edward Saunders, became joint guardian of Englefield's nephew and heir, also Francis, through influence with the Earl of Pembroke.[1]

At one time, it is said, the queen wished to elevate Plowden to the Lord Chancellorship. Plowden declined, deprecating religious persecution. The occasion, according to the History of Parliament, could only have been the vacancy of 1578.[1] Plowden continued in the Queen's employ in his capacity as a lawyer.

He sought to assist those of his faith, including his defence of Robert Horne, Bishop of Winchester. In 1565 he defended Edmund Bonner, with William Lovelace and Christopher Wray.[5]

Death

Plowden died on 6 February 1585 in London and was buried in the Temple Church in London, where survives his monument and recumbent effigy.

"The case is altered"

"The case is altered" was a proverbial expression in the 17th century,[6] as well as the title of a 1609 play by Ben Jonson. As "the case is alter'd, quoth Plowden", it is attached to anecdotes. In one of them, while defending a gentleman charged with hearing Mass, Plowden worked out that the service had been performed by a layman for the sole purpose of informing against those present, and exclaimed, "The case is altered; no priest, no Mass", and thus secured an acquittal.[7]

Works

Plowden is noted today for his legal scholarship and theory, in his written works:

  • Les comentaries ou les reportes de Edmunde Plowden (1571) in law French. The Commentaries were abridged by Thomas Ashe (around 1597), and indexed by William Fleetwood.[8][9] They contained a report by Plowden on the legal status of the Duchy of Lancaster in relation to The Crown, and its settlement by Henry IV of England.[10] Plowden and Anthony Browne had, two decades earlier, formulated the theory of the King's Two Bodies to explain political arrangements; Ernst Kantorowicz has argued that this doctrine came to the fore in the 1560s, in debates over the status of the Duchy.[11]
  • Quares del Monsieur Plowden.

A Treatise on Succession attempted to prove that Mary, Queen of Scots, was not debarred from the English throne under Henry VIII's will.

Family

Plowden married Catherine Sheldon of Beoley, daughter of the Worcestershire Member of Parliament William Sheldon;[1] they had three sons and two daughters (Anne and Mary). Anne was the wife of Francis Perkins of Ufton, Berkshire, and Mary was the wife of Richard White of Hutton, Essex. Mary was also the mother of Thomas White.[12]

Plowden's sister Margaret inherited the Rossall estates and married Richard Sandford of Eglington. Plowden helped John Cole, husband of Alice Sandford, daughter of Richard, to gain the seat of Bishop's Castle in 1584.[13]

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Edmund Plowden — Born 1517-8; died in London, 6 Feb., 1584-5. Son of Humphrey Plowden of Plowden Hall, Shropshire, and Elizabeth his wife, educated at Cambridge, he took no degree. In 1538 he was called to the Middle Temple where he studied law so closely that he became the greatest lawyer of his age, as is testified by Camden, who says that "as he was singularly well learned in the common laws of England, whereof he deserved well by writing, so for integrity, of life he was second to no man of his profession" (Annals, 1635, p. 270). He also studied at Oxford for a time, and besides his legal studies, qualified as a surgeon and physician in 1552. On Mary's accession he became one of the council of the Marches of Wales. In 1553 he was elected member of Parliament for Wallingford and in the following year was returned for two constituencies, Reading and Wooten-Bassett; but on 12 Jan., 1554-5, he withdrew from the House, dissatisfied with the proceedings there. Succeeding the Plowden estates in 1577, he lectured on law at Middle Temple and during his treasurership the fine hall of that inn was begun. His fidelity to the Catholic faith prevented any further promotion under Elizabeth., but it is a family tradition that the queen offered him the Lord Chancellorship on condition of his joining the Anglican Church. He successfully defended Bishop Horne, and helped Catholics by his legal knowledge. On one occasion he was defending a gentleman charged with hearing Mass, and detected that the service had been performed by a layman for the purpose of informing against those who were present, whereon he exclaimed, "The case is altered; no priest, no Mass", and thus secured an acquittal. This incident gave rise to the common legal proverb, "The case is altered, quoth Plowden". He himself was required to give bond in 1569 to be of good behaviour in religious matters for he was delated to the Privy Council for refusing to attend the Anglican service, though no measures seem to have been taken against him. His works were: "Les comentaries ou les reportes de Edmunde Plowden (London, 1571), often reprinted and translated into Quares del Monsieur Plowden" (London, no date), included in some editions of the Reports; "A Treatise on Succession", manuscripts preserved among the family papers. Its object was to prove that Mary, Queen of Scots, was not debarred from her right to the English throne by her foreign birth or the will of Henry VIII. Several manuscripts legal opinions are preserved in the British Museum and the Cambridge University Libraries. He married Catherine Sheldon of Beoley and by her had three sons and three daughters. There is a portrait effigy on his tomb in the Temple Church, and a bust in the Middle Temple Hall copied from one at Plowden.

References

  1. Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Plowden, Edmund (1519/20-85), of the Middle Temple, London; Plowden, Salop; Shiplake, Oxon. and Burghfield, Berks.
  2. Back to citation See Tresswell & Vincent, Vis. of Shropshire 1623, 1569 & 1584, 2 (H.S.P. 29) (1889): 448–449 (Stury ped.).
  3. Back to citation "Plowden, Edward (PLWN552E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. Back to citation Alan Coates (1999). English Medieval Books: The Reading Abbey Collections from Foundation to Dispersal. Oxford University Press. pp. 128–9. ISBN 978-0-19-820756-6.
  5. Back to citation Jones, N. G. "Wray, Sir Christopher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/30014. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  6. Back to citation Bartlett Jere Whiting (1977). Early American Proverbs and Proverbial Phrases. Harvard University Press. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-674-21981-6.
  7. Back to citation John Ray (1813). A compleat collection of English proverbs. To which is added, A collection of English words not generally used. [2 pt. Interleaved, with MS. additions by F. Douce]. p. 179.
  8. Back to citation Ibbetson, David. "Ashe, Thomas". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/752. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  9. Back to citation Brooks, Christopher W. "Fleetwood, William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9690. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
  10. Back to citation Richard Dutton; Alison Gail Findlay; Richard Wilson (2003). Region, Religion and Patronage: Lancastrian Shakespeare. Manchester University Press. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-7190-6369-5.
  11. Back to citation A. N. McLaren (1999). Political Culture in the Reign of Elizabeth I. Cambridge University Press. pp. 100–1. ISBN 978-1-139-42634-3.
  12. Back to citation Humphry William Woolrych (1869). Eminent Serjeants-at-law of the English Bar. The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. p. 123. ISBN 978-1-58477-217-0.
  13. Back to citation historyofparliamentonline.org, Cole, John (d.1611), of Cole Hall, Shrewsbury, Salop.
Retrieved from "https://catholicism.wiki/index.php?title=Edmund_Plowden&oldid=195724"