Edmund Plowden
Encyclopedia
Tudor period
The Tudor period usually refers to the period between 1485 and 1603, specifically in relation to the history of England. This coincides with the rule of the Tudor dynasty in England whose first monarch was Henry VII...
.
Life
Educated at the University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, Plowden did not take a degree, and proceeded to the Middle Temple
Middle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers; the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn...
in 1538 to study law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
. Subsequent to studies at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, he qualified as a surgeon and physician in 1552.
Upon the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, Plowden was appointed one of the Council of the Marches (of Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
). In 1553, he was elected Member of Parliament for Wallingford
Wallingford (UK Parliament constituency)
Wallingford was a constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.It was a parliamentary borough created in 1295, centred on the market town Wallingford in Berkshire . It used to return two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons; this was cut to one in 1832, and...
(then in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
now in Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
), followed, in the next two years, by the same office for both Reading, Berkshire
Reading (UK Parliament constituency)
Reading was a parliamentary borough, and later a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire....
and then Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire
Wootton Bassett (UK Parliament constituency)
Wootton Bassett was a parliamentary borough in Wiltshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1447 until 1832, when the rotten borough was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...
. He lived mostly at Shiplake Court
Shiplake Court
Shiplake Court was a historic manor house near Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England. In the sixteenth century, it was the residence of Edmund Plowden. In 1897, it had its own electricity generating plant, managed by Stuart Turner. The independent school, Shiplake College, is now on the manor...
in Oxfordshire and Wokefield Park
Wokefield Park
Wokefield Park is an 18th century country house, now a training centre surrounded by a golf course, in the civil parish of Wokefield, near Mortimer, in the English county of Berkshire.-History:...
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.
His loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith, prevented Edmund Plowden from further promotion under Queen Elizabeth I, and he received increasing suspicion from members of the Privy Council
Privy council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
. At one time, Queen Elizabeth wished to elevate Plowden to the Lord Chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
ship, requiring that he abandon Catholicism for and adopt the Anglican faith. However, Plowden declined through an eloquent defense of his faith, and a bold statement denouncing religious persecution. Despite this, Plowden continued in the Queen's employ in his capacity as a lawyer.
He sought to assist those of his faith, including his defense of Robert Horne
Robert Horne (bishop)
Robert Horne was an English churchman, and a leading reforming Protestant. One of the Marian exiles, he was subsequently bishop of Winchester from 1560 to 1580....
, Bishop of Winchester
Bishop of Winchester
The Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
. On one occasion, while defending a gentleman charged with hearing Mass, he 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. This incident has given rise to a common legal proverb: "The case is altered, quoth Plowden".
Works
Plowden is noted today for his legal scholarship and theory, in his written works, which include Les comentaries ou les reportes de Edmunde Plowden (1571) (otherwise known as 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 VIIIHenry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
's will.
Several of Plowden's manuscripts, commentaries, and legal opinions are preserved in the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
and in the libraries of the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Family
He was the son of Humphrey Plowden (1490–1557) and Elizabeth Wollascot (d 1599), daughter of John Sturry of Rossall, Shropshire, a descendant of the de Rossall family.Plowden married Catherine Sheldon of Beoley and by her had three sons and three daughters. His sister Margaret inherited the Rossall estates and married Richard Sandford of Eglington (a descendant of Nicholas de Sandford, a knight of William the Conquerer whose name is recorded in the roll of honour at Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey
Battle Abbey is a partially ruined abbey complex in the small town of Battle in East Sussex, England. The abbey was built on the scene of the Battle of Hastings and dedicated to St...
). Amongst their descendants was Henrietta Euphemia Harrison, an eminent poet and wife of Acton Tindal of Aylesbury (see Tyndall
Tyndall
Tyndall is the name of an English family taken from the land they held as tenants in chief of the Kings of England and Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries: Tynedale, or the valley of the Tyne, in Northumberland...
).
Plowden died on 6 February 1585 in London and was entombed in the Temple Church
Temple Church
The Temple Church is a late-12th-century church in London located between Fleet Street and the River Thames, built for and by the Knights Templar as their English headquarters. In modern times, two Inns of Court both use the church. It is famous for its effigy tombs and for being a round church...
.