Edward Bagshaw the elder (ca. 1589–1662) was an English author and politician who sat in the House of Commons

House of Commons of England

The House of Commons of England was the lower house of the Parliament of England from its development in the 14th century to the union of England and Scotland in 1707, when it was replaced by the House of Commons of Great Britain...

 from 1640 to 1644. He supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

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Bagshaw was the son of Edward Bagshaw, of the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

. He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, Oxford

Brasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. As of 2006, it has an estimated financial endowment of £98m...

 on 22 February 1605, aged 15 and was awarded BA on 7 July 1608. His tutor was Robert Bolton, a puritan writer, whose life was subsequently written by Bagshaw. He was called to the bar at 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 1615 and was Lent reader in 1640. As Reader, he delivered two discourses to the effect that 'a parliament may be held without bishops,' and that 'bishops may not meddle in civil affairs.' The lectures attracted the notice of Laud, and Bagshaw was prohibited from continuing them.

These proceedings gained Bagshaw some popularity and in November 1640 he was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Southwark

Southwark (UK Parliament constituency)

Southwark was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Southwark district of South London. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the English Parliament from 1295 to 1707, to the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800, and to the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 in the Long Parliament

Long Parliament

The Long Parliament was made on 3 November 1640, following the Bishops' Wars. It received its name from the fact that through an Act of Parliament, it could only be dissolved with the agreement of the members, and those members did not agree to its dissolution until after the English Civil War and...

. On the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the King's party at Oxford and sat in the King's parliament there. As a result he was disabled from sitting in the Parliament at Westminster on 22 January 1644. He was taken prisoner by the Parliamentary forces and was sent to the King's Bench prison at Southwark on 29 June 1644. While imprisoned, he composed the greater number of his works. He was released in 1646. He became a bencher of his inn and in 1660 became treasurer of 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...

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Bagshaw died in 1662 on 12 September or October, and was buried in the church at Morton Pinckney, in Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

, near where his property lay.

Writings

His writings include:

• Life and Death of Mr. Robert Bolton London, 1633.
• Editions of three of Bolton's works, 1633-35-37.
• Several speeches in parliament, viz. (1) on 9 Nov. 1640, (2) on 9 Feb. 1640 (1641); Concerning Episcopacy, 18 Feb. 1640 (1641); 12 Jan. 1641 (1642), The Trial of the Twelve Bishops.
• Two arguments in parliament, viz. (1) Concerning the Canons, (2) Concerning the Præmunire on these Canons.
• Treatise defending the Revenues of the Church, London, 1646.
• Treatise maintaining the Doctrine, Liturgy, and Discipline of the Church of England, 1646.
• Short Answer to the Book of W. Prynne entitled University of Oxford's Plea refuted (1848, printed).
• De Monarchia Absoluta, 1659.
• Just Vindication of the questioned part of the reading in Middle Temple Hall, 20 Feb. 1639, London, 1660; with A Narrative of the Cause of their Silencing by the Archbishop of Canterbury (printed together apud Rushworth).
• Short Defence of the Reformation of the Church by K. Edward and Q. Elizabeth (not printed).