Edmund Plowden

Edmund Plowden (1519/20 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.

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. In 1567 Plowden, with Edward Saunders, became joint guardian of Englefield's nephew and heir, also Francis, through influence with the Earl of Pembroke.

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.

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, 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.

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. 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. 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. 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;

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.