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Member of the Parliament of England

Sir 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 he, with Edward Saunders, became joint guardian of Englefield's nephew and heir, 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.

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" 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.