The Trials of Edward Vaughan: Law, Civil War and Gentry Faction in Seventeenth-Century Britain, c.1596–1661

This book tells the remarkable story of Welshman Edward Vaughan. Born in 1600, he was the fifth son of a landed gentleman and could not have expected much in life beyond a career as a lawyer. However, by fair means and foul (mostly foul) he managed to gain possession of one of the largest estates in seventeenth-century Wales. His tenure was not to be a quiet one, however, as the Protestant Vaughan endured a bruising legal contest with a powerful Catholic magnate over these lands. Vaughan’s case was then swept up in the politics of the civil wars. A moderate parliamentarian, during the 1640s and 1650s Vaughan fought new battles with local radicals to secure his patrimony. The trials of Edward Vaughan reveal much about the confrontational and sometimes bloody nature of law, politics, and faction in early modern England and Wales. Rich with accusations of attempted murder, treason, and a lengthy legal battle with one of the most powerful Catholic families in the country, this is a surprising story and one that has yet to be told.