Evan Seys (alternates: Yevan or Ievan) (1604–1685) was an eminent lawyer of his day who rose to national office under

Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three K ...

as Attorney General, and served as a member of parliament after the Restoration. From c.1649 until his death he was involved in the politics of his native Glamorgan, and of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He was a committed and active Protestant and an antiquarian scholar.

Family and education

Seys was the fourth son of Richard Seys of Swansea, Glamorgan and his wife Mary Evans. His father was a barrister of Lincoln's Inn. History of Parliament Online – Seys, Evan
/ref> In 1638 Evan married Margaret, daughter of Robert Bridges of Woodchester, who died in 1651. He had a son, Richard, and daughters Margaret and Elizabeth. Evan attended Cowbridge School until the age of 17, when in 1621 he went up to Christ Church, Oxford. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500–1714: Scadden-Sheyne', Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714 (1891), pp. 1322–1350. Date accessed: 27 June 2012
/ref>

Political and legal career

Seys was Recorder of

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

in 1649 and a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

of Lincoln's Inn in 1652. He went on to hold legal office in Wales under the

Protectorate A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over most of its int ...

and was a member of the committee for governing Glamorgan. This culminated in his becoming the Attorney General to

and serving as MP for Glamorgan during the evanescent rule of

Richard Cromwell Richard Cromwell (4 October 162612 July 1712) was an English statesman who was the second and last Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and son of the first Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell. On his father's deat ...

in 1659. In 1659 he was part of a broad coalition preparing the restoration of Charles II. From 1661 to 1681 he was MP for

. He lived in the substantial house in the cathedral close built by Abraham Blackleech.

References

*Davies, Iolo, ''A Certaine Schoole'' (Cowbridge: D. Brown and Sons, 1967), pp. 13–19 (career) and 349–59 (the speech) *Dodd, A. H., "'Tuning' the Welsh Bench, 1680", ''National Library of Wales Journal'', Vol. VI/3 (Summer 1950) *Hopkin-James, Lemuel John, ''Old Cowbridge Borough, Church and School'', pp 233–6 and 307 (Cardiff : Educational Pub. Co, 1922), available online fro
Google Books
Retrieved 24 July 2010: contains excerpts from Seys's school speech in Latin and in translation *James, Brian Ll. and Francis, David J., ''Cowbridge and Llanblethian Past and Present'' (Stewart Williams, Publishers, Barry and D. Brown & Sons Ltd., Eastgate, Cowbridge, 1979), p. 49 (on the family's origins) *Jenkins, Philip, ''The Making of a Ruling Class: The Glamorgan Gentry 1640–1790'' (Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 101–39, 218–20, 231, 235, 261 *Jenkins, Philip, "Anti-Popery on the Welsh Marches", ''Historical Journal'', Vol. 23 (1980) *Jenkins, Philip, "'The Old Leaven': the Welsh Roundheads after 1660", ''Historical Journal'', Vol. 24 (1981) *Lewis, Samuel, ''A Topographical Dictionary of Wales'' (1833) for the 1705 endowment *Prest, Wilfred R., ''The rise of the Barristers'' (1986), p. 160 *Robbins,M., ''The Agricultural, Social and Cultural Interests of the gentry of South East Glamorgan: 1540–1640'' University of Wales, Cardiff, PhD (1974) *Vale of Glamorgan Council: "Boverton Draft Conservation Area Appraisal": on the ruins of Boverton Place" (2009) *''Victoria County History: Gloucestershire'': Manor of Dymock (in publication) * Will of Evan Seys (signed 1682, codicil 1684, proved 1684/5 at Prerogative Court at Canterbury). Index to will register at
National Archives PROB 11/379
Retrieved 24 July 2010. *''The Cambrian Quarterly Magazine'' 1830, p. 172 on the oak * Dryden's ''Absalom and Achitophel'' Pt 2 (1682): Worcester, by then first Duke of Beaufort, is eulogistically cast as "Bezaliel" lines 941–66. The Welsh he governs, "Kenites", in the biblical allegory, are also praised for their loyalty to the King: Dryden cannot have thought Seys representative of his nation. But their land is disparaged as a "Rocky Province." The whole poem is a witty and highly readable satire on the Exclusion Crisis and The Popish Plot from the Royalist perspective. And Shakespeare's ''Henry the fourth'' part 2 caricatures country justices in the personae of "Shallow" and "Silence" – of Gloucestershire no less. Seys was way above these two in point of legal expertise, general erudition, sophistication, breadth of outlook etc.; but many of his colleagues on the Glamorgan Bench were not. These two classics add background and elaboration.

Family and education

Political and legal career

References

See also