John Morton (cardinal)

His Eminence John Morton D.Cn. & CL
Cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of All England
Church	Roman Catholic Church
Appointed	6 October 1486
Term ended	15 September 1500
Predecessor	Thomas Bourchier
Successor	Thomas Langton
Orders
Consecration	31 January 1479
Created Cardinal	20 September 1493
Rank	Cardinal priest of Santa Anastasia
Personal details
Born	c. 1420 Dorset, England
Died	15 September 1500 Knole House, near Sevenoaks, Kent, England
Buried	Crypt of Canterbury Cathedral
Nationality	English
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Previous post	Bishop of Ely, 1479–1486
Education	Balliol College, Oxford
Coat of arms

John Morton (c.1420 – 15 September 1500) was an English prelate who served as Archbishop of Canterbury from 1486 to 1500. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1493.^[1]

Life

Born in Dorset,^[2] he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He was made canon of Sarum in 1458, rector of St. Dunstan's (in the West), archdeacon of Norwich circa 1460, archdeacon of Winchester in 1474, canon of Wells from 1475 to 1478, archdeacon of Berkshire in 1476 and archdeacon of Norfolk in 1477.^[3] He was appointed Master of the Rolls from 1472 to 1479.

In February 1477, he was sent by the Yorkist King Edward IV, together with Sir John Donne, as ambassador to the French court. After serving a short spell in 1478 as Archdeacon of Leicester he was appointed Bishop of Ely by King Edward on 8 August 1479 and he was consecrated on 31 January 1479.^[4] Morton was an important foe of the Yorkist regime of King Richard III and spent some time in captivity in Brecknock castle. After the dynastic change to the Tudors in 1485, Henry VII made him Archbishop of Canterbury on 6 October 1486,^[5] and appointed him Lord Chancellor of England in 1487.^[6] In 1493 he was appointed Cardinal priest of the church of St. Anastasia in Rome by Pope Alexander VI. He built the "Old Palace" of Hatfield House where Elizabeth I spent much of her girlhood.

As Lord Chancellor, Morton was tasked with restoring the royal estate, depleted by Edward IV. By the end of Henry VII's reign, the king's frugality, and Morton's tax policy, carried out by Edmund Dudley and Richard Empson, had replenished the treasury. Morton gave a statement, later known as 'Morton's Fork', that no one was to be exempted from taxes: "If the subject is seen to live frugally, tell him because he is clearly a money saver of great ability, he can afford to give generously to the King. If, however, the subject lives a life of great extravagance, tell him he, too, can afford to give largely, the proof of his opulence being evident in his expenditure."

Morton died at Knole House, Kent, on 15 September 1500.^[5] His monument was placed in the south-east part of Canterbury Cathedral's crypt, with an effigy and an arch decorated with angels, cardinal's caps, and tun barrels inscribed with MOR (a pun on his name, Mor-ton).^[7] However, this monument is a cenotaph since his actual body was buried in the crypt's central chapel of the Virgin Mary, according to his wishes.

Morton, More, and the history of Richard III

Morton was a mentor of the young Sir Thomas More. More served as a page in Morton's house, acted in revels at Morton's court at Knole House, the archiepiscopal palace, and later mentioned him in his work Utopia. Although most scholars credit More with authoring the History of King Richard III, they debate the issue of the original authorship. Morton is believed by many to be the originator of the account that More rewrote. Modern-day enthusiasts of King Richard III thereby accuse Morton of inventing the account whereby Richard murdered Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York and committed other crimes attributed to him.

Armorials

James Bentham wrote in 1771 concerning the arms of Bishop Morton:^[8]^[9]

"The Arms given him in Anglia Sacra, p. 673, are not sufficiently explicit; they should be thus blasoned: Quarterly gules and ermine on the 1st and 4th a goat's head erased argent. And this agrees with his arms carved various times on the noble Tower of Wisbeche Church, and as they were formerly in a window of Linton Church in Cambridgeshire, as I have it in a manuscript of church notes taken above a century ago. However these accord not with those for our bishop in his own cathedral twice, viz. in the east window of the north aisle of the presbytery, and in another window of the same aisle, where they are still remaining, and are thus blasoned: Quarterly gules and ermine, on the 1st and 4th three goat's heads erased argent, attired or.

Citations

↑ Miranda, Salvador. "John Morton". The Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church. Retrieved 8 October 2010.
↑ "Cardinal Morton ... was born ... at Milborne Syleham": Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches; the South. London: Collins; p. 172
↑ "Alumni Oxonienses 1500–1714". British History Online. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 245
1 2 Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 234
↑ Fryde, et al. Handbook of British Chronology p. 88
↑ Find a Grave: John Morton
↑ Bentham, Rev. James, The History and Antiquities of the Conventual Cathedral Church of Ely, 2nd. Edition, Cambridge, 1771,pp.46–50
↑ Also blazoned in Lambeth MS 555

References

Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third revised ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.

Political offices
Preceded by John Alcock	Lord Chancellor 1487–1500	Succeeded by Henry Deane (Keeper of the Great Seal)
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by William Grey	Bishop of Ely 1478–1486	Succeeded by John Alcock
Preceded by Thomas Bourchier	Archbishop of Canterbury 1486–1500	Succeeded by Thomas Langton
Preceded by Antonio Pallavicini Gentili	Cardinal priest of Santa Anastasia 1493–1500	Succeeded by Antonio Trivulzio
Academic offices
Preceded by John Russell	Chancellor of the University of Oxford 1494–1500	Succeeded by William Smyth

Archbishops of Canterbury

Pre-Conquest	Augustine Laurence Mellitus Justus Honorius Deusdedit Wighard Theodore of Tarsus Berhtwald Tatwine Nothhelm Cuthbert Bregowine Jænberht Æthelhard Wulfred Feologild Ceolnoth Æthelred Plegmund Athelm Wulfhelm Oda Ælfsige Byrhthelm Dunstan Æthelgar Sigeric the Serious Ælfric of Abingdon Ælfheah Lyfing Æthelnoth Eadsige Robert of Jumièges Stigand

Conquest–Reformation	Lanfranc Anselm Ralph d'Escures William de Corbeil Theobald of Bec Thomas Becket Roger de Bailleul Richard of Dover Baldwin of Forde Reginald Fitz Jocelin Hubert Walter Reginald John de Gray Stephen Langton Walter d'Eynsham Richard le Grant Ralph Neville John of Sittingbourne John Blund Edmund Rich Boniface William Chillenden Robert Kilwardby Robert Burnell John Peckham Robert Winchelsey Thomas Cobham Walter Reynolds Simon Mepeham John de Stratford John de Ufford Thomas Bradwardine Simon Islip William Edington Simon Langham William Whittlesey Simon Sudbury William Courtenay Thomas Arundel Roger Walden Thomas Arundel Henry Chichele John Stafford John Kemp Thomas Bourchier John Morton Thomas Langton Henry Deane William Warham Thomas Cranmer Reginald Pole

Post-Reformation	Matthew Parker Edmund Grindal John Whitgift Richard Bancroft George Abbot William Laud William Juxon Gilbert Sheldon William Sancroft John Tillotson Thomas Tenison William Wake John Potter Thomas Herring Matthew Hutton Thomas Secker Frederick Cornwallis John Moore Charles Manners-Sutton William Howley John Sumner Charles Longley Archibald Tait Edward Benson Frederick Temple Randall Davidson Cosmo Lang William Temple Geoffrey Fisher Michael Ramsey Donald Coggan Robert Runcie George Carey Rowan Williams Justin Welby

Italics indicate a person who was elected but not confirmed.

Bishops of Ely

High Medieval	Hervey le Breton Nigel Geoffrey Ridel William Longchamp Eustace Robert of York John of Fountains Geoffrey de Burgh Hugh of Northwold William of Kilkenny Hugh de Balsham John Kirkby William of Louth John Salmon/John Langton Ralph Walpole

Late Medieval	Robert Orford John Ketton John Hotham Simon Montacute Thomas de Lisle Simon Langham John Barnet Thomas Arundel John Fordham Philip Morgan Lewis of Luxembourg Thomas Bourchier William Grey John Morton John Alcock

Early modern	Richard Redman James Stanley Nicholas West Thomas Goodrich Thomas Thirlby Richard Cox Martin Heton Lancelot Andrewes Nicholas Felton John Buckeridge Francis White Matthew Wren Benjamin Lany Peter Gunning Francis Turner Simon Patrick John Moore William Fleetwood Thomas Green Robert Butts Thomas Gooch Matthias Mawson Edmund Keene James Yorke

Late modern	Thomas Dampier Bowyer Sparke Joseph Allen Thomas Turton Harold Browne Thomas Browne Lord Alwyne Compton Frederic Chase Leonard White-Thomson Bernard Heywood Edward Wynn Noel Hudson Edward Roberts Peter Walker Stephen Sykes Anthony Russell

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 79251628 LCCN: n88183550 ISNI: 0000 0000 7243 6445 SUDOC: 029531179 BNF: cb12113814f (data)

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