John Morton

John Morton 1420?-1500, English prelate and statesman, archbishop of Canterbury (1486-1500). He studied law at Oxford and practiced in the London ecclesiastical courts. A supporter of the Lancastrian party in the Wars of the Roses, he received a number of church livings, but after the Yorkist victory at Towton (1461) he was attainted and lived in exile at the court of Margaret of Anjou. He returned to England in 1470, taking an active part in the coalition against Edward IV , but after Edward's victory at Tewkesbury (1471), his attainder was reversed. He was made a master of the rolls in 1473, was sent (1474) on a mission to Hungary, and became bishop of Ely in 1479. Arrested in the reign of Richard III, he escaped to Flanders and was recalled by Henry VII on his accession (1485) to the throne. Morton became the king's principal counselor, was made archbishop of Canterbury (1486) and lord chancellor (1487), and was created a cardinal in 1493. He was probably the author of the original Latin version of the History of Richard III, which is usually ascribed to Sir Thomas More.

Bibliography: See biography by R. I. Woodhouse (1895).

Morton, John (c.1420–1500) English prelate and statesman. He rose to become Henry VII's chief adviser, being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury in 1486 and Chancellor a year later. He is traditionally associated with the Crown's stringent taxation policies, which made the regime in general and Morton in particular widely unpopular.

Morton, John (c. 1420–1500). Cardinal. Morton was one of the greatest ecclesiastical statesmen of the 15th cent. A useful ecclesiastical lawyer, he advanced rapidly under the patronage of Archbishop Bourchier but, as an adherent of the Lancastrians, fell into disfavour after Towton in 1461. He escaped to the continent, returned with Warwick in 1470, and after the Lancastrian disaster at Tewkesbury in 1471 made his peace with Edward IV. In 1473 he was appointed master of the rolls and in 1479 bishop of Ely. During the short reign of Richard III, Morton was again forced to flee the country, returning after Henry VII's triumph at Bosworth. Henceforth he was the mainstay of the new regime, becoming archbishop of Canterbury in 1486 and lord chancellor in 1487. In 1493 Henry obtained for him a cardinal's hat from Pope Alexander VI. His extraordinary domination prompts comparison with Wolsey 20 years later.