John Morton (cardinal)

John Morton (* 1420 in Dorset, † September 15, 1500 in Knole House, near Sevenoaks, Kent) was Bishop of Ely, Archbishop of Canterbury ( 1486-1500 ) and Cardinal.

Life

Morton studied at Balliol College in Oxford both rights and theology, and was later ordained as a priest. He was long associated with the Lancasterpartei, but closed in 1473 with the English king Edward IV Peace, who sent him on diplomatic mission. Since 1479 the Bishop of Ely, he was in 1483 by his " archenemy " King Richard III. arrested, but the future King Henry VII Tudor soon joined on the continent. After his accession to the throne Morton rose to become royal advisor. 1486 he was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1493 by Pope Alexander VI. elevated to cardinal priest of S. Anastasia.

Morton was a patron of humanism, and yet he was made responsible for the often ruthless methods by which exacted the royal administration money. The taxes and forced loans of this time were known as Morton Fork, and frequently demanded to his official dismissal.

After Ivan Lesný Morton covered the mentioned Richard III. with numerous calumnies with which he had contributed to the distorted picture Richards, the well known Shakespeare sat up.