Thomas Morton (bishop) - Life

Life

Morton was born in York on 20 March 1564, the sixth of the nineteen children of Richard Morton, mercer, of York, and alderman of the city, by his wife Elizabeth Leedale, and was born in the parish of All Saints Pavement. He was brought up and grammar school educated in the city and nearby Halifax. In 1582 he became a pensioner at St John's College, Cambridge from which he graduated with a B.A. in 1584 and an M.A. in 1590. William Whitaker picked him out for a Fellow of the college, and he proceeded to the degree of B.D. in 1598, and that of D.D. ‘with great distinction’ in 1606.

Morton was ordained in 1592, and held the office of university lecturer in logic till in 1598 when he obtained the living of Long Marston, Yorkshire. He was then chaplain to Henry Hastings, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, Lord President of the North. In 1602, when the plague was raging at York, he devoted himself to the inmates of the pest-house. He conducted disputations with Roman Catholics; Herbert Croft, who became bishop of Hereford, was claimed as Morton's convert to the Church of England.

In 1602 he was selected, with Richard Crakanthorpe as his colleague, to accompany Ralph Eure, 3rd Lord Eure when sent by Elizabeth as ambassador extraordinary to the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Denmark. He made the acquaintance of foreign scholars and theologians, including Jesuits, and collected books at Frankfurt and elsewhere. He met Hugh Broughton, then residing at Middelburg, to whom he proposed scriptural difficulties. On the queen's death Morton returned to England, and became chaplain to Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland. He had time for theological writing, and residence at Belvoir Castle enabled him to consult the libraries of London.