MORISON, RICHARD

(ca. 1510-1556)

Englishhumanist, politi-cian, and religious reformer. Educated at Eton and the new Cardinal College founded by CardinalThomas Wolseyat Oxford, he also studied atPaduaand perhaps in Paris before returning to England in 1536 as a protégé ofThomas Cromwell, the chief minister of state and the major force pushing the religious policies of KingHenry VIIItoward Protestantism. Morison wrote both religious and politi-cal pamphlets upholding royal authority over the church. His tractA Remedy for Sedition(1536) emphasized the central role of royal power in creating a stable and powerful nation. After the fall of Cromwell from power in 1540, his public career languished, but with the accession of Edward VI in 1547, he regained favor at court, was knighted in 1550, and sent as ambassador to the court of the EmperorCharles V. He lost this position when the Catholic MaryTudorcame to the English throne in 1553, and because of the suppression of Protestantism by her government, he settled in Strasbourg, where he died in 1556.