The New Murrey and Blue blog

If you go to this link http://tudorplace.com.ar/Bios/JohnMorton.htm you’ll find a brief biography of Cardinal John Morton, he of despicable memory. It’s rather surprising in that it rips the dear fellow to shreds and is therefore a very agreeable read for all Ricardians.

Morton is considered to be the source of most of the lies about Richard III that were spread so insidiously after Bosworth. These include “….the story that he murdered the Princes in the Tower, the murders of his brother George, Duke of Clarence, of his wife’s first husband, Edward, Prince of Wales, of Henry VI himself, and of William, Lord Hastings; forcing his wife, Anne Neville, to marry him against her will; planning (before his wife died) to marry his niece Elizabeth of York incestuously (and maybe killing his wife so he could); accusing his own mother of adultery (and his late brother the King of illegitimacy); accusing Jane Shore and Elizabeth Woodville of witchcraft in withering his arm; and being himself illegitimate….”

Morton had been present at some of those events and knew full well that his version of them was a pack of lies. But his purpose was “….to entertain his readers and to vilify the memory of the King who had been overthrown by his own master [Henry VII]….”

These demonstrably untrue stories first took a bow in More’s ‘The History of King Richard III’….“which was based on Morton’s account (although historians are divided on whether More substantially rewrote it or essentially copied Morton’s manuscript, with the majority thinking its style came from More) or in the writings of someone else who had heard the story from Morton….”

I think you will agree that all this comes as a great surprise in a Tudor blog (see http://tudorplace.com.ar/). Am I missing something? Is it a great leg-pull aimed at ridiculing Richard III? Well, it doesn’t read as if it is. But then some April Fools are very convincing. So you must judge for yourself.

Morton’s biography is but one in a long list that proceeds through the alphabet, and if you want to take a look at more please start here http://tudorplace.com.ar/bios5.htm. Not all are available, and a few of those that are would seem to follow the usual Tudor viewpoint. I haven’t examined the list in detail.