The New Murrey and Blue blog

OK, before another word I will confess to the “sin” of pouncing on a remark spotted at random online. The site in question is https://queryblog.tudorhistory.org/2010/08/question-from-aoife-other-queens.html, the subject witchcraft in high places, and the point that caught my eyes concerned Bishop/Archbishop/Cardinal John Morton’s apparent little sideline:

“….Margaret Beaufort’s pal was John Morton, alleged to have been granted a license by the Pope to practice the ‘black arts’….”

Cardinal Morton practiced the black arts? With the Pope’s permission? Good grief. 😲 Mind you, on reflection, Morton wasn’t very holy (in my interpretation of the word), in fact he was downright wicked, so I suppose I shouldn’t be in the least surprised. And that take-it-how-you-will word “alleged” is in there.

But if it’s true, I am shocked by the Pope! (Innocent VIII, 1486-1492, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_VIII) 😄

Well, joking aside, and much as I dislike Morton, I find this dabbling in the black arts suggestion a little far-fetched. However, my memory has stirred and I wonder if it is in some way the result of confusion over events related in the following link. https://www.biblicalcyclopedia.com/M/morton-john.html. As follows:

“….[Robert Folkestone] Williams thus sums up his [Morton’s] official character and conduct (Lives of the English Cardinals [Lond. 1862, 2 volumes, 8vo], 2:167 sq.)….

“….The objects with which the principal religious houses of a mixed charitable and religious order had been founded were gradually lost sight of; and the great abbeys and priories throughout the country, with a few honorable exceptions, had become so notorious for the luxurious and depraved living of the fraternities, as to excite satirical attacks from both clergy and laity. The archbishop of Canterbury [Morton] knowing the scandalous practices that existed in his own diocese, as well as in others, was anxious to remedy so grave an evil. He heard the reports of various persons likely to be well informed on the subject, and then sent to Rome for instructions. He was well aware that without die support from the highest quarter no amelioration of the disease, which he knew to be eating like a leprosy into the Church, could be effected. The immorality of the English clergy had become so flagrant in the last quarter of the fifteenth century that the primate readily procured the pope’s authority for a visitation….”

It may have nothing whatsoever to do with the “black arts” as we understand them, but I have yet to find anything more open to misinterpretation than the above extract, with its mentions of the Pope’s permission being sought to deal with “evil”.

To learn more about Robert Folkestone Williams, see here https://www.victorianresearch.org/atcl/show_author.php?aid=1208.

If you go here (https://murreyandblue.org/2021/01/31/what-prompted-morton-to-threaten-a-visitation-to-st-albans-abbey/) you will find that I have written previously about Morton and the goings-on at St Albans specifically. One cannot help wondering what the snarky, bigoted monk Thomas Walsingham (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Walsingham) would have made of it all had he still be around. In his Chronicles (which, like More and Shakespeare, are all too often taken to be the complete truth) he was inclined to twist the truth, invent it or ignore it altogether. The reason for Morton’s threats would no doubt have been in the latter category.

Here is a link to an interesting paper about Morton. It’s at academia.edu and is on their free tier, so is available to everyone. https://www.academia.edu/77846116/A_memoir_of_the_court_of_Henry_VII_an_edition_of_BL_MS_Cotton_Julius_B_XII_fols_8v_66r_with_textual_and_general_introduction.

I know it’s the wrong date, but I can’t help wishing Krampus had gone after Morton. If not, he should have!