Richard Morrison

Sir Richard Morrison (or Morison or Morysine ) (ca. 1513 – 1556) was an English humanist scholar and diplomat. He was a protégé of Thomas Cromwell, propagandist for Henry VIII, and then ambassador to the German court of Charles V for Edward VI.

Life Richard Morrison was the son of Thomas Morison of Hertfordshire by a daughter of Thomas Merry of Hatfield. He had a sister, Amy, who married Stephen Hales (d. 27 March 1574), esquire, of Newland, Warwickshire, brother of John Hales.

Morrison attended Cardinal College, Oxford (now Christ Church) ca. 1526 and met Nicholas Udall, who became the master of Eton College and was known as the father of English comedy. He graduated B.A. at Oxford on 19 January 1527–8, and directly entered the service of Thomas Wolsey; but he soon left the cardinal, visited Hugh Latimer at Cambridge, and went to Italy to study Greek. He became a proficient if impoverished scholar at Venice and Padua, and retained an interest in literature, along with his adopted Calvinistic religious views. The King in 1541 is said to have given him the library of the Carmelites in London.

Setting off in July, he went with Roger Ascham as his secretary, the two reading Greek every day together. His despatches to the council were long, but Morison found time to travel in Germany with Ascham, who published in 1553 an account of their experiences in A Report of the Affaires of Germany. The emperor frequently remonstrated through Morison about the treatment of the Princess Mary; and he did not altogether like Morison, who was in the habit reading Bernard Ochino's Sermons or Machiavelli to his household 'for the sake of the language.' after the death of Jane Seymour on 24 October 1537. 'Defending the Marriage of Preistes', by Philip Melanchthon. is sometimes incorrectly assigned to Morison.

In manuscript are 'Maxims and Sayings,' Sloane MS. 1523; 'A Treatise of Faith and Justification,' Harl. MS. 423 (4); 'Account of Mary's Persecution under Edward VI,' Harl. MS. 353. By her he had a son Sir Charles, and three daughters:

Jane married to Edward, Lord Russell, son of Francis Russell, 2nd Earl of Bedford, and secondly to Arthur Grey, 14th Baron Grey de Wilton Elizabeth to William Norris and secondly to Henry Clinton, 2nd Earl of Lincoln Mary to Bartholomew Hales.

Richard's son Charles (1549–1599) completed Cashiobury, which later passed to Charles's son, Charles Morrison (1587–1628). The estate then passed into the Capel family by the marriage of the younger Charles's daughter Elizabeth with Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham. According to Anthony Wood, Morison left illegitimate children.