Alexander Morus (or Moir or More) (25 September 1616,

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect of Occitan) is the sole subprefecture of the Tarn department in the Occitanie region in Southern France. It lies in the former province of Languedoc, although not in the former region of Lan ...

– 28 September 1670,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

) was a Franco-Scottish

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

preacher.

Biography

More's father, born in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, was a rector at a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

college in the town of

Languedoc The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France. Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...

. In 1636 he left to study theology in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

, where he became professor in Greek in 1639. By 1648, he was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

pastor A pastor (abbreviated as "Pr" or "Ptr" , or "Ps" ) is the leader of a Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutheranism, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy and ...

and

dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

of the Academy in Geneva. He was an Amyraldist, and ran into trouble in Geneva where his orthodoxy was suspect. He was appointed successor to

Friedrich Spanheim Friedrich Spanheim the elder (January 1, 1600, Amberg – May 14, 1649, Leiden) was a Calvinistic theology professor at the University of Leiden. Life He entered in 1614 the University of Heidelberg where he studied philology and philosophy, a ...

, but then was forced to leave Geneva. He was working in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the 1650s. In 1654, John Milton launched a vitriolic attack upon him, in his ''

Defensio Secunda ''Defension Secunda'' was a 1654 political tract by John Milton, a sequel to his '' Defensio pro Populo Anglicano''. It is a defence of the Parliamentary regime, by then controlled by Oliver Cromwell; and also defense of his own reputation agains ...

'', in the mistaken belief that he was the author of an anonymous

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

work containing a "rabid" attack on Milton, called ''Regii sanguinis clamor ad coelum'' (Cry of the King's blood to Heaven). Morus replied with ''Fides Publica'' in 1654, published like the ''Regii sanguinis'' by

Adriaan Vlacq Adriaan Vlacq (1600–1667) was a Dutch book publisher and author of mathematical tables. Born in Gouda, Vlacq published a table of logarithms from 1 to 100,000 to 10 decimal places in 1628 in his '' Arithmetica logarithmica''. This table ...

(also attacked by Milton). Milton then launched a second attack after Morus's reply. The true authorship of the ''Regii sanguinis'', written by

Pierre Du Moulin Pierre Du Moulin ( Latinized as Petrus Molinaeus; 16 October 1568 – 10 March 1658) was a Huguenot minister in France who also resided in England for some years. Life Born in Buhy in 1568, he was the son of Joachim Du Moulin, a Protestant minis ...

, sent to

Salmasius Claude Saumaise (15 April 1588 – 3 September 1653), also known by the Latin name Claudius Salmasius, was a French classical scholar. Life Salmasius was born at Semur-en-Auxois in Burgundy. His father, a counsellor of the parlement of Dijon, se ...

and only seen into print by Morus, came out in 1670. He was professor of ecclesiastical history at

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

from 1652 to 1659, and pastor at Charenton for the last year of his life.''Concise Dictionary of National Biography'', article ''Alexander More''.

References

David Masson David Mather Masson LLD DLitt (2 December 18226 October 1907), was a Scottish academic, supporter of women's suffrage, literary critic and historian. Biography He was born in Aberdeen, the son of William Masson, a stone-cutter, and his wi ...

, ''The Life of John Milton'', Volume 5 (of 7), 1654-1660 *Alexandri Mori ecclesiastae & sacrarum litterarum professoris fides publica. Contra calumnias Ioannis Miltoni, Hagae-Comitum (S'Gravenhage): Vlacq, 1654. *A. Bruce (1813), ''A critical account of the life, character and discourses of Mr. Alexander Morus''

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morus, Alexander 1616 births 1670 deaths French Protestants Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church French people of Scottish descent Theologians from the Republic of Geneva Clergy from the Republic of Geneva