Ralph Morice was the secretary and biographer of

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry' ...

, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Life

Born about 1500, he is presumed to be the younger son of James Morice, clerk of the kitchen and master of the works to

Margaret, Countess of Richmond Lady Margaret Beaufort (usually pronounced: or ; 31 May 1441/43 – 29 June 1509) was a major figure in the Wars of the Roses of the late fifteenth century, and mother of King Henry VII of England, the first Tudor monarch. A descendant o ...

. His father, who was living in 1537, amassed a fortune and lived at

Chipping Ongar Chipping Ongar () is a market town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Ongar, in the Epping Forest District of the county of Essex, England. It is located east of Epping, southeast of Harlow and northwest of Brentwood. In 2020 t ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Gr ...

. His principal duty consisted in supervising the buildings of the countess at Cambridge. The eldest son, William Morice (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1547), was gentleman-usher, first to Richard Pace, and afterwards to Henry VIII, and towards the end of Henry's reign was in gaol and in peril of his life on a charge of heresy. William was father of the ecclesiastical lawyer James Morice. Ralph Morice was educated at Cambridge; he graduated B.A. in 1523, and commenced M.A. in 1526. He became secretary to Cranmer in 1528 before his elevation to the archbishopric, and continued in the office until after Edward VI's death. In 1532 he went with

Hugh Latimer Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...

, his brother, and others to see

James Bainham James Bainham (died 30 April 1532) was an English lawyer and Protestant reformer who was burned as a heretic in 1532. Life According to John Foxe he was a son of Sir Alexander Bainham, who was sheriff of Gloucestershire in 1497, 1501, and 1516; a ...

Newgate Prison Newgate Prison was a prison at the corner of Newgate Street and Old Bailey Street just inside the City of London, England, originally at the site of Newgate, a gate in the Roman London Wall. Built in the 12th century and demolished in 1904, th ...

before his execution. On 18 June 1537 he and his father received a grant of the office of bailiff for some crown lands, and in 1547 he was made registrar to the commissioners appointed to visit the dioceses of Rochester, Canterbury, Chichester, and Winchester. His duties while secretary to the archbishop were heavy. In a memorial, printed in the Appendix to

John Strype John Strype (1 November 1643 – 11 December 1737) was an English clergyman, historian and biographer from London. He became a merchant when settling in Petticoat Lane. In his twenties, he became perpetual curate of Theydon Bois, Essex and l ...

's ''Cranmer'' and addressed to Queen Elizabeth, he speaks of writing much in defence of the ecclesiastical changes; much of his work must have been anonymous. He had the farm of the parsonage of

Chartham Chartham is a village and civil parish in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is situated on the Ashford side of the city, and is in the North Downs area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, south west of Canterbury, England. The Great St ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it fac ...

—that is to say he put in a curate, keeping the rest of the revenues. The curate, Richard Turner, got into trouble for Protestant preaching in 1544, but Morice managed to clear him. The Turner case was part of the serious plot against Cranmer at this time; Morice worked with

Anthony Denny Sir Anthony Denny (16 January 1501 – 10 September 1549) was Groom of the Stool to King Henry VIII of England, thus his closest courtier and confidant. He was the most prominent member of the Privy chamber in King Henry's last years, having ...

and

William Butts Sir William Butts (c. 1486 – 22 November 1545) was a member of King Henry VIII of England's court and was the King's physician. His portrait was painted by Hans Holbein the Younger in 1543, and he was knighted in the following year. His grandd ...

at court, and played a significant part in the successful counter-attack that secured Cranmer's position with the king. Under Queen Mary, Morice was in some danger. His house was twice searched, and he lost many of his papers and had to flee. He was imprisoned, but escaped. The end of his life he passed at

Bekesbourne Bekesbourne is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England. The village is centred ESE of the city's cathedral and its centre stretches less than 1 km from its railway station to the A2 road to the south. Amenities The parish ...

in Kent. There he fell into poverty, and stated in one of his petitions to Queen Elizabeth that he had four daughters whom he lacked the means to marry. Three of these, however, Margaret, Mary, and Anne, were married in January and February 1571. Alyce Morice, who was buried 25 February 1562, may have been his wife. The date of his own death is uncertain

Works

Morice, from his official position, was in possession of information, and helped

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the s ...

and others in their literary researches, mainly by supplying them with his ''Anecdotes of Cranmer.'' This compilation was used by Strype in his ''Memorials of Cranmer'', and was reprinted from the manuscript at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

, in ''Narratives of the Reformation'' (

Camden Society The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary ...

). Morice gave other assistance to Foxe, and wrote an account of Latimer's conversion, which is printed in Strype's ''Memorials'' and in Latimer's ''Works''. Harleian MS. 6148 consists of copies of letters written by Morice on the archbishop's business. Transcripts by Strype of some of these form Lansdowne MS. 1045. They were published by Henry Jenkyns and

John Edmund Cox John Edmund Cox (1812–1890), also Edmond, was an English cleric and antiquarian, best known as an editor of the works of Thomas Cranmer. Life He was the eldest son of John (or George) Cox of Norwich, a furniture maker. In his musical memoirs, Co ...

in their editions of Cranmer's ‘Works.’

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Morice, Ralph Year of birth missing Year of death missing 16th-century English writers 16th-century male writers English biographers People from Chipping Ongar People from Bekesbourne