Morton, John (c. 1420-1500)

English prelate, archbishop of Canterbury 1486-1500. He first supported the Lancastrians, but submitted to Edward IV after the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, and was made master of the rolls in 1473 and bishop of Ely in 1479. He was imprisoned by Richard III, but escaped and joined the future Henry VII in Flanders. He became Lord Chancellor in 1487 and was created a cardinal in 1493.

Morton's ingenuity in extracting money from both the ostentatiously wealthy and the parsimonious originated the proverbial phrase of ‘Morton's fork’.