Richard Morison's pamphlets played an integral role in the defense of the Henrician Reformation. His writings defended the king and his councillors against the conservative uprisings of 1536 and 1539 as well as responding to criticism levied against the Reformation at home and abroad. Morison emphasized obedience and loyalty in his popular pamphlets, themes which were further developed in his Latin compositions and manuscript proposals. A fervent supporter of Lutheran Protestantism, Morison strongly supported the official Reformation under the last two Tudor kings, and his writings carried the principles of reform into the areas of law, education, and government. In reward for his services at court, in Parliament, and as a propagandist, Morison was knighted in the reign of Edward VI, yet he ended his days as an exile in Protestant Strasbourg.

Richard Morison was born around 1514 to Thomas Morison of Hertfordshire and a daughter of Thomas Merry of the...