John Stephen Morrill FBA (born 12 June 1946)[1][2] is a British Roman Catholic Priest, historian and academic who specialises in the political, religious, social, and cultural history of early-modern Britain from 1500 to 1750, especially the English Civil War.
He is best known for his scholarship on early modern politics and his unique county studies approach which he developed at Cambridge.
[4] He was deputy director of the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) from 2001 to 2004.
[9] According to the online Bibliography of British and Irish History, he has published (up to July 2016) 116 books, essays and articles but some of his major contributions have been in developing online datasets – as General Editor of the Royal Historical Society Bibliography of British and Irish History and of the British Overseas (1992–99) — now the online Bibliography of British and Irish History, as Chair of the Management Committee of the project that put 8,000 survivor statements from the 1641 'massacres' in Ireland,[10] and as General Editor of an imminent (5 volume and online) edition of all the recorded words of Oliver Cromwell.
[4] He has held several senior positions in the Diocese of East Anglia (e.g. Lourdes Pilgrimage Diocean Director, Chair of the Commission for Evangelisation and Assistant Director for Diaconal Formation), and previously taught Church History and Pastoral Theology one weekend a month at St John's Seminary, Wonersh.
He was ordained as a Catholic priest on 21 September 2024 at the Cathedral of St John the Baptist by Peter Collins, Bishop of East Anglia.