Mandell Creighton

Mandell Creighton (5 July 1843 - 14 January 1901) was a British historian and Church of England bishop. Creighton, a Renaissance papacy researcher, was the first holder of the Dixie Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge, a chair founded about the time history was establishing itself as an autonomous academic subject. He was also the founding editor of the English Historical Review, the oldest English-language scholarly publication in history. Creighton had a second...See more

Mandell Creighton (5 July 1843 - 14 January 1901) was a British historian and Church of England bishop. Creighton, a Renaissance papacy researcher, was the first holder of the Dixie Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Cambridge, a chair founded about the time history was establishing itself as an autonomous academic subject. He was also the founding editor of the English Historical Review, the oldest English-language scholarly publication in history. Creighton had a second career as a Church of England cleric. He was a parish priest at Embleton, Northumberland, before becoming a Canon Residentiary of Worcester Cathedral, the Bishop of Peterborough, and the Bishop of London. His moderation and worldliness garnered Queen Victoria's approval and the attention of lawmakers. It was commonly assumed at the time that Creighton would have become Archbishop of Canterbury if his death at the age of 57 had not occurred. Creighton's historical work was met with conflicting reactions. He was lauded for his meticulous fairness, yet chastised for failing to speak out against previous excesses. He, for one, was adamant that public figures be evaluated for their public activities, not their private ones. See less