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MANDELL CREIGHTON (1843—1901)

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 402 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MANDELL

CREIGHTON (1843—1901)  ,
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English historian and bishop of
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London, was born at Carlisle on the 5th of
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July 1843, being the eldest son of Robert Creighton, a well-to-do
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upholsterer of that city . He was educated at Durham grammar school and at Merton College, Oxford, where he was elected to a postmaster-
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ship in 1862 . He obtained a first-class in literae humaniores, and a second in law and
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modern
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history in 1866 . In the same
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year he became tutor and
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fellow of Merton . He was ordained deacon, on his fellowship, in 1870, and priest in 1873; in 1872 he had married Louise, daughter of Robert von Glehn, a London merchant (herself a writer of several successful books of history) . Meanwhile he had published several small
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historical
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works; but his college and university duties
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left little time for writing, and in 1875 he accepted the vicarage of Embleton, a parish on the coast of Northumberland, near Dunstanburgh, with an ancient and beautiful church and a fortified parsonage house, and within reach of the
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fine library in Bamburgh Keep . Here he remained for nearly ten years, acquiring that experience of parochial
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work which afterwards stood him in good stead, taking private pupils, studying and writing, as well as taking an active
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part in diocesan business . Here too he planned and wrote the first two volumes of his chief historical work, the History of the Papacy; and it was in part this which led to his being elected, in 1884 to the newly-founded Dixie professor-ship of ecclesiastical history at Cambridge, where he went into residence early in 1885 . At Cambridge his influence at once made itself felt, especially in the reorganization of the historical school . His lectures and conversation classes were extra-ordinarily good, possessing as he did the rare gift of kindling the
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enthusiasm without curbing the individuality of his pupils . In 1886 he combined with other leading historians to found the English Historical Review, of which he was editor for five years . Meanwhile the vacations were spent at Worcester, where he had been nominated a
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canon residentiary in 1885 .

In 1891 he was made canon of

Windsor; but he never went into residence, being appointed in the same year to the see of
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Peterborough . He threw himself with characteristic energy into his new work, visiting, preaching and lecturing in every part of his diocese . He also found time to preach and lecture elsewhere, and to deliver remarkable speeches at social functions; he worked hard with Archbishop Benson on the Parish
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Councils
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Bill (1894); he became the first president of the Church Historical Society (1894), and continued in that office till his
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death; he took part in the Laud
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Commemoration (1845); he represented the English Church at the coronation of the
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tsar (1896) . He even found time for academical work, delivering the Hulsean lectures (1893–1894) and the Rede lecture (1894) at Cambridge, and the Romanes lecture at Oxford (1896) . In 1897, on the
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translation of Dr Temple to Canterbury, Bishop Creighton was transferred to London . During Dr Temple's episcopate ritual irregularities of all kinds had grown up, which left a very difficult task to his successor, more especially in view of the growing public agitation on the subject, of which he had to bear the brunt . As was only natural, his studied fairness did not satisfy partisans on either side; and his efforts towards conciliation laid him open to much misunderstanding . His administration, none the less, did much to preserve peace . He strained every nerve to induce his clergy to accept his ruling on the questions of the reservation of the
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Sacrament and of the ceremonial use of
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incense in accordance with the archbishop's
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judgment in the Lincoln case; but when, during his last illness, a prosecutor brought proceedings against the clergy of five recalcitrant churches, the bishop, on the advice of his arch-deacons, interposed his veto . One other effort on behalf of peace may be mentioned . In accordance with a
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vote of the diocesan
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conference, the bishop arranged the " Round Table Conference " between representative members of various parties, held at
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Fulham in
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October 1900, on " the
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doctrine of the
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Holy Eucharist and its expression in ritual," and a report of its proceedings was published with a preface by him . The true work of his episcopate was, however, positive, not negative .

He was an excellent

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administrator; and his wide knowledge, broad sympathies, and sound
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common sense, though they placed him outside the point of view common to most of his clergy, made him an invaluable guide in correcting their too often in-discreet zeal . He fully realized the
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special position of the English Church in Christendom, and firmly maintained its essential teaching . Yet he was no narrow
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Anglican . His love for the English Church never blinded him to its faults, and no man was less insular than he . As he was a historian before he became a bishop, so it was his historical sense which determined his general attitude as a bishop . It was this, together with a certain native taste for ecclesiastical pomp, which made him—while condemning the unhistorical extravagances of the ultraritualists—himself a ritualist . He was the first bishop of London,since the Reformation, to " pontificate " in a mitre as well as the cope, and though no man could have been less essentially " sacerdotal " he was always careful of correct ceremonial usage . His interests and his sympathies, however, extended far beyond the limits of the church . He took a foremost part in almost every good work in his diocese, social or educational,
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political or religious; while he found time also to cultivate friendly relations with thinking men and
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women of all
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schools, and to help all and sundry who came to him for advice and assistance . It was this multiplicity of activities and interests that proved fatal to him . By degrees the work, and especially the routine work, began to tell on him . He fell seriously
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ill in the
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late summer of 1900, and died on the 14th of
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January 1901 .

He was buried in St

Paul's
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cathedral, where a statue surmounts his tomb . He was a man of striking presence and distinguished by a fine courtesy of manner . His irrespressible and often daring humour, together with his frank distaste for much conventional religious phraseology, was a stumbling-block to some pious
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people . But beneath it all
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lay a deep seriousness of purpose and a
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firm faith in what to him were the fundamental truths of religion . Bishop Creighton's
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principal published works are: History of the Papacy during the Period of the Reformation (5 vols., 1882-1897, new ed.); History of the Papacy from the
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Great
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Schism to the
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Sack of Rome (6 vols., 1897); The Early Renaissance in England (1895); Cardinal Wolsey (1895);
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Life of Simon de Montfort (1876, new ed . 1895); Queen Elizabeth (1896) . He also edited the series of Epochs of English History, for which he wrote " The Age of Elizabeth " (13th ed., 1897); Historical Lectures and Addresses by Mandell Creighton, &mac., edited by Mrs Creighton, were published in 1903 . See Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton, &c., by his wife (2 vols., 1904) ; and the article " Creighton and Stubbs " in Church Quarterly Review for Oct . 1905 .

End of Article: MANDELL CREIGHTON (1843—1901)
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