Introduction

Biography

Mandell was the son of car­pen­ter Ro­bert Creigh­ton and Sar­ah Man­dell, and hus­band of au­thor and wo­men’s suf­frage ac­ti­vist Lou­ise Hume von Glehn (mar­ried 1872).

A gra­du­ate of Mer­ton Col­lege, Ox­ford, he was or­dained a dea­con in 1870, and priest in 1873. He be­came bi­shop of Pe­ter­bo­rough in 1891, and bi­shop of Lon­don in 1897.

Creigh­ton is re­mem­bered as both a cler­ic and his­tor­ian, and re­ci­pi­ent of the 1887 let­ter from John Em­er­ich Ed­ward Dal­berg, Lord Ac­ton, con­tain­ing the fa­mous quote, Pow­er tends to cor­rupt, and ab­so­lute pow­er cor­rupts ab­so­lute­ly.

Works

• History of the Pa­pa­cy Dur­ing the Per­iod of the Re­form­ation, five vol­umes, 1882–97
• History of the Pa­pa­cy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, 1897
• The Ear­ly Re­nais­sance in Eng­land, 1895
• Cardinal Wol­sey, 1895
• Life of Si­mon de Mont­fort, 1876, 1895
• Queen Eliz­abeth, 1896