Mandell Creighton - Cambridge Professor, 1885–1891

Cambridge Professor, 1885–1891

After their arrival in Cambridge in late November 1884, the Creightons were swamped with invitations to social engagements. Interaction with academic society after ten years led to new friendships, especially for Louise. One such new acquaintance, Beatrice Webb, was to become Louise's firm lifelong friend. Although Creighton had already corresponded with fellow historian Lord Acton, he soon met him in person, as he did other Cambridge notables, such as Robertson Smith, the Hebrew and Arabic scholar, and Alfred Marshall, the economist.

"I turn to the past to learn its story without any preconceived opinion what that story may be. I do not assume that one period or one line of study is more instructive than another, but I am ready to recognise the real identity of man's aspiration at all times. Some episodes in history are regarded as profoundly modern; others are dismissed contemptuously as concerned with trifles. In some ages there are great heroes, in others the actors are sunk in indolence and sloth. For my own part I do not recognise this great distinction."

Around this time a dispute arose over the scope of the bachelor's honours examination, or the tripos, in History and Theology. The History tripos had been created by historian John Seeley who held that history was really political history, an essential part of the training of public servants, and stated tersely, "history is the school of statesmanship." Opposing him, reformers such as historian George Walter Prothero, and Henry Melvill Gwatkin, Creighton's successor to the Dixie chair, advocated a broader and more scientific approach. In spring 1885, the board of historical studies in Cambridge met to consider reforms. Although Creighton did not take a direct part in the discussions, he sided with the reformers, and a compromise was reached that emphasized the reading of primary sources in the students' historical subjects of interest.

Creighton lectured twice a week at the university, preparing extensively, but lecturing extemporaneously. He also preached in the Emmanuel College Chapel. A colleague said of his preaching style, "He did not care for eloquence, indeed he despised it; what he aimed at was instruction, and for this he always looked more to principles than facts." Creighton lectured more informally to undergraduates at Emmanuel College once a week. He supported Cambridge's two new women's colleges, Newnham and Girton, and taught informal weekly classes at Newnham. Two students from those classes, Mary Bateson and Alice Gardner, later became professional historians; both were mentored by Creighton early in their careers.

In spring 1885, Creighton accepted an offer from the Prime Minister, William Gladstone, of a residentiary canonry at Worcester Cathedral. As the residency requirement of three months could be met during Cambridge vacations, the Creighton family settled into an annual routine of six moves between Cambridge and Worcester, a distance of over 100 miles. The Worcester experience led Creighton to consider how the relationship of competition between a cathedral and its diocesan parish churches could be turned into one of cooperation, a subject on which he would write scholarly articles. By providing an introduction to the grim realities of city life, Worcester, moreover, awakened Creighton's social consciousness. He joined the Worcester Diocesan Penitentiary Association and was moved by the plight of prison inmates. In a sermon at the Sanitary Congress of Worcester in 1889, he spoke about the effect of a harsh physical life on the moral life,

the unwholesome air of the factory, the crowded workshop, the ill-ventilated room, all those things rob the body of its vigour, how they must also act upon the soul! ... uncleanliness, hatred, variance, drunkenness, revelling. Do not these things, think you, come largely from, and are they not greatly affected by, the physical conditions under which life is lived?

At the 250th anniversary of Harvard University in November 1886, Creighton, accompanied by Louise, represented Emmanuel College—founder John Harvard's alma mater. During the extended visit, they met prominent American men of letters, including the historian of the American West, Francis Parkman; supreme court justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.; and poet and critic James Russell Lowell. On November 8, 1886, Creighton received an honorary degree from Harvard.

In February 1887, volumes III and IV of Creighton's History of the Papacy were published by Longmans. These volumes narrowed the focus to specific popes, chiefly, Sixtus IV, Alexander VI, and Julius II. In his characteristic approach of maintaining historiographical balance and considering individuals to be very much mired in their historical eras, Creighton did not single out anyone for especial condemnation, even Alexander VI, whose great disrepute Creighton felt was "largely due to the fact that he did not add hypocrisy to his other vices." Earlier, in 1885, Creighton had agreed to become the first editor of a new journal, the English Historical Review. Now, he requested Acton to review his two volumes for the journal. The review Acton wrote was not only hostile, but, in Creighton's view, also obscure. In the following weeks, there were contentious exchanges between the two men, polarising eventually into their two views of history, Acton's normative approach versus Creighton's more relativist one. It was in one of these exchanges that Acton penned three sentences, one of which was to become an oft-quoted epigram. "Historical responsibility," wrote Acton, "has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority." Acton's attack, however, did lead Creighton to rethink his own position somewhat. In an 1895 paper, he would write that the papacy, "which had been established for the promotion of morality" had in fact "provided the means for the utmost immorality."