John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO, DL (10 January 1834 19 June 1902), is better known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton. Lord Acton was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer born into a family full of nobility. Acton spent much time in the chief intellectual centers of Europe and in the United States, making friends with Tocqueville, Fustel de Coulanges, Bluntschli, von Sybel and Ranke. As a result, Lord Acton wrote at