Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot (born 23 February 1961) is an English Anglican priest and

early medieval The Early Middle Ages (or early medieval period), sometimes controversially referred to as the Dark Ages, is typically regarded by historians as lasting from the late 5th or early 6th century to the 10th century. They marked the start of the Mi ...

historian, currently serving as Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Early life and education

Foot was born on 23 February 1961 and is the daughter of the military historian M. R. D. Foot and his second wife Elizabeth. She was educated until 1979 at Withington Girls' School in Manchester. She then went up to

Newnham College, Cambridge Newnham College is a women's constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1871 by a group organising Lectures for Ladies, members of which included philosopher Henry Sidgwick and suffragist campaigner Millicen ...

, to study at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, where she was taught by, amongst others,

Rosamond McKitterick Rosamond Deborah McKitterick (born 31 May 1949) is an English medieval historian. She is an authority on the Frankish kingdoms in the eighth and ninth centuries AD, who uses palaeographical and manuscript studies to illuminate aspects of the ...

and

Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes, ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British author who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of Trinity Colleg ...

. She graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

(BA) degree in 1984: as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Th ...

(MA Cantab). She was awarded her

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

(PhD) degree in 1990: her doctoral thesis, written under the supervision of

, was titled ''Anglo-Saxon Ministers, AD 597 – ca. 900''.

Academic career

Foot was, from 1989 to 1990, research fellow at

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of t ...

, before becoming a fellow and tutor there. In 1993 she took up a lectureship at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, being promoted to

senior lecturer Senior lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, and Israel senior lecturer is a faculty position at a university or similar institution. The position is tenured (in systems with this conce ...

in 2001. In 2004, she was appointed to the newly established chair of Early Medieval History. On 22 February 2007 Queen Elizabeth II appointed Foot to the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford. She is the first woman ever to hold this chair. Postholders are expected to lead research and develop graduate studies within their areas of specialisation and to take a leading part in developing the work of the Oxford theology faculty. The professorship is also annexed to a

canonry A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

at Christ Church, although the postholder need only be a lay churchperson; and at a special ceremony on 6 October 2007 Foot was installed as residentiary canon of the cathedral. Her main areas of research lie in the history of Anglo-Saxon England, particularly Anglo-Saxon

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, women and religion, and the Cistercians. She also works on the history of the early medieval church and society as well as the invention of the English in

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

, and historical theory. In 2001 she was awarded a major grant to carry out research into the ruined Cistercian abbeys of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. She has written a biography of

Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ang, Æðelstān ; on, Aðalsteinn; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his fir ...

, the first king of all England. Among her current projects are the charters of Bury St Edmunds Abbey. She contributed to an episode of BBC Radio 4's '' In Our Time'' on the life of St Cuthbert, broadcast in January 2021. She is an editor of the ''Oxford History of Historical Writing''.

Ordained ministry

From 2007 to 2017, Foot was a

lay canon A canon (from the Latin , itself derived from the Greek , , "relating to a rule", "regular") is a member of certain bodies in subject to an ecclesiastical rule. Originally, a canon was a cleric living with others in a clergy house or, later, i ...

Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford Christ Church Cathedral is the cathedral of the Anglican diocese of Oxford, which consists of the counties of Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire. It is also the chapel of Christ Church, a college of the University of Oxford. This dual r ...

. During this time, she felt the call to ordination. She trained for Holy Orders on the Oxford Ministry Course, a part-time course taught at

Ripon College Cuddesdon Ripon College Cuddesdon is a Church of England theological college in Cuddesdon, a village outside Oxford, England. The College trains men and women for ministry in the Church of England: stipendiary, non-stipendiary, local ordained and lay mi ...

. On 1 July 2017, she was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

as a

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

by Steven Croft, the Bishop of Oxford. On 21 December 2017, she was ordained as a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

Colin Fletcher Colin Fletcher (14 March 1922 – 12 June 2007) was a pioneering backpacker and writer. In 1963, Fletcher walked the length of that portion of Grand Canyon contained within the 1963 boundaries of Grand Canyon National Park. Although ...

, the Bishop of Dorchester. Since 2017, she has been a residentiary canon of Christ Church Cathedral in the

Diocese of Oxford The Diocese of Oxford is a Church of England diocese that forms part of the Province of Canterbury. The diocese is led by the Bishop of Oxford (currently Steven Croft), and the bishop's seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. It contain ...

. She was also a non-stipendiary minister at Christ Church Cathedral from 2017 to 2019.

Personal life

In 1986, Foot married Geoff Schrecker: they divorced in 1999. Together they had one son. In 2002, she married Michael Bentley, Emeritus Professor of Modern History at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

Honours

In 2001, Foot was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Historical Society A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FRHistS). On 14 June 2001, she was elected a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

(FSA). She served as President of the Ecclesiastical History Society from 2011 to 2012.

Selected works

* ''Handbook of Historical Theory'', Sarah Foot and Nancy F. Partner (eds.), London, Sage 2012. * ''Æthelstan: The First English King'', New Haven, Yale University Press 2011. * "The Bishops of Selsey and the Creation of a Diocese in Sussex" in: Paul Foster and Rachel Moriarty (eds.), ''Chichester – The Palace and Its Bishops'' Otter Memorial Paper Number 27. Chichester: University of Chichester, 2011, pp. 90–101 * "Patrick Wormald as Historian", in: Stephen Baxter, Catherine E. Karkov, Janet L. Nelson and David Pelteret (eds.), ''Early Medieval Studies in Memory of Patrick Wormald'', Farnham, Ashgate 2009. * "Where English Becomes British: Rethinking Contexts for Brunanburh", in:

Julia Barrow Julia is usually a feminine given name. It is a Latinate feminine form of the name Julio and Julius. (For further details on etymology, see the Wiktionary entry "Julius".) The given name ''Julia'' had been in use throughout Late Antiquity (e.g ...

and Andrew Wareham (eds.), ''Myth, Rulership, Church and Charters: Essays in Honour of Nicholas Brooks'', London, Ashgate 2008. * ''Monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600–900'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2006. * "Reading Anglo-Saxon Charters: Memory, Record or Story?", in: Elizabeth M. Tyler and Ross Balzaretti (eds.), ''Narrative and History in the Early Medieval West'', Abingdon, Marston 2006. * "Finding the Meaning of Form: Narrative in Annals and Chronicles" in: Nancy F. Partner (ed.), ''Writing Medieval History (Writing History)'', London, Hodder Arnold 2005. * "The Historiography of the Anglo-Saxon 'Nation-State'" in: Len Scales and Oliver Zimmer (eds.), ''Power and the Nation in European History'', Cambridge, Cambridge University Press 2005. * "Confronting Violence: A Medieval Perspective on the Ethics of Historiography" ''Storia della storiografia'' 42 (2002), pp. 23–41 * ''Veiled Women I: The Disappearance of Nuns from Anglo-Saxon England'', Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing 2000. * ''Veiled Women II: Female Religious Communities in England, 871–1066'', Aldershot, Ashgate Publishing 2000. * "Remembering, Forgetting and Inventing: Attitudes to the Past in England after the First Viking Age", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 6th series 9 (1999), pp. 185–200 * "English People" in: Michael Lapidge et al. (eds), ''The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England,'' Oxford, Blackwell 1998, p. 170f. * "The Making of ''Angelcynn'': English Identity before the Norman Conquest", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'', 6th series 6 (1996), pp. 25–49 * "Violence Against Christians? The Vikings and the Church in Ninth-Century England", ''Medieval History'' 1.3 (1991), pp. 3–16 * "Glastonbury's Early Abbots" in: Lesley Abrams and James P. Carley (eds.), ''The Archaeology and History of Glastonbury Abbey: Essays in Honour of the Ninetieth Birthday of C. A. Ralegh Radford'', Woodbrigde, Boydell 1991, p. 163-189. * "What Was an Anglo-Saxon Monastery?" in: Judith Loades (ed.), ''Monastic Studies'', Bangor, Headstart History 1990, p. 48-57. * "Parochial Ministry in Early Anglo-Saxon England: The Role of Monastic Communities" in: W. J. Sheils and Diana Woods (eds.), ''The Ministry: Clerical and Lay'', Oxford, Blackwell 1989, p. 43-54.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Foot, Sarah 1961 births 20th-century English women writers 20th-century English historians 21st-century English women writers 21st-century English Anglican priests 21st-century English historians Academics of the University of Sheffield Alumni of Newnham College, Cambridge Anglican scholars Anglo-Saxon studies scholars British women historians Fellows of Christ Church, Oxford Fellows of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Women Anglican clergy Living people People educated at Withington Girls' School Presidents of the Ecclesiastical History Society Regius Professors of Ecclesiastical History