Sarah Foot Explained

Honorific Prefix:The Very Reverend
Sarah Foot
Birth Name:Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot
Birth Date:23 February 1961
Nationality:British
Dean of Christ Church, Oxford
Father:M. R. D. Foot
Alma Mater:Newnham College, Cambridge
Thesis Title:Anglo-Saxon Ministers, AD 597 – ca. 900
Thesis Year:1989
Doctoral Advisor:Rosamond McKitterick
Discipline:History
Module:
Child:yes
Religion:Christianity (Anglican)
Church:Church of England
Offices Held:Canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford (2007–present)

Sarah Rosamund Irvine Foot, (born 23 February 1961) is an English Anglican priest and early medieval historian. She has been Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford since 2007, and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford since 2023.

Early life and education

Foot was born on 23 February 1961[1] and is the daughter of the military historian M. R. D. Foot and his second wife Elizabeth.[2] She was educated until 1979 at Withington Girls' School in Manchester. She then went up to Newnham College, Cambridge, to study at the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic, where she was taught by, amongst others, Rosamond McKitterick and Simon Keynes, completing that tripos in 1983.[3] She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1984; as per tradition, her BA was promoted to a Master of Arts (MA Cantab). She was awarded her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1990: her doctoral thesis, written under the supervision of Rosamond McKitterick,[4] was titled Anglo-Saxon Minsters, AD 597 – ca. 900.[5] [6]

Academic career and ordained ministry

Foot was, from 1989 to 1990, research fellow at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, before becoming a fellow and tutor there. In 1993 she took up a lectureship at the University of Sheffield, being promoted to senior lecturer in 2001.[7] In 2004, she was appointed to the newly established chair of Early Medieval History.[8]

On 22 February 2007 Queen Elizabeth II appointed Foot to the Regius Chair of Ecclesiastical History at the University of Oxford.[9] 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 at Christ Church, although the post-holder need be only a layperson; and at a special ceremony on 6 October 2007 Foot was installed as residentiary canon of the cathedral.[10]

From 2007 to 2017, Foot was a lay canon of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. During this time, she felt the call to ordination.[11] She trained for Holy Orders on the Oxford Ministry Course, a part-time course taught at Ripon College Cuddesdon. On 1 July 2017, she was ordained in the Church of England as a deacon by Steven Croft, the Bishop of Oxford.[12] On 21 December 2017, she was ordained as a priest by Colin Fletcher, the Bishop of Dorchester.[13] Since 2017, she has been a residentiary canon of Christ Church Cathedral in the Diocese of Oxford.[14] She was also a non-stipendiary minister at Christ Church Cathedral from 2017 to 2019.

In March 2023, Foot's appointment as the Dean of Christ Church was approved by King Charles III. She is the first woman to serve in the role.[15] She took up the appointment effective 1 July 2023,[16] and was installed at the cathedral during a service on 8 July.[17] The dean is both head of an Oxford college (Christ Church) and of the cathedral of the Diocese of Oxford (Christ Church Cathedral).

Research interests

Her main areas of research lie in the history of Anglo-Saxon England, particularly Anglo-Saxon monasteries, 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, and historical theory. In 2001 she was awarded a major grant to carry out research into the ruined Cistercian abbeys of Yorkshire. She has written a biography of Æthelstan, 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.[18] is an editor of the Oxford History of Historical Writing.

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 and Senior Research Fellow and Stipendiary Lecturer in History at St Hugh's College, Oxford.[19]

Honours

In 2001, Foot was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS). On 14 June 2001, she was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (FSA).[20] She served as president of the Ecclesiastical History Society from 2011 to 2012.[21]

Selected works

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Foot, Prof. Sarah Rosamund Irvine. Who's Who 2018. Oxford University Press. 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.245083. 1 December 2017.
  2. Brian Bond Obituary: MRD Foot, The Guardian, 21 February 2012
  3. 'Appendix V. Candidates who Took the Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic Tripos between 1900 and 1999', in H. M. Chadwick and the Study of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic in Cambridge, ed. by Michael Lapidge [=''Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies'', 69–70] (Aberystwyth: Department of Welsh, Aberystwyth University, 2015), pp. 257–66 (p. 263).
  4. Book: Foot, Sarah . 2006 . Monastic Life in Anglo-Saxon England, c. 600–900 . Cambridge, England . Cambridge University Press . 2009 . xi . 978-0-521-73908-5.
  5. Foot . Sarah Rosamund Irvine . 1989 . Anglo-Saxon Minsters, AD 597 – ca. 900: The Religious Life in England before the Benedictine Reform . PhD . University of Cambridge . 53600053.
  6. Book: Titles of Dissertations Approved for the Ph.D., M.Sc., M.Litt. Degrees in the University of Cambridge During the Academical Year . 1989 . University of Cambridge . 14 . FOOT, SRI N PH.D. ANGLO - SAXON MINSTERS A.D. 597 - CA 900 : THE RELIGIOUS LIFE IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE BENEDICTINE REFORM . 9 April 2023.
  7. Web site: Foot, Rev. Canon Prof. Sarah Rosamund Irvine, (born 23 Feb. 1961), Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History, University of Oxford, since 2007 . . Oxford University Press . 2 April 2021 . en . 1 December 2019.
  8. Web site: Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History University of Oxford . 23 February 2008 . Official bulletin of 10 Downing Street.
  9. Web site: First woman to be Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford. 23 February 2008. University of Oxford. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20121202185144/http://www.ox.ac.uk/media/news_stories/2007/070222.html. 2 December 2012. dmy-all.
  10. Web site: Welcome for Canon Professors. 10 October 2010 . Christ Church, Oxford.
  11. Web site: New clergy for Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Diocese of Oxford. 14 March 2018. 23 June 2017.
  12. News: Petertide ordinations. 14 March 2018. Church Times. 7 July 2017.
  13. Web site: Priesting of Canon Sarah Foot. Christ Church, Oxford. University of Oxford. 14 March 2018. 21 December 2017.
  14. Web site: Who's Who in the Cathedral. Christ Church, Oxford. University of Oxford. 14 March 2018.
  15. Web site: Sarah Foot becomes first female Dean of Christ Church . University of Oxford . 16 March 2023 . 16 March 2023.
  16. Web site: Appointment of the Dean of Christ Church: 16 March 2023 . GOV.UK . Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street . 16 March 2023 . en . 16 March 2023.
  17. Web site: Christ Church . Choral Evensong with the Installation of Dean Foot . 8 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230706220242/https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/2023-07-08-1800-choral-evensong-installation-dean-foot-55 . 6 July 2023 . 6 July 2023 .
  18. Web site: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Saint Cuthbert. 2021-11-14. BBC. en-GB.
  19. Web site: Professor Michael Bentley . 2023-08-12 . St Hugh's College . en-GB.
  20. Web site: Fellows Directory - Foot. Society of Antiquaries of London. 27 December 2017.
  21. Web site: Ecclesiastical History Society.

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