Talk: Athelstan - First King of Britain? Rev Sarah Foot

The Very Revd Professor Foot is the Dean of Christ Church, University of Oxford, having taken up her role on 8th July 2023. As Sarah Foot she produced the important biography ‘Athelstan The First King of England’, which established beyond doubt Athelstan’s important place in English history. In this talk she is going further. Should Athelstan be recognised as the first ‘King of Britain’? Sarah was appointed the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History at Oxford in 2007. Educated at Newnham College, Cambridge(BA; MA; PhD), she served as a Lay Canon at Christ Church from 2007-2017, and as a Residentiary Canon since her ordination in 2017. She writes on women in religion, medieval monasticism, and the early history of the Church in England, and is currently working on a study of the life and work of the Venerable Bede.