Foote, David 1960- (David N. Foote)

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Foote, David 1960- (David N. Foote)

PERSONAL:

Born 1960. Education: University of California, Davis, Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Office—University of St. Thomas, Mail #JRC 432, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul, MN 55105-1078. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Academic and historian. University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN, assistant professor of history, 2004—.

WRITINGS:

Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy: The Bishopric of Orvieto, 1100-1250, University of Notre Dame Press (Notre Dame, IN), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS:

David Foote is an academic and historian. Born in 1960, Foote completed a Ph.D. at the University of California, Davis. He later went on to become an assistant professor of history at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2004. His research interests lie primarily within the field of medieval studies and include world history before 1550, and the role of the church in medieval Italian city-states.

Foote published his first book, Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy: The Bishopric of Orvieto, 1100-1250, in 2004 through the University of Notre Dame Press. The study highlights the significance of ecclesiastical institutions in the evolution of civil society and communal government in medieval era Italy. Foote makes his case by focusing on the bishopric of Orvieto.

Maureen C. Miller, writing in Medium Aevum, commented that Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy is a "well-researched monograph." Miller concluded that "the study is most commendable for the multiple connections and reciprocal influences it reveals between the spiritual and temporal spheres." G.A. Loud, writing in the Journal of Ecclesiastical History, observed that "it is a pity that the author did not continue his account of the episcopal administration down to the early fourteenth century, by which time an effective diocesan bureaucracy had emerged." Loud concluded that, "nevertheless, this is an interesting and thoughtful study, from which students both of the Church and of urban history will profit." Valerie Ramseyer, writing in the Catholic Historical Review, described the account as "a well-researched and richly-detailed study." Ramseyer concluded: "More than just an attempt to rid the church of worldly corruption and return it to its evangelical mission, the author shows how the process of reform in Orvieto represented an adjustment between the multifaceted and, at times, conflicting interests of ecclesiastical institutions, secular leaders, and evangelical ideals. David Foote's book is an important addition to the history of communal Italy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries."

In a Church History article, Janine Larmon Peterson observed that the author "successfully demonstrates how the bishopric was an essential element of medieval state building through ‘territorial domination and constructing norms.’" Peterson summarized that "Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy is a welcome addition to recent scholarship on the relationship between commune and diocese in such cities as Rieti, Lucca, and Florence. The reader, therefore, might benefit from a more thorough discussion of how Orvieto compares to these other cities and how the study fits into the historiography of Italian bishoprics. In particular, a rationale for why Foote chose to focus on Orvieto would be a welcome addition." Burnam W. Reynolds, writing in the Historian, noted that Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy is "a multifaceted work, not confined to the nuts and bolts of territorial control; social stratification; the exercise of institutional power; or even an examination of how the new notarial, record-keeping technology affected Orvieto's view of history," adding that "it has a great deal to offer to both the specialist" as well as the general reader.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, February, 2006, Julius Kirshner, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy: The Bishopric of Orvieto, 1100-1250, p. 249.

Catholic Historical Review, April, 2006, Valerie Ramseyer, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 274.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, June, 2005, E. Peters, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 1888.

Church History, September, 2005, Janine Larmon Peterson, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 604.

Historian, spring, 2006, Burnam W. Reynolds, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 183.

Journal of Ecclesiastical History, July, 2005, G.A. Loud, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 567.

Law and History Review, spring, 2006, Thomas Kuehn, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 217.

Medium Aevum, fall, 2005, Maureen C. Miller, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 376.

Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies, July, 2006, Sharon Dale, review of Lordship, Reform, and the Development of Civil Society in Medieval Italy, p. 845.