Lynda Telford – författare

This fascinating book explores the status of women in medieval England, both before and after the Norman Conquest.The author starts by contrasting the differences in status between Anglo/Danish or Saxon women with those who fell under the burden of the feudal system imposed by the Normans. She covers such subjects as marriage and childbirth, the rights and responsibilities of wives, separation and divorce, safety and security and the challenges of widowhood. She also examines such issues as virginity and chastity and the pressures placed on women by religious groups.At a time when women's rights were minimal, the author charts their struggles against the sexual politics of the era, its inequalities and its hypocrisies. She also examines the problems of the woman alone, from forced marriage to prostitution. The lives of ordinary women are the centre of attention, painting a fascinating picture of their courage and resilience against the background of their times.

Roman religion was certainly a contract with the Gods, offering devotion and the blood sacrifices which ‘nourished’ them in exchange for their continued protection and for Rome’s security and prestige. This ‘contract’ was a very real expectation that the gods were alive and aware, and that in return for human worship they could, and would, honour their part of the bargain. If this bargain was not honoured, then its nullity could bring disaster. This was best shown by the utter astonishment in Rome at the news of the defeat at Cannae in 216 BC. Surely the gods were unhappy: and two Vestal Virgins were chosen to be buried alive to appease them.The original gods and goddesses would be joined, but not superseded, by the Greek gods, who, with their names changed but their anthropomorphic characteristics intact, also served Rome and gave her their support. There would eventually be others, foreign gods from the East, bringing new ideas to Rome, along with outlandish and curious ceremonies, weird and wonderful gods like nothing ever before seen requiring initiations, sacrifices and rituals of their own, performed by equally unusual priests, some of them celibate, who would add to the already overmanned Roman priesthood with its many Flamens, Pontifices, Augurs and Haruspices, bringing even a tantalising whiff of magic. All of these would eventually become accepted, by all classes of society. With chapters on the Numina, emperor worship, the festivals and magic, Gods of Ancient Rome presents this complex but fascinating subject for the non-specialist reader.

In this sometimes controversial book, Lynda Telford explores the lives of women who have had personal and unofficial influence at the Vatican over the centuries. They may have coerced or otherwise influenced various popes into making decisions which affected papal rule.Against the background of the history of the papacy, when popes were expected to be celibate, the author identifies those popes whose love and admiration for women led to their giving them a voice, not only in their domestic arrangements but also in matters concerning the Church.The women discussed include Marozia, said to have been the mistress of Pope Sergius III, who appears to have taken a violent path to power; and Vanozza dei Catanei, who was the mistress of Alexander VI (Rodrigo Borgia) and bore him four children. Rodrigo was thought to have obtained the title of pope through simony and, although possessed of many engaging qualities, there was no denying his worldliness and determination to ignore the Church’s rules on celibacy. He then took on a mistress, Giulia Farnese, who was able to use her influence to promote the cause of her brother, Alessandro Farnese, who would later become Pope Paul III. There were several notable and influential women through the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, including Felice della Rovere, Catherine de Medici and Olimpia Pamphilj. The list also includes queens, such as Christina of Sweden, who abdicated and moved to Rome. Although the scandals abated in the nineteenth century, Mother Pascalina’s close relationship with Pope Pius XII in the twentieth caused a great deal of speculation.Engaging, controversial and sometimes illuminating, this is ultimately an exploration of the Catholic Church’s sometimes fraught relationship with women.

Lucius Cornelius Sulla is one of the central figures of the late Roman Republic. Indeed, he is often considered a major catalyst in the death of the republican system. the ambitious general whose feud with a rival (Marius) led to his marching on Rome with an army at his back, leading to civil war and the terrible internecine bloodletting of the proscriptions. In these things, and in his appropriation of the title of dictator with absolute power, he set a dangerous precedent to be followed by Julius Caesar a generation later. 

Lynda Telford believes Sulla's portrayal as a monstrous, brutal tyrant is unjustified. While accepting that he was responsible for much bloodshed, she contends that he was no more brutal than many of his contemporaries who have received a kinder press. Moreover, even his harshest measures were motivated not by selfish ambition but by genuine desire to do what he believed best for Rome. The author believes the bias of the surviving sources, and modern biographers, has exaggerated the ill-feeling towards Sulla in his lifetime. After all, he voluntarily laid aside dictatorial power and enjoyed a peaceful retirement without fear of assassination. The contrast to Caesar is obvious. 

Lynda Telford gives a long overdue reappraisal of this significant personality, considering such factors as the effect of his disfiguring illness. The portrait that emerges is a subtle and nuanced one; her Sulla is very much a human, not a monster.

This book describes a selection of people caught up in the turmoil that presaged the reformation - a period of change instigated by a king whose desire for a legitimate son was to brutally sweep aside an entire way of life. The most famous and influential of the victims were the two people closest to Henry VIII. His mentor, Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, a great churchman and a diplomat of consummate skill. The other was to be the King’s second wife, Anne Boleyn. These two adversaries, equally determined to succeed, had risen above the usual expectations of their time. Wolsey, of humble birth, became a price of the church, enjoying his position to the full, before coming into conflict with a woman who had no intention of being another passing fancy for the king. She would become the mother of one of the greatest and most famous of England’s monarchs. They were brought down by the factions surrounding them and the selfish indifference of the man they thought they could trust. Though they succumbed to the forces aligned against them, their courage and achievements are remembered, and their places in history assured.EPUB3: Reflowable