'A unique and thrilling insight into the brilliant mind of Anne Lister' Sally Wainwright, creator of Gentleman JackFemale Fortune is the book which inspired Sally Wainwright to write Gentleman Jack, now a major drama series for the BBC and HBO.Lesbian landowner Anne Lister inherited Shibden Hall in 1826. She was an impressive scholar, fearless traveller and successful businesswoman, even developing her own coalmines. Her extraordinary diaries, running to 4-5 million words, were partly written in her own secret code and recorded her love affairs with startling candour. The diaries were included on UNESCO's Memory of the World Register in 2011.Jill Liddington's classic edition of the diaries tells the story of how Anne Lister wooed and seduced neighbouring heiress Ann Walker, who moved in to live with Anne and her family in 1834. Politically active, Anne Lister door-stepped her tenants at the 1835 Election to vote Tory. And socially very ambitious, she employed architects to redesign both the Hall and the estate.Yet Ann Walker had an inconvenient number of local relatives, suspicious of exactly how Anne Lister could pay for all her grand improvements. Tensions grew to a melodramatic crescendo when news reached Shibden of the pair being burnt in effigy.This 2022 edition includes a fascinating Afterword on the recent discovery of Ann Walker's own diary. Female Fortune is essential reading for those who watched Gentleman Jack and want to know more about the extraordinary woman that was Anne Lister.

In the third century A.D. the Syro-Persian Mani founded a highly evangelistic Gnostic religion in Mesopotamia which was to claim among its converts in the Roman Empire the young Augustine, and which was later to be seen as the inspiration for Paulicians, Bogomils and Cathars in the Medieval West. It became a world religion with followers spread across Central Asia and even parts of China. Persecuted in the West as a major heresy, in medieval China it was suppressed as a rebel ideology. Its origins and history have rarely been told, and this study presents them to the English reader making full use of the many Manichaean documents discovered in Egypt, North Africa, Central Asia and China. Many of the texts cited are translated for the first time into English from Greek, Latin, Syriac and Chinese - thus making the book accessible to a wider readership. The history of its persecution in the Roman and Chinese Empires and of its extraordinary survival and diffusion are presented in detail. This is a book which will appeal both to the specialist and to the more general reader in the history of Rome, China and Iran, in theology and comparative religion, but will also be found both readable and instructive by anyone with interest in the history of contacts between ancient civilisations. First published in 1985 (by Manchester University Press), the book received world-wide academic acclaim from historians, theologians and orientalists. This substantially expanded and revised second edition brings up to date a work which is generally regarded as standard in its field.

Good and evil, light and darkness; for the first time in English, a potent survey of Manichaeism

This 2004 book is a single-volume collection of sources for Manichaeism, a world religion founded by Mani, the Syrian visionary.

A comprehensive review of the development, geographic spread, and cultural influence of religion in Late Antiquity A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity offers an authoritative and comprehensive survey of religion in Late Antiquity. This historical era spanned from the second century to the eighth century of the Common Era. With contributions from leading scholars in the field, the Companion explores the evolution and development of religion and the role various religions played in the cultural, political, and social transformations of the late antique period. The authors examine the theories and methods used in the study of religion during this period, consider the most notable historical developments, and reveal how religions spread geographically. The authors also review the major religious traditions that emerged in Late Antiquity and include reflections on the interaction of these religions within their particular societies and cultures. This important Companion: Brings together in one volume the work of a notable team of international scholars Explores the principal geographical divisions of the late antique world Offers a deep examination of the predominant religions of Late Antiquity Examines established views in the scholarly assessment of the religions of Late Antiquity Includes information on the current trends in late-antique scholarship on religion Written for scholars and students of religion, A Companion to Religion in Late Antiquity offers a comprehensive survey of religion and the influence religion played in the culture, politics, and social change during the late antique period.

This volume reproduces nineteen chapters and articles published between 1991 through 2008, on Manichaeism, and its contacts with Augustine of Hippo, its most famous convert and also best-known adversary. The contents are divided into four parts: perceptions of Mani within the Roman Empire, select aspects of Manichaean thought, women in Manichaeism, and Manichaeism and Augustine. Though these chapters and articles reproduce their originals, adjustments have been made to include cross-referencing, newer editions, and the like, all with the aim of rendering them more accessible to a new readership among those who follow the fortunes of Mani s religion in the Roman Empire and/or the Manichaean aspects of Augustine of Hippo.