Krishna
This story happens many years after the events in the Pillars of the Earth, in the same Kinghtbridge area. You will see quite a bit of parallels – interest in architecture by some, the church hierarchy in the story etc but this is still quite a different tale in the same style and atmosphere. What follows are the details of the story, as this preamble gives fully my impressions on the book.
Eight year old Gwenda in Knightbridge Priory with Ma and Pa and an elder brother Philemon and a baby.
Gwenda is forced to steal the coins from a merchant, who happens to be the father of Merthin. Also there is Tom Builder’s son, who is now a fairly rich merchant, and we hear about Prior Anthony who is his brother. The daughter of the merchant meets a knight who is waylaid by by queen’s men but manages to kill them and gets Merthin’s help to bury them. Gwenda’s dad steals from the dead men and gets into trouble with the guards when he tries to sell the stolen stuff. They let Gwenda and her dad go alive after recovering the bodies.
Merthin and Claris are in love but Merthin, in a moment of weakness makes love to Griselda.
He is also interested in building, like Tom Builder’s son in the first novel, Pillars of The Earth
Godwyn is an ambitious monk who catches Richard, a monk, fornicating with a girl and uses it to his advantage. He also plots against Prior Anthony, who in his weakness and old age has gone soft, and allows the sexes to mingle in the church instead of banning females from entering the church.
Merthin, in the meanwhile, finds that his labour of love, the door, is destroyed by a vengeful Elfric, Griselda’s father, and learns that Griselda is pregnant.
He tells Claris, his real love, of his infidelity but at that moment, the bridge on the town breaks with tons of people, horses, carts etc on it, falling into the river.
Godwyn continues to plot, and places Thomas in place of privilege. He destabilizes Carlus the blind priest, who will not be controlled by him and makes him fall while carrying a sacred relic. In the meanwhile, Gwenda cannot attract Wulfric away from Annette even when she tries all her wiles and uses love potion.
In the meanwhile Godwyn plots to humiliate Carlus and exclude him from the election to the prior and he wants pliable Thomas in his place. He then brilliantly engineers his own election to the Prior.
In the meanwhile Caris and Merthin have sex and then Merthin’s design for the new bridge is pitted against Elfric’s in a town council meeting. He wins but is stopped by his own brother Roland who instigates the Earl to levy tax on the quarry and in the resulting quarrel also kills one of Merthin’s men. A judge in England rules in favour of Merthin. But when the work on the bridge starts, Caris realizes that her dad Edmund is becoming a pauper.
They patch up and Ralph becomes a lord. In order to ensure that Wulfric gets his inheritance, Gwenda agrees to have sex with Ralph but he betrays his promise nevertheless and Wulfric and Gwenda live together when Annette spurns him and goes on to marry another man.
Calris lies with Merthin, becomes pregnant but decided to abort and not marry Merthin. He is devastated but when he turns his attention to Liz, his assistant, Caris is torn.
Gwenda also becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. When there is a recession, Caris learns that her father Edmund may become a pauper and devises a way to increase revenue by using dyes and weaving.
Meanwhile, Caris takes the battle with Godwyn. Having won the battle with Earl, he gets cocky and asks everyone to pay toll for grinding the grain and Caris loses the battle when the wily Godwyn ensures that the King’s court does not hear the case as the townspeople are in effect serfs.
Ralph rapes Annette and Wulfric is furious, only stopped from killing Ralph by Gwenda. The case goes to trial and Merthin realizes Ralph could lose his life over this. He persuades Wulfric to tamper evidence to release Ralph for a lot fo money. He refuses and Ralph runs away when he realizes that he will surely be hanged, becoming an outlaw and a fugitive from justice.
He is captured, and pardoned by king if he joins the army. In the meanwhile, with Edmund falling ill, Caris and Elfric stand for alderman election and Godwyn plots to get Caris killed as a witch to eliminate the competition. As Caris is about to lose, she gets the help of the senior nun and escapes death by promising to join the convent and become a nun. Godwyn is furious but helpless. Merthin is crushed because now he cannot have Caris, ever.
He leaves for Florence and eight years pass.
Caris uncovers theft by prior Godwyn and his sidekick Philomen and has to go find the Bishop who has left for France.
The French are numerically superior, but to Ralph’s surprise (he is in the English army, with the king now) they fight stupidly and keep losing. Ralph, saving the crown prince’s life, finally earns his knighthood and becomes a Lord.
Merthin nearly dies in a plague but loses his wife and comes back to Knightbridge a very wealthy man, and meets Caris. He pleads with her to marry him and ‘look after his daughter’. She seems to tell him that she wants to continue in the monastery, much to his consternation!
He tries to get Wulfric pardoned but Ralph will not listen.
The plague reaches Knightsbridge and people are popping off. Godwyn will not let Merthin build a new cathedral. When the head sister dies, Caris and Elizabeth contest in the election but Godwyn plots the downfall of Caris. When she has about given up the plague strikes the sisters who refused to wear the mask calling it witchcraft and a heathen practice.
When Petronella herself succumbs to the plague, Godwyn panics and gets all monks to run away with him in the middle of the night and with bishop coming in, Caris gets anointed as prioress and also acting prior, much to Elfric’s rage. When an outlaw reveals where Godwyn is, Caris and Merthin go together to confront him, only to find all monks dead except Thomas and retrieve the hidden church treasure stolen by Godwyn. Elfric dies and Merthin is elected alderman in his place. All because of the plague, which tapers and stops finally. Merthin and Caris rekindle their passion and resume carnal relationship in secret.
The town is afraid that it has come back when Lord Edward succumbs to it and Petranella fears losing her children to it too. Ralph decided to kill Tilly so that he could marry Petranella and become the Earl in place of Edward.
Ralph executes a daring raid on the abbey, kills a nun, gets to know the treasury and steals all scrolls. He is in a mask, and also takes coins and jewellery to make it look like a robbery. In addition, he manages to kill Tilly and drop her into a burning room but Merthin recovers the body and they realize she was killed by a sword wound.
Ralph promised Gregory Longfellow, the unscrupulous royal representative, the scrolls. When he delivers them to Gregory, his step to Earldom seems almost done, provided he can convince Philippa whom he adored anyway from a young age, despite her being older than he.
Merthin and Caris guess it was Ralph who was behind the “robbery” and why but are powerless to prove any of it.
Philippa is forced to give Odilla, her daughter, in marriage to Ralph by the king’s orders “conveyed by Gregory, his lawyer” upon pain of being accused of treason if she refused to comply. She accepts her fate and marries Ralph, thereby finally making him an earl. He is now bored with her and agrees to get Odilla, the daughter married to another earl David, in return for Philippa to go into a monastery. When she reaches there and Caris again walks away from Merthin, choosing religion over him, he walks out on her and Philippa and he fall in love.
When Philippa gets pregnant, she seduces Ralph so that he will believe the child is his and has to move back to him. Caris finally decides to renounce being a nun and takes over a second hospital being built by Merthin. She is now married to Merthin at last but Philomen wants to become the archbishop next!
Gwenda’s son Sam runs away to the next village to work illegally and when Gwenda goes to see him, she is followed and they try to catch Sam. He kills Ralph’s man and flees but is captured (due to his limited intelligence).
When Ralph realizes that Sam is his son from a talk with Gwenda, he pardons him but insists that he join Ralph as a squire. In addition, his other son is thwarted both in his attempt to plant the dye making plant mandrag and his request that he marry Annette’s daughter. Gwenda is fully crushed.
Merthin’s daughter Lolla falls into bad company and keeps running away from home. Meanwhile Caris and Merthin try to thwart Philomen’s new ambition to become Bishop and enlist Henri’s help.
When the plague comes back, the monks run away again. Gwenda is repeatedly made to submit to Ralph who seems to have a thing for her.
The end of Ralph and the final solution for Philomen are loose ends that are tied up to everyone’s satisfaction at the conclusion of the book.
Great story, absorbing reading. 8/10
– – Krishna