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68-425: The Shardlake series is a series of historical mystery novels by C. J. Sansom , set in 16th century Tudor England . The series features barrister Matthew Shardlake, who, while navigating the religious reforms of Henry VIII , solves crime and tries to avoid getting caught up in political intrigue. The first six books are set during the reign of Henry VIII, while the seventh, Tombland, takes place two years after

136-402: A big man in dark, plain, workmanlike riding clothes, without ornament, and needing none to mark him as having authority here. (...) Not a man to be crossed lightly, but no one feared him. They approached him cheerfully and spoke with him boldly. His anger, when justified, might be withering, even perilous – but it would be just. This is fairly typical of most members of the aristocracy depicted in

204-442: A chartered borough where after a stay of one year and one day they become free. On several occasions, Cadfael facilitates and helps such escapes. Also, cruel and unjust landowners may end up as the victims of the murder which Cadfael needs to solve, in which case the reader is curious to know the solution of the mystery, but is not particularly eager to see the perpetrator punished. The civil war between King Stephen and Empress Maud

272-563: A community theatre production for the York Theatre Royal . Fergus Rattigan played Shardlake. Historical mystery The historical mystery or historical whodunit is a subgenre of two literary genres , historical fiction and mystery fiction . These works are set in a time period considered historical from the author's perspective, and the central plot involves the solving of a mystery or crime (usually murder). Though works combining these genres have existed since at least

340-599: A day to establish himself in his trade in Shropshire before he marries her. In St. Peter's Fair , a tradesman's daughter settles for another tradesman's son after her aristocratic first choice turns out to be a cad, calling her a "shopkeeper's girl of no account." In most cases, it seems that Pargeter's characters deliberately curtail their romantic aspirations where class conflict would undermine them. There are some exceptions to this class consciousness; in The Virgin in

408-421: A detective story in period costume". Many of Heyer's other historical romances have thriller elements but to a much lesser extent. Other variations include mystery novels set in alternate history timelines or even fantasy worlds. These would include The Ultimate Solution (1973) by Eric Norden and Fatherland (1992) by Robert Harris , both being police procedurals set in alternate timelines where

476-480: A professional relationship. In the books, despite the more than thirty years difference in their ages, Hugh and Cadfael are best friends who think alike in crucial ways, particularly as to what is justice. Hugh and Aline Siward are both introduced in One Corpse Too Many . Hugh appears in all of the books except A Morbid Taste for Bones and The Leper of St Giles whilst Aline does not appear in any of

544-574: A series of novels featuring Sergeant Cribb , a Victorian -era police detective, and Elizabeth Peters 's Amelia Peabody series (1975–2010) followed the adventures of the titular Victorian lady/ archaeologist as she solved mysteries surrounding her excavations in early 20th century Egypt . But historical mystery stories remained an oddity until the late 1970s, with the success of Ellis Peters and her Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994), featuring Benedictine monk Brother Cadfael and set in 12th century Shrewsbury . Umberto Eco 's one-off The Name of

612-848: A toehold on the New York Times bestseller list ." In 1999, the British Crime Writers' Association awarded the first CWA Historical Dagger award to a novel in the genre. The award was called the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger through 2012. In 2014, Endeavour Press supported the award, which is called the Endeavour Historical Dagger for the 2014 and 2015 awards. The Left Coast Crime conference has presented its Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery award (for mysteries set prior to 1950) since 2004. In an early twist of

680-622: A wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with a very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with a toehold on the New York Times bestseller list ." Since 1999, the British Crime Writers' Association has awarded the CWA Historical Dagger award to novels in the genre. The Left Coast Crime conference has presented its Bruce Alexander Memorial Historical Mystery award (for mysteries set prior to 1950) since 2004. Though

748-459: Is a constant background to the series, called the Anarchy by many. Despite the lack of newspapers and other mass news media, the inhabitants of Shrewsbury are kept well informed of the latest developments as the town is a major centre of commerce, constantly getting visitors from all over the country. In One Corpse Too Many , the second book in the series, Shrewsbury itself is a battlefield, and

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816-471: Is a skilled observer of human nature and a talented herbalist, a skill he learned from Muslims in the Holy Land. He is inquisitive and energetic, and has an innate though obviously modern sense of justice and fair play. Abbots call upon him as a medical examiner, detective, doctor and diplomat. His worldly knowledge, although useful, gets him into trouble with the more doctrinaire characters of the series, and

884-434: Is also a three-book "collection pack set" containing the first three books ("A Morbid Taste for Bones", "One Corpse Too Many" and "Monk's Hood" as separate books. An omnibus edition published as The Brother Cadfael Mysteries (published by Quality Paperback Book Club, New York, in 1995) contains The Leper of Saint Giles , Monk's Hood , The Sanctuary Sparrow and One Corpse Too Many . A stage adaptation of The Virgin in

952-487: Is also available as e-books from multiple sources, as noted in the publication history for each novel. The first two novels in the series, along with Cadfael Country: Shropshire and the Welsh Borders , are available as one edition from Mysterious Press. Seven Cadfael Omnibus editions were published, with three novels in each volume. Most are available as paperbacks, and were later published in hardback. There

1020-410: Is altered, giving Cadfael more of a speaking role. In the episode Monk's Hood , Hugh has a somewhat larger role than in the book, following Cadfael to the court and suffering a stab wound when he walks in unexpectedly on Cadfael's accusation of the true criminal. In The Rose Rent, Cadfael gives the young wife a potion to ease her terminally ill husband's pain, warning her that too much will kill him; in

1088-686: Is an undercurrent in Saint Peter's Fair ). Thereafter, the traders and artisans of the city are well-content to live under the reasonably efficient and honest administration offered on behalf of King Stephen by Prestcote and later by Beringar. They might have been equally content to live under the Empress Maud, provided only that her local representatives offer them the same possibility of developing undisturbed their trade and commerce. This cannot be known, as Maud never held Shropshire, nor protected their farms, trade and commerce. The series ends with

1156-541: Is far more successful, with virtually all pairs of lovers in the series getting off to happy consummations, except when one of them turns out to be the wanted murderer. In one case, indeed, the lovers get their happy ending with Cadfael's help, even though one of them is the murderer. Lovers in the Cadfael books face a whole series of obstacles, which sometimes seem insurmountable (in one book, it seems they are relatives too close to marry) but are invariably overcome. However,

1224-652: Is fictionalised in the first chronicle, A Morbid Taste for Bones , and One Corpse Too Many is inspired by the siege of Shrewsbury Castle by Stephen in 1138. The burning of Worcester puts the characters on the run into the countryside around the town in The Virgin in the Ice . The pillage of Winchester and the burning of the abbey there sends the monks who are at the centre of the story to Shrewsbury Abbey in An Excellent Mystery . In Dead Man's Ransom

1292-633: Is the furthest in the past a historical mystery has been set to date. Diana Gabaldon began the Lord John series in 1998, casting a recurring secondary character from her Outlander series , Lord John Grey , as a nobleman-military officer-amateur detective in 18th century England . Using the pen name Ariana Franklin, Diana Norman wrote four Mistress of the Art of Death novels between 2007 and 2010, featuring 12th-century English medical examiner Adelia Aguilar . Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of

1360-447: Is the godfather of Hugh's son, and he confides several of his deepest secrets only to Hugh. These are numbered in order of the time in which the novel was set and the order of publication. Each book has been published in hardback and paperback, and in a number of languages. The first publication in the UK, by Macmillan (or Headline Book Publishing, beginning with The Hermit of Eyton Forest ),

1428-538: Is the year of first publication. A Rare Benedictine is in the order of publication, but not in the order of setting. That book includes three short stories describing how Cadfael, man-at-arms in the Crusades and Normandy, joined a Benedictine monastery. The numbering of the Brother Cadfael Chronicles as published in paperback by Mysterious Press does not include A Rare Benedictine (instead,

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1496-611: The Lord Peter Wimsey books by Dorothy L. Sayers set in the Interwar period . However, subsequent Holmes and Wimsey books written by other authors decades later could arguably be classified as historical mysteries. The following list consists of fictional historical detectives in chronological order of their time period setting: The Cadfael Chronicles In all, Pargeter wrote twenty Cadfael novels between 1977 and 1994, plus one book of short stories. Each draws on

1564-760: The Nazis won World War II ; Randall Garrett 's Lord Darcy series, taking place in a 20th-century in which magic is possible; and Phyllis Ann Karr 's The Idylls of the Queen (1982), set in King Arthur 's court as depicted in Arthurian myth and with no attempt at historical accuracy. The genre would not include fiction which was contemporary at the time of writing, such as Arthur Conan Doyle 's canonical Sherlock Holmes works set in Victorian England , or

1632-879: The Roman Republic in the 1st century BC; and Paul Doherty 's various series, including the Hugh Corbett medieval mysteries (1986–2010), the Sorrowful Mysteries of Brother Athelstan (1991–2012), and the Canterbury Tales of Mystery and Murder (1994–2012). For Mike Ashley 's The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives (1995), F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre wrote "Death in the Dawntime", a locked room mystery (or rather, sealed cave mystery) set in Australia around 35,000 BC, which Ashley suggests

1700-486: The 22 Uncle Abner tales Post wrote between 1911 and 1928, the character puzzles out local mysteries with his keen observation and knowledge of the Bible. It was not until 1943 that American mystery writer Lillian de la Torre did something similar in the story "The Great Seal of England", casting 18th century literary figures Samuel Johnson and James Boswell into Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson roles in what would become

1768-461: The Abbey, authorised by Earl Roger or King Henry I . The use of a house of worship for sanctuary from secular law is also a feature of The Sanctuary Sparrow . Cadfael is an herbalist, whose skills and potions bring him into contact with people outside the monastery, integral in the plots not dependent on a historical event. The real people portrayed in the series include: A distinctive feature of

1836-600: The BBC commissioned an adaptation of Dissolution , with Kenneth Branagh set to star as Shardlake. Branagh chose instead to star as the eponymous protagonist in the BBC series Wallander . In 2023, Disney+ greenlit an adaptation of the Shardlake novels. Released in 2024, the series consists of four episodes, and is directed by Justin Chadwick . Arthur Hughes plays Shardlake. In 2023, Mike Kenny adapted Sovereign as

1904-497: The Crusades didn't lead to bigotry. Cadfael remembers Mariam, a Muslim woman, as "well worth the loving," and had many other profitable friendships with Arabs and Muslims. His companion from The Leper of Saint Giles , who spent many years as a captive of the Fatimid Egyptians, agrees, saying he always found his hosts "chivalrous and courteous," who gave him medical help and supported him in his convalescence. Thirteen of

1972-525: The Ice a noblewoman marries her guardian's favourite squire, though he is the illegitimate son of a footsoldier and a Syrian widow, and in The Pilgrim of Hate an aristocratic youth marries the daughter of a tradesman. A passage in The Confession of Brother Haluin introduces a nobleman whom the reader (and Cadfael) had not met before: Here he came, Audemar de Clary, on a tall chestnut horse,

2040-655: The Rose (1980) also helped popularize the concept, and starting in 1979, author Anne Perry wrote two series of Victorian era mysteries featuring Thomas Pitt (1979–2013) and William Monk (1990–2013). However it was not until about 1990 that the genre's popularity expanded significantly with works such as Lindsey Davis 's Falco and Flavia Albia novels (1989–2022), set in the Roman Empire of Vespasian ; John Maddox Roberts 's SPQR series (1990–2010) and Steven Saylor 's Roma Sub Rosa novels (1991–2018), both set in

2108-618: The Shardlake series as part of its 15-Minute Drama series. In 2012, Dissolution was adapted into a 10-part radio serial by Colin MacDonald, starring Jason Watkins as Shardlake and Mark Bonnar as Cromwell. BBC Radio 4 later broadcast Dark Fire in 2014, with Justin Salinger taking over the role of Shardlake and Bryan Dick playing Barak, Sovereign in 2015, Revelation in 2017, Heartstone in 2018, and Lamentation in 2021, all adapted by Colin MacDonald as 10-part serials. In 2007,

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2176-722: The Sheriff doublechecks the story of a character who escaped from that area back to Shropshire. The quarrel between Owain Gwynedd and his impetuous younger brother Cadwaladr on account of Cadwaladr's murder of the prince of a southern principality in Wales, combined with the push to spread the Roman rite into Wales, are parts of the story told in The Summer of the Danes . In novels where

2244-484: The TV version of Virgin in the Ice , when Cadfael is treating a gravely wounded brother, the best remedy another brother can suggest is bleeding, which Cadfael scorns.) Several of the books feature returning crusaders who have central roles in the plot, while in others there are characters who depart England on the way eastwards. All of these crusading characters are depicted as sterling, model knights, brave and chivalrous, and

2312-513: The battles ongoing, though it is a stalemate, and the earls and barons began to make their own peace treaties. There was an effort to bring about a peaceful resolution ending in nought. The fighting ended mainly three years after the last book when Robert of Gloucester died, and Empress Maud returned to Normandy. A new era opened for England when King Stephen died in 1154, having signed a treaty with his successor, Henry FitzEmpress , eldest son of Maud and her second husband Geoffrey of Anjou . But for

2380-405: The books were adapted for television. They starred Derek Jacobi . The sequence of the television episodes differs from the sequence of the novels. Within the individual screenplays, with one major exception, most are reasonably faithful to the books, being modified primarily to minimise the size of the speaking cast, the running time of the script, or the need for extravagant special effects. Only in

2448-405: The books, Cadfael speaks Welsh and translates for several non-English-speaking Welshmen. One episode, The Pilgrim of Hate , bears almost no resemblance to the eponymous book save the presence of a few characters sharing the names (but not the actions) of the characters in the book. In The Holy Thief , one of the characters is turned into a villain. In A Morbid Taste For Bones the climax sequence

2516-400: The code of chivalry . Others are utterly opportunistic and seek only to make use of the situation for personal profit and advancement, and are regarded with contempt by the more principled characters (and seemingly by the writer as well). The lower classes, burghers and peasants, in general have little interest in who would win the war as long as the death and destruction end, either by one of

2584-554: The contenders winning or by their reaching some kind of compromise (the latter is what the Church is shown as trying to achieve, with little success). In the manorial system they have no share in political power; however, workers on a manor were called up for service as men-at-arms when the need arose ( An Excellent Mystery ). The burghers of Shrewsbury are concerned to repair the damage caused to their city during fighting in which they had little interest (the question who would pay for it

2652-404: The cover refers to it as "The Advent Of Brother Cadfael"); the total of the numbered chronicles (by Mysterious Press) is therefore 20 (per the covers of this set). All of the novels are also available as audiobooks. Narrators include Vanessa Benjamin ( The Devil's Novice from Blackstone Audio ), Philip Madoc , Derek Jacobi , Roe Kendall, Stephen Thorne, Patrick Tull and Johanna Ward. The series

2720-544: The crusading enterprise itself is invariably regarded by all characters as a most noble and worthy cause. There is occasional oblique mention of acts of cruelty committed in the course of the Crusades. In conversation with a fellow crusader, Cadfael remarks, "After the killing that was done in Jerusalem, of so many who held by the Prophet, I say they deserved better luck against us than they had." In adding that his companion

2788-560: The early 20th century, many credit Ellis Peters 's Cadfael Chronicles (1977–1994) for popularizing what would become known as the historical mystery. The increasing popularity and prevalence of this type of fiction in subsequent decades has spawned a distinct subgenre recognized by the publishing industry and libraries. Publishers Weekly noted in 2010 of the genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such

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2856-578: The fictional characters are involved with the small group of Welshmen who take part in the Battle of Lincoln, drawing the historical prince of Gwynedd, Owain, into the plot. Empress Matilda's brief stay in London, when she tried to gain approval for her coronation while she held Stephen in prison, is the starting point for one character in The Pilgrim of Hate . The next turning of Henry of Blois's coat and

2924-463: The fighting or (as in the case of Cadfael himself) to offer some needed aid or rescue. Stories of woe and disaster come in from other locations, such as Worcester ( The Virgin in the Ice ), Lincoln ( Dead Man's Ransom ) or Winchester ( An Excellent Mystery ). Moreover, Shrewsbury is in close proximity to the border of Wales, which has its own troubles and wars – distinct from, though often interconnected with, those of England ( Dead Man's Ransom ). In

2992-532: The first of her Dr. Sam: Johnson, Detector series of stories. In 1944, Agatha Christie published Death Comes as the End , a mystery novel set in ancient Egypt and the first full-length historical whodunit. In 1950, John Dickson Carr published the second full-length historical mystery novel called The Bride of Newgate , set at the close of the Napoleonic Wars . In 1970, Peter Lovesey began

3060-505: The genre, Josephine Tey 's The Daughter of Time (1951) features a modern police detective who alleviates an extended hospital stay by investigating the 15th century case of Richard III of England and the Princes in the Tower . Georgette Heyer 's The Talisman Ring (1936), set in 1793 England, is a Regency romance with elements of mystery that Jane Aiken Hodge called "very nearly

3128-399: The genre, "The past decade has seen an explosion in both quantity and quality. Never before have so many historical mysteries been published, by so many gifted writers, and covering such a wide range of times and places." Editor Keith Kahla concurs, "From a small group of writers with a very specialized audience, the historical mystery has become a critically acclaimed, award-winning genre with

3196-841: The historical Di Renjie of the Tang dynasty (618–907) and Bao Zheng of the Song dynasty (960–1279)—investigate cases and then as judges determine guilt and punishment. The stories were set in the past but contained many anachronisms . Robert van Gulik came across the 18th century anonymously written Chinese manuscript Di Gong An , in his view closer to the Western tradition of detective fiction than other gong'an tales and so more likely to appeal to non-Chinese readers, and in 1949 published it in English as Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee . He subsequently wrote his own Judge Dee stories (1951–1968) in

3264-826: The king's demise. Sansom said before his death that he planned to write further Shardlake novels taking the lawyer into the reign of Elizabeth I. The series' protagonist is the hunchbacked lawyer Matthew Shardlake, who is assisted in his adventures by Mark Poer and then Jack Barak. Shardlake works on commission, initially from Thomas Cromwell in Dissolution and Dark Fire , then archbishop Thomas Cranmer in Sovereign and Revelation , queen Catherine Parr in Heartstone and Lamentation , and lately princess Elizabeth in Tombland . The seventh book, Tombland ,

3332-546: The lack of interest in the ongoing strife growing clear. The Crusades form an important part of the backdrop to the books. There are Cadfael's own memories of his crusading life, which occur in virtually every one of the books, and the circumstances of Olivier's early life. In addition, most of Cadfael's knowledge of herbs and medicine was learned in the East, from more sophisticated sources than he would have found in England. (In

3400-521: The last novel, Brother Cadfael's Penance , Cadfael and Sheriff Hugh Beringar start out at a peace conference in Coventry, but Cadfael ends up in the midst of a castle under siege, with castellan Philip FitzRobert seriously wounded by a projectile lobbed in by a siege machine. The castle was not too far from Gloucester, among the ongoing battles in the Thames Valley. For all that, for most of

3468-438: The next scene, the man is dead, implying a mercy killing. In the book, there is no such implication; the man dies of his illness without any hint that Cadfael or the widow acted to hasten his end. The character of Hugh Beringar is markedly different in the television series, particularly in his relationship with Cadfael. In the series, Hugh is the sheriff who sometimes helps, and sometimes hinders Cadfael - friendly but maintaining

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3536-705: The plot does not hinge on a historical event or have historical characters walking through the story the focus is on one or two aspects of life in medieval England. Examples include the importance of pilgrimage in The Heretic's Apprentice , the wool and clothmaking trades in The Rose Rent , the rules of inheritance under Welsh law in Monk's Hood , and specific merchant trades in Saint Peter's Fair and The Sanctuary Sparrow . The annual fair raised funds for

3604-449: The problem is almost never a significant difference in social status between the two. In this series, aristocratic boys usually fall in love with aristocratic girls, artisans fall for the daughters of artisans, and a lowly wandering juggler is charmed beyond measure by a lowly kitchen maid. In The Hermit of Eyton Forest a prosperous forester's daughter falls in love with a runaway villein , a skilled leatherworker who will work his year and

3672-828: The rising fortunes of King Stephen involve the Abbot and send three new people into the Foregate and the Abbey in The Raven in the Foregate . One main character in The Hermit of Eyton Forest arrives in Shropshire while the Empress is besieged in Oxford Castle. In The Potter's Field Hugh Beringar's force is called to the Fens to aid King Stephen in controlling the rampaging Geoffrey de Mandeville, Earl of Essex ; on return

3740-623: The same style and time period. Perhaps the first modern English work that can be classified as both historical fiction and a mystery however is the 1911 Melville Davisson Post story "The Angel of the Lord", which features amateur detective Uncle Abner in pre- American Civil War West Virginia . Barry Zeman of the Mystery Writers of America calls the Uncle Abner short stories "the starting point for true historical mysteries." In

3808-436: The seeming contradiction between the secular and the spiritual worlds forms a central and continuing theme. The stories are set between 1137 and 1145, during the Anarchy , the destructive contest for the crown of England between King Stephen and Empress Matilda (also known as Empress Maud). Many historical events are described or referred to in the books. For example, the translation of Saint Winifred to Shrewsbury Abbey

3876-449: The series is a pair of star-crossed lovers in nearly every book, who invariably get the full sympathy of Brother Cadfael (and the reader). Typically, Cadfael bends his full energy and ingenuity to the double task of solving the mystery and bringing the lovers to a happy union. In this latter, he seems the literary descendant of Shakespeare 's Friar Laurence who made great (though ultimately futile) efforts to help Romeo and Juliet . Cadfael

3944-449: The series the war happens elsewhere. Hugh Beringar, though in effect assuming the functions of a military governor and civil administrator as well as head of the police, finds the time and energy to personally work with Cadfael on solving a new mystery. Though living in a war-torn country, Cadfael is often seen sitting contented in his garden and reflecting on the harmonic turn of the year's seasons. An Excellent Mystery concludes: September

4012-436: The series, who are described as fair-minded and just to their underlings, within the context of the hierarchical feudal social system and ideology. The books do present some manifestly unjust, tyrannical and or outright cruel members of the aristocracy, though they are definitely in the minority. Faced with such, peasants can and do resort to the "safety-valve" built within the feudal system itself, by escaping from their lord to

4080-454: The storyline, characters and developments of the previous books in the series. Pargeter planned the 20th novel, Brother Cadfael's Penance , as the final book of the series, and it brings together the loose story ends into a tidy conclusion. Pargeter herself died shortly after its publication, following a long illness. Many of the books have been adapted as radio episodes, in which Ray Smith , Glyn Houston and subsequently Philip Madoc played

4148-413: The subsequent television episodes. She appears in several of the books, where she plays an important role in sheltering women ( Saint Peter's Fair , An Excellent Mystery, One Corpse Too Many , The Sanctuary Sparrow ), and even when she does not appear in the books, Hugh speaks of her constantly and fondly. In the books, Hugh marries Aline and they have a son, Giles, named for Aline's dead brother. Cadfael

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4216-433: The term "whodunit" was coined sometime in the early 1930s, it has been argued that the detective story itself has its origins as early as the 429 BC Sophocles play Oedipus Rex and the 10th century tale " The Three Apples " from One Thousand and One Nights ( Arabian Nights ). During China 's Ming dynasty (1368–1644), gong'an ("crime-case") folk novels were written in which government magistrates —primarily

4284-562: The titular character. An ITV television series was also developed from the books, which starred Derek Jacobi as Cadfael. Pargeter's Cadfael Chronicles have been credited for popularizing the genre of historical mystery novels. Unlike his fellow monks, who took their vows as youths (and some as children), Cadfael is a conversus who entered the cloister in his forties after being a well-travelled crusader and sea captain. His experiences give him an array of talents and skills useful in monastic life and in his frequent role as investigator. He

4352-442: The wholesale execution of the defeated garrison by order of King Stephen forms the gruesome background to the book's murder mystery. Further on, however, Shrewsbury is an island of calm in the raging storm. Refugees as well as spies and conspirators constantly come in, considerably impacting life in the town and setting up the plot for many of the books. Characters occasionally set out to the battlefields, either to take direct part in

4420-410: The writer's death, the format of the series – chronologically consecutive – might have left room for additional volumes before the end of Stephen's reign was reached. Cadfael would have been in his 70s, and based on actual history, Prior Robert Pennant would have become the Abbot in place of Radulfus, so the last book was perhaps a satisfying close, with Cadfael's personal life expanding, his son safe, and

4488-468: Was again September, mellowed and fruitful after the summer heat and drought. After every extreme the seasons righted themselves, and won back the half at least of what was lost. In general, the war is seen as mainly the concern of the nobility. Some of its members take up a staunch and unwavering loyalty to one side or the other, and opposing partisans treat each other with utmost respect, as prescribed by

4556-565: Was never accused of brutality, he implicitly passes judgment on the Crusades as a whole ( The Leper of Saint Giles ). While on various occasions Cadfael makes remarks showing him not pleased with such brutalities, the references are rarely specific. Cadfael (as all other characters) never casts any doubt on the morality of carving out a Christian kingdom in the Muslim East and maintaining it by force; indeed, it would have been anachronistic to have him express such doubts. Cadfael's experience of

4624-833: Was published in October 2018. The books cover several historical events, such as the Dissolution of the monasteries (1536–1541), the Royal Progress to York (1541), the Battle of the Solent and the sinking of the Mary Rose (1545), the burning at the stake of Anne Askew (1546), the publication of The Lamentation of a Sinner (1547) , Kett's Rebellion (1549), and the several marriages of king Henry VIII. Lamentation Tombland BBC Radio 4 has adapted novels in

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