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The Pillars of the Earth
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Pillars of the Earth: Book 1

The Pillars of the Earth (1989) (edit title/settings)

by Ken Follett (Author) (edit contributors)

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A spellbinding epic tale of ambition, anarchy, and absolute power set against the sprawling medieval canvas of twelfth-century England, this is Ken Follett's historical masterpiece.

Summary edit see section history

Tom Builder is a poor but honourable stonemason who lost his job as a builder because the cruel, sadistic lord William Hamleigh was turned down by young Lady Aliena when he proposed marriage, as Tom Builder was building their new home. Starving and destitute, Tom's wife Agnes dies in the... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Tom Builder is a poor but honourable stonemason who lost his job as a builder because the cruel, sadistic lord William Hamleigh was turned down by young Lady Aliena when he proposed marriage, as Tom Builder was building their new home. Starving and destitute, Tom's wife Agnes dies in the forest while giving birth to their third child; Tom cannot feed the baby boy, and in his grief he leaves the child on Agnes's grave, takes his remaining two children, shy Martha and cruel Alfred, and becomes companion of Ellen and her odd, red-haired son Jack, whom Tom meets accidentally when he thinks that he is going to die away in the forest himself. Alfred immediately despises Jack, a hatred which takes on a grave form later on. After many hardships the family settles down in Kingsbridge, where Prior Philip wants to build a cathedral. Jack also meets Aliena and falls in love with her.

Then William Hamleigh discovers that Aliena's father, Earl Bartholomew, has taken the side of the Empress Maud and is therefore disloyal to King Stephen. He takes Bartholomew's castle by force, arrests the earl, and rapes Aliena while her younger brother Richard is forced to watch. Before he dies in prison, Earl Bartholomew asks Aliena to swear that she will never rest until her brother Richard is Earl. Fleeing the castle penniless and alone except for Richard, Aliena sees her father, takes an oath to make him earl again and takes up buying and selling wool, and in a twist of fate meets Prior Philip, who agrees to buy her wool for a fair price. In the process they invent the wool futures market. Both go to live in Kingsbridge, where all fight against Waleran Bigod, a selfish, power-driven priest, but eventually the Crown approves the building of a cathedral. Ellen and Tom marry, and Jack is thrilled to see Aliena again.

In the following parts of the book Prior Philip is working hard to turn Kingsbridge into a successful, respectable town, but it is difficult to do so with the civil war raging through England and the battles between Queen Maud and King Stephen, who are fighting over the throne. Jack and Aliena fall in love, but when William burns Kingsbridge (and her fortune in wool), killing Tom in the process, Aliena marries now-wealthy Alfred in an attempt to fulfill her oath to her father. Alfred promises to pay Richard's expenses as he fights against the Hamleighs to regain the Earldom. Aliena makes love with Jack once just before her wedding with Alfred, and Jack leaves England heartbroken. Alfred is cold and abusive (he is impotent). Alfred then persuades Philip to let him replace the cathedral's wooden roof with a stone vault. The walls were not designed for the enormous weight of a stone vault and the church collapses, killing 79 people on the day of its consecration. In the rubble Aliena gives birth to a baby with bright red hair like Jack, and Alfred throws her out. Ellen arrives from the forest to see her grandson and advises Aliena to seek out Jack, who was heading for Compostela to look for work. During his pilgrimage Jack meets Moorish scholars and mathematicians in Toledo and helps build Saint Denis Basilica in Paris, thus learning how to build rib vaulting and pointed arches. He is reunited with Aliena in St. Denis. Passing through Cherbourg, Jack learns that his father comes from there (the name "Jack Shareburg" had been anglicised from "Jacques Cherbourg"), and meets his grandmother, cousins, and other family members. But when he comes back to Kingsbridge, Prior Philip denies Jack and Aliena a proper marriage, stating that Alfred and Aliena are still married.

Years later a new cathedral is being built and Alfred suddenly returns to Kingsbridge. Bishop Waleran Bigod and the Hamleighs have teamed up, aiming for the downfall of Kingsbridge, Philip and Aliena. (They had attempted to build a cathedral at Shiring, but they ran out of money.) Aliena befriends William Hamleigh's miserable young wife and takes the castle of Shiring from within, securing the earldom for her brother Richard and fulfilling her oath to her father. Later Alfred succumbs to his envy for his stepbrother and lust for his own wife; he attempts to rape Aliena and is killed by Richard. William Hamleigh, now Sheriff of Shiring, attempts to arrest Richard for murder. Prior Philip decides that the best thing to do is for Richard to go to fight in the Holy Wars, the Crusades. Richard escapes William Hamleigh and leaves the earldom to be run by Aliena, who can finally, at long last, marry Jack.

Many years pass. Kingsbridge cathedral is finally completed, in the "French Style", and becomes famous around England for its beauty: it is the first Gothic cathedral in England. Jack has solved a vexing problem — transverse stresses from wind, which causes hairline cracks in the clerestory — by independently inventing the flying buttress. In a sudden plan of attack, the bitter Bishop Waleran Bigod publicly accuses Prior Philip of breaking the clerical law of chastity; Waleran claims that the monk Jonathan (Tom Builder's son, now grown, whom he had raised in the monastery) was really Philip's secret child. Jack connects Jonathan with Tom Builder's lost baby, and Ellen swears in court that Jonathan is indeed Tom Builder's son. When Bishop Waleran accuses her of lying under oath, she accuses Waleran of perjury, resulting in a fight and the death of her lover, Jack's father. It is revealed that Percy Hamleigh (William's father), Waleran Bigod, and the former Kingsbridge Prior James conspired to kill the only survivor of the White Ship — namely, Jack Shareburg — to cover up the fact that the sinking of the White Ship was an assassination by powerful barons who wanted to throw the succession into confusion so they could get a monarch they could better control. Bigod is ruined by this scandal, and lives out the rest of his days as a humble monk.

Meanwhile William Hamleigh has gone on leading a miserable, wasteful life, weaving in and out of the political web. His ultimate downfall occurs when he joins a group, under the flag of King Henry II, who plot to assassinate the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket. Prior Philip happens to be with Becket when the assassination occurs, witnessing everything, and he uses the rage and injustice felt by the people to lead a protest against Hamleigh and the King, claiming Becket as a saint and a martyr. Hamleigh is arrested by Aliena's son, charged with sacrilege; he is convicted, and hanged. The Pope lays an Interdict on Henry's Norman possessions until King Henry repents and is symbolically whipped by Prior Philip and other leading clergymen. At the end the author concludes that royal authority is no longer absolute.

<source: Wikipedia>

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Prior Philip: A benevolent monk intent on improving the cathedral and priory of Kingsbridge. Philip of Gwynedd has close-cropped black hair and piercing blue eyes. He is lean, with not an ounce of fat, and very energetic. His face is usually stern, but conceals a kindly and generous nature – especially when he meets children.
  • Aliena: Daughter of the diposed earl of Shiring, she swears to reclaim the earldom for her brother. William's love interest, eventually Jack's beloved. Aliena has a tumbled mass of unruly dark curls, a straight, imperious nose, soft smooth cheeks, large dark eyes and full sensous lips. She is slim but full breasted, and careless in what she wears, often going barefoot. She builds a career for herself selling wool.
  • Jack Jackson (Builder): Tom's stepson and a talented architect and stonemason in his own right. He looks rather like his father, Jack Shareburg, slender with pale white skin and orange hair. However, he has bright bird-like blue eyes that bulge slightly. Jack has the alertly stupid look of a dullard, which he most certainly is not. Loves Aliena passionately and unconditionally.
  • William Hamleigh: Main antagonist. Sadistic local gentry. William is a tall, well-built man. He has yellow hair and narrow eyes which make him look as though he is always peering into the sun. As he ages, he becomes more heavyset and florid, though he remains a good horseman. His actions are unbelievable.
  • Tom Builder: A penniless but talented stonemason and architect. A head taller than most men. Tom has light brown hair, a curly beard and greenish eyes with brown flecks. A master builder, he is married to Agnes and father to Alfred and Martha. His ambition is to build a cathedral. Meets Ellen on the road to Kingsbridge after his wife passes in childbirth on that road.
  • Ellen: Ellen is an outlaw. She is short and slim, has dark brown hair that comes to a devil's peak on her forehead, and intense deep-set eyes of an unusual honey-gold colour. She is Jack's mother. Her disdain for authority and clerics is explained by the end of the novel as she reveals first to Jack and later to the inquiry what she knows about what happened to Jacques of Cherbourg. Love of Tom Builder
  • Waleran Bigod: Prior Philip's polar opposite in the area. Archdeacon Waleran Bigod is a tall, thin man, with long legs and arms. He has lank, jet-black hair and a pale face with a sharp nose and deep-set, flinty eyes.He gives the impression of a bird of prey, or of a spider waiting to spring.
  • Richard of Kingsbridge: Brother of Aliena and son of Baron Bartholomew.
  • Alfred Builder: Tom's biological son; stepbrother to Jack. Alfred looks like his father, Tom Builder, with light brown hair and greenish eyes with brown flecks, and a soft blond beard. He is, like Tom, a large and strong man.
  • Martha: Tom's daughter and Alfred's sister; stepsister to Jack. She is seven years old, blonde, skinny, and as pretty as a daffodil – but a daffodil with a petal missing – for she has a gap where two of her milk teeth are missing.
  • Agnes: Tom's first wife; mother to Martha and Alfred.Agnes is not pretty, but her face is full of strength, with a broad forehead, large brown eyes, a straight nose and a strong jaw. Her dark, wiry hair is parted in the middle and tied at the back.
  • Percy Hamleigh: Father to William.The Earl of Shiring is a heavyset, beefy man in his forties, with straw-yellow hair, small eyes and a sullen, brutish expression. Although he is more cunning than intelligent, he is nonetheless a man of considerable wealth and power.
  • Jonathan: Son of Agnes and Tom, raised by Prior Philip. A sturdy child, he is full of life and boisterous energy. Un-selfconscious, he starts as the pampered pet of the whole monastery and grows into a clever young monk.
  • Francis: Prior Philip's brother and a priest in the service of Robert of Gloucester, Queen Maud and her son, Henry.Francis of Gwynedd is a short, compact man in his middle twenties, with close-cropped black hair and bright blue eyes that twinkle with an alert intelligence. He is two years younger than his brother, Philip.
  • Stephen: Favorite nephew of King Henry. Younger brother of Theobald of Blois and older brother of Bishop Henry of Winchester. Stephen is a short, broad-shouldered man with a mane of tawny hair, and fine, intelligent – if somewhat florid – features. He generally appears to be at ease, whatever the tensions around him. He likes to finish state business early in the morning and then to hunt.
  • Bishop Henry: Henry is a short, broad-shouldered man with a pugnacious face. He has the florid complexion and rounded limbs of a hearty eater, though his eyes are alert and intelligent and he has a determined expression. His head is shaved.
  • Walter: Groom, companion, and body guard to William of Hamleigh
  • Brother Remigius: Sub Prior of Kingsbridge. Rival for Phillip in the election for Prior. He harbours resentment and engages in secret acts. He knows the secret about Jack Shareburg which Prior james confessed on his death bed
  • Thomas: Son of Aliena and Jack. Becomes Earl of Shiring
  • Brother Cuthbert: Cellarer at Kingsbridge Priory. aka Whitehead for having gone prematurely grey in youth.
  • Elizabeth: The wool merchant who gives Aliena the idea for how she can escape poverty.
  • Empress Matilda: In this book known as Queen Maud. She is King Henry's chosen heir, she fights for the right to rule England. Mother of Henry II.
  • Brother Peter aka Peter of Wareham: Early in the novel he is the deeply pious and contentious monk in Prior Phillip's charge. Later in the novel his role as a deacon and ally of Waleran threaten Philip towards whom Peter has a deep enmity
  • Brother Milius: Kitchener at Kingsbridge Priory. Protege of Brother Cuthbert.
  • Gilbert: Add a description of this character.
  • Matthew Steward: Steward to Earl Bartholomew and protector of Aliena and Richard
  • Otto Blackface: master quarryman of Kingsbridge
  • Regan Hamleigh: Wife of Percy, mother to William.Lady Hamleigh is repulsive to look at. Her face is covered in unsightly boils, which she cannot help touching all the time with her skeletal hands. She usually tries to conceal her face with a hood. She is extremely determined and strong, even vicious.
  • Andrew of York: Sacrist of Kingsbridge Priory.
  • Sally: Daughter of Aliena and Jack Becomes a skilled artist and designer of stained glass windows.
  • Earl Ranulf of Chester: Ally of Maud and leader of her army at Battle of Lincoln
  • Earl Robert of Gloucester: Baron. Half brother of Maud by virtue of being a bastard son of Henry I. Lord to Francis. Leader of her faction in the Civil War.
  • Mena
  • Harold: Master quarryman of Shiring
  • Arthur
  • Raschid: The Spanish muslim living in Toledo who converts to Christianity. Supports Jack during his stay in Toledo
  • Reginald
  • Michael
  • Wulfric: Monje del priorato
  • Reynold
  • Brother John: aka Johnny Eightpence and Johnny. A somewhat slow witted yet gentle handed monk, that is a favorite of Prior Philip's and helps raise Johnathan.
  • Dan
  • Earl Bartholomew: The Earl of Shiring is a tall man of over fifty years of age, with white hair and pale blue eyes in a pale, thin, haughty face. He does not look like a man of generous spirit.
  • Jack Shareburg: A frenchman, perhaps more correctly, Jacques of Cherbourg. A jongeleur and father of Jack Jackson. Appears in the prelude but his influence and the story why he was hanged permeates the novel, being fully revealed only at the end.
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Quotes edit see section history

  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • excessive pride is a familiar sin, but a man may just as easily frustrate the will of God through excessive humility.”
    Highlighted by 774 Kindle customers
  • Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing that you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically.
    Highlighted by 719 Kindle customers
  • He had to learn that those who treated him in a hostile way did so out of weakness. He saw the hostility and reacted angrily, instead of seeing the weakness and giving reassurance.
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  • An Outline of European Architecture by Nikolaus Pevsner.
    Highlighted by 233 Kindle customers
  • Archdeacon Peter’s face was like stone. He was the worst kind of Christian, Philip realized: he embraced all of the negatives, enforced every proscription, insisted on all forms of denial, and demanded strict punishment for every offense; yet he ignored all the compassion of Christianity, denied its mercy, flagrantly disobeyed its ethic of love, and openly flouted the gentle laws of Jesus. That’s what the Pharisees were like, Philip thought; no wonder the Lord preferred to eat with publicans and sinners.
    Highlighted by 230 Kindle customers
  • Part Two: 1136-1137 Chapter 5
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  • irascible, red-faced man who seemed permanently on the verge of apoplexy.
    Highlighted by 112 Kindle customers
  • bilious as he crossed the river by an old wooden bridge. Kingsbridge Priory brought shame on God’s church and the monastic movement, but there was nothing Philip could do about it; and anger and impotence together turned sour in his stomach.
    Highlighted by 87 Kindle customers
  • unctuous. He had heard recently of the dreadful death of the earl of Hereford, who had quarreled with the bishop of Hereford and died in a state of excommunication. His body had been buried in unconsecrated ground. When William imagined his own body lying in undefended earth, vulnerable to all the imps and monsters that inhabited the underworld, he shook with fright. He would never quarrel with his bishop.
    Highlighted by 51 Kindle customers
  • The Cathedral Builders by Jean Gimpel. Gimpel, the black sheep of a family of French art dealers, was as impatient as I with discussions about whether a clerestory “worked” aesthetically.
    Highlighted by 49 Kindle customers

First Sentence edit see section history

In a broad valley, at the foot of a sloping hillside, beside a clear bubbling stream, Tom was building a house.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 1 of 2 in Pillars of the Earth. (standard series)

Followed by World Without End.

This is book 95 of 194 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2010). (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and followed by Catch-22.

This is book 98 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by A Tale of Two Cities, and followed by The Grapes of Wrath.

This book is in Big Fat Books. (community list)
This book is in KCPL Discussion Kit (Aug2010). (community list)
This is book 97 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2010). (authoritative list)

Preceded by A Time to Kill, and followed by The Pelican Brief.

This is book 33 of 196 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)

Preceded by One Hundred Years of Solitude, and followed by David Copperfield.

This is book 65 of 70 in Oprah's Book Club. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Love in the Time of Cholera, and followed by A New Earth.

This is book 98 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Grapes of Wrath, and followed by A Tale of Two Cities.

This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Challenge (2011). (community list)
This is book 8 of 10 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels In 1989. (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Russia House, and followed by California Gold.

This is book 22 of 94 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Kite Runner, and followed by The Bible (New International Version).

This book is in 100 Fantabulous Book Challenge. (community list)

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Ken Follett (Author)

Other Contributors:

  1. Alis Friis Caspersen (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: William Morrow
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Date: 7 September 1989
ISBN: 0688046592
Page Count: 973

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • World Without End
  • Fiji

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