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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.
  • Lady Aliena: Daughter of the diposed earl of Shiring, she swears to reclaim the earldom for her brother. William Hamleigh's love interest (although she refuses and despises him), 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. Marries Alfred.
  • Jack Jackson: Tom's stepson and a talented architect and stonemason in his own right. He looks rather like his biological father, Jack Shareburg (Jaques Cherbourg), 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. This becomes more apparent as he grows older and is seen as he matures to be a wise and good looking man.Becomes the Master Builder for Kingsbridge Cathedral
  • William of Shiring: 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 unbelievably attrocious: He brutalizes his subjects, commits rampant and frequent rape and murder of various people and nurses a strong hatred towards most if not all of the other characters. Pursues Aliena.
  • 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 away due to complications in childbirth on that road. Jonathan is the child that Agnes bore just before her death. Gets commissioned to build the Kingsbridge cathedral by Prior Phillip.
  • 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. She later marries Tom Builder and becomes the step mother of Alfred and Martha. Thought of as a "witch" because she lives in the woods and uses alternative methods of healing.
  • 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. He believes that the ends justify the means and will stop at nothing to obtain his ambitions and crush his enemies, he manipulates everyone he can.
  • Richard of Kingsbridge: Brother of Aliena and son of Baron Bartholomew. During this book he grows, trying to fulfill an oath to his father that was also made by his sister Aliena. Becomes a knight and fights for King Stephan's side.
  • 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. He constantly abuses Jack and stoops to disgusting lows to frustrate his stepbrother's life.
  • 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. She is very close to Jack and prefers him over Alfred, who has always mistreated them both.
  • Agnes: Tom's first wife; mother to Martha, Alfred, and Jonathan. 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; although he is ruled by the puppeteering iron will of his wife.
  • Prior 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. He is a special favorite of Phillip's.
  • Francis: Prior Philip's brother and a priest in the service of Robert of Gloucester, Queen Maud and her son, Henry II. 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. He is a key person in this book and appears at many tense areas of the story.
  • Stephen: Favorite nephew of King Henry I. 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. He and Empress Maud fight a civil war over whether she or he should rule England.
  • Bishop Henry of Winchester: 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.
  • 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. She controls her husband and son with her malicious intentions, she is the "brains" behind the family's rise to power.
  • Walter Tanner: 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 to Remigius. He is a constant thorn in Phillip's side.
  • Thomas: Son of Aliena and Jack. Becomes Earl of Shiring, succeeding his uncle Richard, after showing a lack of ambition regarding construction of buildings.
  • Cuthbert Whitehead: Cellarer at Kingsbridge Priory. aka Cuthbert Whitehead for having gone prematurely grey in youth. He is a strong ally of Phillip's.
  • Countess Elizabeth: Child bride of William Hamleigh
  • 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 threatens Philip towards whom Peter has a deep enmity.
  • Milius: Kitchener at Kingsbridge Priory. Protege of Brother Cuthbert. He rises through many positions through the book and is a very strong supporter of Prior Phillip.
  • Matthew Steward: Steward to Earl Bartholomew and protector of Aliena and Richard, known to be effeminate.
  • Otto Blackface: master quarryman of Kingsbridge
  • Andrew of York: Sacrist of Kingsbridge Priory, and an ally of Remigius against Philip.
  • 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.
  • Harry of Shiring: Master quarryman of Shiring
  • Raschid Alharoun: The Spanish Christian-Arab living in Toledo. Supports Jack during his stay in Toledo and becomes close friends with him. He gives Jack the so called: "Weeping Madonna".
  • Reginald Fitzurse: A young nobleman faithful to Henry II.
  • John of Shaftesbury: 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. He is tenderhearted and caring towards everyone.
  • 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. He is the father of Aliena and Richard of Shiring.
  • 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. Ellen's lover.
  • Thomas Becket: Chancellor to Henry II, later murdered
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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 13 Kindle customers
  • That was not the end of the problems, but it was the beginning of solutions.
    Highlighted by 4 Kindle customers
  • 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 4 Kindle customers
  • There were not many people who said what they meant and did what they said.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • But he seemed to have a compelling need to feel special and be noticed by others all the time;
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers
  • A thin layer of fresh snow covered the little town like a new coat of paint, and theirs were the first footprints to blemish its perfect surface.
    Highlighted by 3 Kindle customers

Setting & Locations edit see section history

This story is set in the middle of the 12th century, between the time of the sinking of the White Ship and the murder of Thomas Becket.
  • Kingsbridge, England: Fictional town in England which serves as the setting of the novel. Kingsbridge Cathedral as described is based on the cathedrals of Wells and Salisbury.

First Sentence edit see section history

The small boys came early to the hanging.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Prologue, 1123
Part One, 1135–1136
Part Two, 1136–1137
Part Three, 1140–1142
Part Four, 1142–1145
Part Five, 1152-1155
Part Six, 1170–1174

Themes & Symbolism edit see section history

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)
This is book 98 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (December 2011). (authoritative list)
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)
This is book 33 of 200 in BBC 'Big Read' Top 200 Novels, 2003. (authoritative list)
This is book 65 of 70 in Oprah's Book Club. (authoritative list)
This is book 98 of 195 in Shelfari Most Popular (June 2011). (authoritative list)
This book is in Random Synapses: 100 Book Reading Challenge (2011). (community list)
This is book 8 of 10 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels In 1989. (authoritative list)
This is book 5 of 145 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2011). (authoritative list)
This is book 91 of 100 in ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 1990-1999. (authoritative list)
This is book 33 of 82 in BBC "Big Read" Top 100 Novels. (authoritative list)
This is book 9 of 121 in Whitcoulls Top 100 (2012). (authoritative list)
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: September 7, 1989
ISBN: 0688046592
Page Count: 973

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PR6056.045P55 1989
  • Dewey: 823.914

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Violence, sexuality.

Movie Connections edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • World Without End
  • Fiji

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