Book: The Pillars of the Earth
Author: Ken Follett
Publication: 1989
Pages: 973
Completed: 5/3/25
This book is historical fiction, taking place from 1123-1174 AD in Knightsbridge, England. Tom Builder was building a house for the upcoming marriage between Prince William and Lady Aliena, but he has to stop work when she calls off the engagement. His ultimate dream is to build a cathedral – it is all he thinks about. After the work on the house is stopped, Tom, his pregnant wife Agnes, son Alfred (16) & daughter Martha (7_ walk from town to town looking for work. Between villages, she gives birth and dies. They bury her and elect to leave the baby to die on top of her grave. After walking all night, they change their minds and go back, but the baby is gone. A monk from the monastery has him and has decided to raise him in the monastery like he was raised. Because Tom has no wife, no job and no food – he says nothing about being the boy’s father. Soon after, he meets a “forest woman” named Ellen and her 10-year-old son, Jack. In just a few days and out of simplicity and a love for one another, they become common-law husband & wife. Alfred & Jack do not like one another because Alfred is a bully. They are all slowly starving to death as there is no job for Tom. Finally, they find work in Knightsbridge as the cathedral there needs lots of work. Phillip the monk is there with Tom’s infant son, now named Jonathon.
One night, Jack sneaks to the top of the cathedral lighting it to fire so that it will burn down – guaranteeing a long-term job for Tom. Phillip becomes head monk (prior). Tom proposes a new type of cathedral to Phillip and gets the job. Because Alfred & Jack are constantly fighting, Ellen & Jack leave Knightsbridge and return to the forest.
There is a war going on between two potential English kings, Stephan & Henry. Because Aliena’s father is on one side, Prince William and his family attack the Earl of Shiring, killing him and taking the castle. He rapes Aliena. She & her younger brother, Richard, escape the castle the next day. They are now penniless, but through hard work & shrewd business, she becomes a relatively wealthy wool merchant over time.
Throughout this book, there are constant ebb & flows during the cathedral construction as finances become available or are retracted, wars occur where financial backers are involved, allegiances changed and then changed back, support from the bishop wavers and the town where the cathedral is attacked & burned. I will not comment on each one.
Later in the story, Ellen & Jack return to Knightsbridge and Tom & Ellen are married. Jack is now a young man & begins working as an apprentice to Tom. Tom is later killed in a raid on the town by William Hamleigh, who also burns down Aliena’s wool barn, causing her to lose all her wealth (again). Alfred becomes Master Builder and makes some changes to the cathedral. Jack & Aliena fall in love – even though Aliena has rebuffed a great number of suitors for marriage. Because Jack & Alfred do not get along, he joins the monastery in order to gain even more knowledge. Aliena is forced to marry Alfred given that she is once again poverty-stricken and her brother Richard needs equipment & horses to fight on the side of King Henry. Alfred has money as the Master Builder while Jack has none as a monk. The day before the wedding, Aliena & Jack have sex and she becomes pregnant. The day of the wedding, Jack leaves England for Spain to seek other employment. When the baby is born with red hair (like Jack), Aliena is forced from Alfred’s house because their marriage is never consummated (he needs Viagra). She goes to Spain with baby Tommy, looking for Jack. After a year of traveling, she finds Jack working on a new type of cathedral in Paris. Until then, he has been traveling all over France & Spain looking at different types of cathedrals with the idea of making Knightsbridge the best cathedral in Europe.
Jack, Aliena & Tommy eventually return to Knightsbridge. The church will not allow Jack & Aliena to get married because she is technically still married to Alfred. They must live apart. Luckily, she is pregnant with a daughter named Sally when they arrive, so there is no major issue. When the arrive, Jonathan (Tom’s baby adopted by the monastery) is now 16 years old. He is devout, educated, hard working and well liked while assuming more monastery duties. Aliena still dreams about getting her home back from the evil William Hamleigh. After years of war, the two leaders vying to become king decide to negotiate it out. Nearly all the soldiers are stationed at the town where the negotations are taking place. Aliena devises a plan to take her brother Richard’s small band of men and trick their way into seizing Shiring. It works and Richard becomes Earl of Shiring. Unfortunately, he is a autocratic ruler and not a good manager of his lands. Later, in a fit of rage, he kills Alfred as Alfred is attacking Aliena. Since Alfred (her lawful husband) is now dead, this allows her & Jack to get married. As penance, Richard will go to the Middle East as a Crusader and Aliena will manage the Shiring. Aliena assumes leadership of the Shiring and is installed as owner when Richard is killed in the Crusades.
Bishop Walderan has always been a thorn in the side to Phillip the Prior and his monastery/cathedral. He begins making claims that Jonathan is actually Phillip’s illegitimate son. Luckily, Ellen remembers that Jonathon is actually Tom Builder’s son and proves it with multiple witnesses (unknown to each other) and once stated publicly, the resemblance between Jonathon & his birth father is the final straw that proves it. This saves Phillip from Walderan’s plan to depose him and allow Phillip and Ellen the opportunity to prove that Waleran was one of the three co-conspirators that killed Ellen’s first husband (Jack’s father) as a way to prevent Henry from becoming king (allowing Stephan to think that he could become king and therefore encouraging all the wars that have happened over the past 20 years). Walderan has to step down as bishop and Phillip replaces him, allowing Jonathon to replace Phillip as Prior of the monastery/cathedral. The new king Henry wants to arrest Thomas Becket of Canterbury, the head of all the religion in England answering only to the Pope. In the process of the arrest, he is killed and becomes a martyr. As a result of the turmoil, Walderan becomes destitute and is starving, so Jonathon allows him to become a low-ranking monk as penance. King Henry must answer for Thomas Becket’s death, so he is ceremoniously (not hard) whipped five times by each of the monks of Kingbridge. This takes power away from the monarchy and makes the Church stronger – giving balance in the ruling structures of England for the next 400+ years.
Lessons learned that will increase my prospects for success after prison:
1) I don’t think this book helped me with increasing my prospects for success after prison, but the book was highly recommended by both people inside & outside of prison, which is why I chose to read it. There is a complete series and people are raving about reading the entire series. I have a long list of books that are more important for me to read in the near future. If I get to the end of the list, then I can start looking at reading these types of fictional novels. For the time being, I am covered for the next 4-5 months.
