Cadfael

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Cadfael
"Cadfael" (book cover)
"Cadfael" (book cover)
Genre Drama
Creator(s) Ellis Peters
Starring Derek Jacobi
Country of origin Flag of United Kingdom United Kingdom
No. of episodes 13
Production
Running time 75 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel ITV
Original run 1994 – 1998
Links

Cadfael (pronounced /ˈkad.vail/, approximately "CAD-vile") is the fictional detective in a series of murder mysteries by the late Edith Pargeter writing under the name "Ellis Peters."

Contents

[edit] Life and times of Cadfael

[edit] A Welsh monk in an English monastery

Cadfael is a Benedictine monk and herbalist at Shrewsbury Abbey in Shrewsbury, the county town of the English county of Shropshire. Cadfael himself is a Welshman; his full name is Cadfael ap (son of) Meilyr ap Dafydd and he was born around 1080 to a villein (serf) family in Trefriw, in Gwynedd (northern Wales).

[edit] Historical Background

The stories are set between about 1135 and about 1145, during the civil war between the forces of King Stephen and Empress Maud. Several true historical events are described or referred to in the books. For example, the translation of Saint Winefride to Shrewsbury Abbey is fictionalised in the first chronicle, A Morbid Taste for Bones, and the siege of Shrewsbury by Stephen in 1138 forms the setting for One Corpse Too Many.

[edit] Familarity with the secular world

Cadfael became a monk in middle age, after going on the First Crusade as both a soldier and later, a sailor. As a result, he is more familiar with the secular world than most of his brother monks. In addition, his personality more reflects modern attitudes and progressive ethics than his own time which often puts him in conflict with his brethren on matters of justice and conscience. Among other things, Brother Cadfael disobeys his superiors (in Monk's Hood), excuses a young couple for impulsively making love in a chapel (in The Sanctuary Sparrow) and condones euthanasia for a dying man in extreme agony (in the TV version of The Rose Rent).

Arguably, however, this very background makes him a more worthy foil and friend for Sheriff Hugh Beringar than would have been a cloistered brother. Beringar, introduced in One Corpse Too Many (1979), the Second Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, is Cadfael's main ally in the pursuit of justice . A local man who was originally a partisan of Queen Matilda, Beringar ultimately swore loyalty to King Stephen. The character is first seen as an agent of King Stephen, then as the Under Sheriff, and finally as the Sheriff of Shropshire. At times, Beringar must choose between loyalty to the crown's justice and Cadfael's private view of the injustices of the world. Over time Beringar — and Heribert and Radulfus, Cadfael's abbots — come to recognise his slightly unusual skills, and use him as detective, medical examiner, diplomatic envoy (to the Welsh princes), and counsel.

[edit] Olivier, Cadfael's son

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

One interesting twist which Pargeter develops over the course of the novels is that Cadfael proves to have a son whom he unknowingly conceived during his crusading days. Cadfael meets his son only on a few, nevertheless cherished, occasions, quickly realising the truth behind the young man's origins. Cadfael's son, Olivier de Bretagne, is clearly the ideal knight and paladin - skilled and brave in battle, endlessly resourceful and resilient however difficult the predicament in which he finds himself, generous and chivalrous to the point of risking his life to save an enemy who had just before kept him imprisoned in a dungeon. Not by chance is he named for the companion of Roland, hero of the greatest of the Medieval heroic epics. The writer's ability to depict such a paragon and still make him a believable, three-dimensional character can count as a significant literary success.

Olivier comes closer than any other character in the series to fulfilling the ideals of the French-Norman culture - perhaps precisely because it is not his native culture, but one which he had acquired deliberately in his teens. He grew up an Arab and a Muslim, born of Cadfael's liaison with Mariam, an Arab widow who never told him of her pregnancy but did instill in her son an admiration for the father he was to meet only as a grown man. In his early youth, Olivier converted to Christianity in honor of his father, whom he fails to recognize when they meet. (Virgin in the Ice)

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Crusades in the background

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 - and in addition, 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 the crusading enterprise itself is invariably regarded by all characters as a most noble and worthy cause.

There is occasional 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." He then continues to absolve that individual of brutality or unknightly acts, while implicitly passing judgment on the whole. (The Leper of Saint Giles) While on various occasions Cadfael is making 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. Additionally, Cadfael is non-political, refusing to take sides in the contest between the Empress Maud and King Stephen for control of England. His abjuration of politics may have been influenced by his holy vows as a monastic brother, and renunciation of the secular world.

However, his perspective of the Crusades didn't lead to bigotry. Cadfael himself had a liaison with a Muslim woman "who was well worth the loving" and had some other profitable dealings with Arabs and Muslims. Also, one of the returning crusader characters, who had spent many years in Muslim captivity, had many good words to say of his "chivalrous and courteous" captors who provided medical help and supported him in his convalescence. (The Leper of Saint Giles)

[edit] Love and the monk

Cadfael also has an ex-fiancée, Richaldis, from before he embarked on Crusade, long since married to someone else, who briefly enters Cadfael's life again in Monk's Hood. He also enjoys a purely platonic relationship with an equally worldly Benedictine sister, Avice, of a nearby convent. And finally, he has a special relationship with Saint Winefride, following his unique part in the expedition to fetch her bones which was the subject of the first book in the series. He talks to her in Welsh, his native tongue as well as hers, invariably thinks of her as "The Girl" and (though he would reject the suggestion as sacrilegious) seems to be more than a bit in love with her. As Cadfael is never shown to be in conflict with his Christian vows, it's more likely that he's living in fidelity to his vows and loving the church.

A distinctive feature of the series is that in nearly every book there is a pair of star-crossed lovers, who invariably get the full sympathy of Brother Cadfael (and of 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 reunion, in the second of which he seems the literary descendant of Shakespeare's Friar Lawrence who made great (though ultimately futile) efforts to help Romeo and Juliet. Cadfael 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 indeed the murderer.

Lovers in the Cadfael books face a whole series of obstacles, which sometimes seem insurmountable (in one book, it seems that they are relatives too close to marry) but are invariably overcome. However, in few of the cases is the problem a significant difference in social status between the two. In this series, aristocratic boys usually fall in love with aristocratic girls, prosperous artisans fall for the daughters of artisans, and a lowly wandering juggler is charmed beyond measure by a lowly kitchen maid. However, in St. Peter's Fair, a trader's daughter settles for another trader's son when her aristocratic first choice refuses to treat her seriously, calling her a "shopkeeper's girl of no account." Thus, it may in fact be, as in any age, that good judgment yields before prejudice and Peters' characters deliberately curtail their romantic aspirations where class conflict would undermine them.

[edit] Getting on with everybody

Cadfael is remarkably capable of getting on well with all kinds of people. He is at home with everybody: with Normans as well as Saxons, a distinction very central to England at the time; with free and unfree peasants, with rich and poor burghers, with members of the low and high aristocracy. One may surmise that this started already in his earlier days - as a crusader living with a Muslim woman and captaining a ship touching on numerous Mediterranean ports with their varying cultures and ethnicities. His ability to fit everywhere might be at least partly due to the fact that he does not completely belong anywhere - being originally from Wales, a society which as depicted in several of the books is to a great degree more tribal than feudal. It may also be due to his determination to live according to the vows he has taken as a brother in a monastery, and emulate the life of the Christian messiah.

Cadfael is in good contact with the other Welsh living in Shrewsbury, such as the boatman Madog who has an important role in several books. He likes to speak his mother tongue, and is positively exuberant when getting an opportunity to go back into Wales. He is clearly of the opinion (which he discreetly keeps to himself) that many Welsh ways of doing things are better than the Anglo-Norman ones: for example, letting all of a man's acknowledged children - whether born in or out of wedlock - share in the inheritance, or showing leniency to a killer under certain circumstances, rather than the inflexible mandatory capital punishment of the Norman Law, administered reluctantly by Cadfael's friend Hugh Beringar and rigidly by Beringar's superior, Sheriff Gilbert Prestcote.

For all that, Cadfael had voluntarily chosen to join an English monastery rather than a Welsh one, and make his home in England (though in the part of England nearest to Wales). It would seem that travelling the world so much has made him a bit too cosmopolitan to completely fit in his own homeland, either. As a Welshman in England, and in concord with his vows, he remains in the world, yet not of it.

[edit] The Brother Cadfael stories

(book cover)
(book cover)

[edit] Short stories

  • Published in A Rare Benedictine (1988):
    • A Light on the Road to Woodstock (set in Autumn, 1120)
    • The Price of Light (set at Christmas, 1135)
    • Eye Witness (set in 1139)

[edit] Novels

  1. A Morbid Taste for Bones (written in 1977, this episode is set in 1137)
  2. One Corpse Too Many (1979, set in August 1138)
  3. Monk's Hood (1980, set in December 1138)
  4. Saint Peter's Fair (1981, set in July 1139)
  5. The Leper of Saint Giles (1981, set in October 1139)
  6. The Virgin in the Ice (1982, set in November 1139)
  7. The Sanctuary Sparrow (1983, set in the Spring of 1140)
  8. The Devil's Novice (1983, set in September 1140)
  9. Dead Man's Ransom (1984, set in February 1141)
  10. The Pilgrim of Hate (1984, set in May 1141)
  11. An Excellent Mystery (1985, set in August 1141)
  12. The Raven in the Foregate (1986, set in December 1141)
  13. The Rose Rent (1986, set in June 1142)
  14. The Hermit of Eyton Forest (1988, set in October 1142)
  15. The Confession of Brother Haluin (1988, set in December 1142)
  16. The Heretic's Apprentice (1990, set in June 1143)
  17. The Potter's Field (1990, set in August 1143)
  18. The Summer of the Danes (1991, set in April 1144)
  19. The Holy Thief (1992, set in August 1144)
  20. Brother Cadfael's Penance (1994, set in November 1145)

[edit] BBC Radio 4 adaptations

Starring Glyn Houston as Cadfael

  • 1 --- A Morbid Taste for Bones
  • 2 --- One Corpse Too Many

Produced by Bert Coules and starring Philip Madoc as Cadfael, with Geoffrey Whitehead and Timothy Bateson.

  • 3 --- Monk's Hood
  • 6 --- The Virgin in the Ice
  • 9 --- Dead Man's Ransom

[edit] Telemovies

Produced by Central for ITV, 75 minutes per episode. Filmed on location in Hungary and starring Sir Derek Jacobi.

Season I (1994):

  • One Corpse Too Many (Episode 101 - Book 2)
  • The Sanctuary Sparrow (Episode 102 - Book 7)
  • The Leper of Saint Giles (Episode 103 - Book 5)
  • Monk's Hood (Episode 104 - Book 3)

Season II (1995-1996):

  • The Virgin in the Ice (Episode 201 - Book 6)
  • The Devil's Novice (Episode 202 - Book 8)
  • A Morbid Taste for Bones (Episode 203 - Book 1)

Season III (1997):

  • The Rose Rent (Episode 301 - Book 13)
  • Saint Peter's Fair (Episode 302 - Book 4)
  • The Raven in the Foregate (Episode 303 - Book 12)

Season IV (1998):

  • The Holy Thief (Episode 401 - Book 19)
  • The Potter's Field (Episode 402 - Book 17)
  • The Pilgrim of Hate (Episode 403 - Book 10)

[edit] Differences between books and films

Thirteen of the books were adapted for a series of television movies starring Sir Derek Jacobi although the sequence of the television episodes differs from the sequence of the novels. Within the individual teleplays, 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. One episode, however, 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. Furthermore, in The Holy Thief, one of the characters is turned into a villain, whereas in the novel, he is not. In A Morbid Taste For Bones the climax sequence is altered, giving Cadfael more of a speaking role.

[edit] References

  • Whiteman, Robin (1995). The Cadfael Companion: The World of Brother Cadfael, Revised hardcover edition, Mysterious Press. ISBN 0-89296-513-4. 
  • Cadfael Country: Shropshire and the Welsh Border by Rob Talbot & Robin Whiteman (1990, Macdonald)
  • Brother Cadfael’s Herb Garden by Rob Talbot & Robin Whiteman (1996, Little Brown)

[edit] External links

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