Brother Cadfael

[Riklaa]

Brother Cadfael is the fictional main character in a series of historical murder mysteries written by Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters". Cadfael himself is a Welsh Benedictine monk living at Shrewsbury Abbey during the 12th century. In all, twenty books were published between 1977 and 1994 featuring Cadfael. Many of them were subsequently adapted into both radio episodes and a television series starring Derek Jacobi. 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. When he needs a "full name" he uses patronymics in the Welsh fashion, calling himself Cadfael ap (son of) Meilyr ap Dafydd. Born in May 1080 into a villein community in Trefriw, in Gwynedd, northern Wales, he had at least one sibling, a younger brother. Rather than wait to inherit the right to till a section of land, he left his home at the age of fourteen as servant to a wool-trader, and thus became acquainted with Shrewsbury early in life. In 1096, he went on the First Crusade in the force commanded by Robert II, Duke of Normandy. After the victorious end to the Crusade, he lived for several years in Syria and the Holy Land, earning a living as a sailor. He returned to England around 1114 to find that Richildis Vaughan, to whom he had been unofficially engaged, had tired of waiting and had married a Shrewsbury craftsman. He then took part in the war waged by Henry I of England to secure Normandy. He returned again to England in the company of a nobleman, Roger Mauduit, who kidnapped Prior Heribert of Shrewsbury Abbey to foil a lawsuit. Cadfael betrayed Mauduit, though not the King's justice, by freeing Heribert. Released from Mauduit's service, he laid aside his arms and returned with Heribert to Shrewsbury Abbey. Cadfael became a monk only in middle age. 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 and Brother Cadfael's Penance), 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 . Arguably, however, this very background makes him a more worthy foil and friend for the Deputy Sheriff (later Sheriff) Hugh Beringar of Maesbury than would have been a cloistered brother. Beringar, introduced in the second novel, One Corpse Too Many (1979), is Cadfael's main ally in the pursuit of justice. A local man who was originally a partisan of Matilda, Beringar ultimately swore loyalty to King Stephen of England. The character is first seen as an agent of King Stephen, then as Deputy Sheriff, and finally as the Sheriff of Salop. At times, Beringar must choose between loyalty to the Crown's justice and Cadfael's private view of the injustices of the world. Beringar — and Heribert and Radulfus, Cadfael's abbots — recognise his slightly unusual skills, and use him as detective, medical examiner, diplomatic envoy (to the Welsh princes), and counsel. The abbey's second-in-command Prior Robert Pennant and his clerk Brother Jerome tend to look down upon Cadfael for his casual attitude toward rules and for the privileges that are allowed him by the Abbot. But the Abbot (first Heribert and then Radulfus) values Cadfael's unique contributions to the Abbey both inside it and outside and frequently assigns Cadfael to missions in which a typical cloistered monk's naiveté about human nature and the world outside the abbey walls would be serious impediments. When a delegation of monks must travel a great distance or conduct a matter of sensitive diplomacy, Cadfael is usually made part of the group for precisely that reason. Abbot Radulfus — himself a shrewd and worldly man — allows Cadfael a certain degree of independence and appreciates that there are circumstances under which the rules of the Order must be bent in order to serve a greater and more practical good. Though indulgent to a certain degree, his patience with Cadfael is not limitless; he reprimands Cadfael when he feels that his lack of monastic discipline and obedience have been excessive and unwarranted, faults for which Cadfael is sincerely remorseful.