History Literature / ThePillarsOfTheEarth

** William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, [[MaritalRapeLicense raping his young wife regularly]] and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family. When William insists on exercising DroitDuSeigneur his steward [[LampshadeHanging points out]] that [[TheThemeParkVersion that isn't even a real thing]].

** William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, [[MaritalRapeLicense raping his young wife regularly]] and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family. When William insists on exercising DroitDuSeigneur his steward points out that [[TheThemeParkVersion that isn't even a real thing]].

** William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, [[MaritalRapeLicense raping his young wife regularly]] and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family. When William insists on exercising DroightDuSeigneur his steward points out that [[TheThemeParkVersion that isn't even a real thing]].

** William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, [[MaritalRapeLicense raping his young wife regularly]] and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family.

** William indulges in his rights as husband and lord, [[MaritalRapeLicense raping his young wife regularly] and doing violence to his serfs when they violate his prerogatives and fail to pay what they owe him. Even his own steward is dismayed by his behavior, even the legally justified parts, and his wife is eventually rescued and returned to her family.

** Philip is nearly HoistOnHisOwnPetard as a false accusation of fornication against him gets him put on trial and nearly ruins his career. People think it absurd that such a good man could be ruined by such a frivolous accusation and even one of his enemies, Ellen, speaks up in his defense.

** Prior Philip, although a benevolent figure for his community, and more compassionate than most of his peers, still has the views of a 12th-century monk on subjects like extra-marital sex or the respect due to his own authority.
** Aliena [[ButtMonkey ends up on the horrific side of this several times]] (see BreakTheCutie and BreakTheHaughty above), but the crowning moment has to be [[spoiler:when her brother actually tries to defend her from what modern-day readers would rightfully call DomesticAbuse]]; [[spoiler:Richard killing Alfred is considered murder, since Aliena is Alfred's wife, [[MaritalRapeLicense making her consent a non-issue]].]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance:

* DanBrowned:
** Ken Follett claimed he did a lot of research for this book, but he appears to think medieval labor was capitalist (it was guild-based) and never to have heard about how various religious orders ran orphanages, and taking in neighbor's children was routine (hint: extended families and/or godparents), so there'd be lots of options for that baby one can't care for, apart from [[DeusAngstMachina leaving it on its mother's grave]]. He also repeats the very old, long-discredited idea that Beckett's canonization was a political maneuver. He doesn't understand medieval manorialism (he seems to think rents were owed individually rather than by the village collectively, reading the Post-Reformation landlord system back into the 12th century). Maybe we should amend his claim to, "I researched the architecture." ''Literature/WorldWithoutEnd'' is a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel in this regard, with the guild and feudal manor systems in particular playing a prominent role.
** Aliena's walking the Way of St. James (with a suckling baby!) while searching for Jack comes across as even less of a challenge than it is today, rather than the life-threatening event it was in the Middle Ages. And she manages by learning some Spanish, even though Spain was not unified politically nor linguistically in the 1140s (in fact, the oldest travel guide ever, Aymeric Picaud's Liber Sancti Jacobi from the same decade, insists heavily on the international nature of the pilgrimage and includes a list of useful Basque-Latin translations).
** The family Jack stays with in Toledo identify as "Christian Arabs" and have names like [[FamousNamedForeigner Rashid al-Haroun]]. While this might be possible for Christians in the Middle East, it is evident that Follett confused the Spanish Mudejars (Moors under Christian rule, who kept Arab traditions including names) with the Mozarabs (Iberian Christians who adopted some Arab trappings while under Muslim rule, but were conscious about their Visigothic heritage, had Roman-Visigothic names, and spoke a Latin-derived language). By 1145, 60 years after the conquest of Toledo, the Mozarabs had lost any Arab-Muslim influence and integrated into the dominant Christian society. There was no such thing as a "Christian Arab" in the city, nor any incentive for anyone to identify as one.

%%* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Jack and Aliena. Tom and Ellen.

* HeelFaceTurn: The monk [[spoiler:Remigius]].
* HenpeckedHusband: Lord Percy Hamleigh.
* HeroicBastard: Jack.

* HolierThanThou:
** Waleran Bigod.
** Peter of Wareham.

* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: William v. Aliena

* {{Jerkass}}: Alfred, Tom's son.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Phillip, Aliena, Jack.

* EvilMatriarch: Lady Regan Hamleigh.

* FallenPrincess: Aliena.
* FeudalOverlord: William embodies this trope, especially after becoming Earl of Shiring.
* FiveManBand:
** TheBigBad: Archdeacon/Bishop Waleran Bigod
** TheDragon: Lord, later Earl William Hamleigh, who Waleran uses to carry out violent acts
** TheEvilGenius: Lady Regan Hamleigh shares this position with Waleran
** TheBrute: Walter, who is William's [[TheDragon groom]]
** TheDarkChick: [[spoiler:Brother Remigius]]

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Jack and Aliena. Tom and Ellen.
* GoodShepherd: Prior Philip and Archbishop Thomas Becket. When Henry II has William murder Becket, the entire country is outraged.

[[Series/ThePillarsOfTheEarth A miniseries]] starring Ian [=McShane=], Rufus Sewell, Matthew Macfadyen, David Oakes, Eddie Redmayne as Jack and Hayley Atwell as Aliena ran on the Starz network in July and August 2010.

** Ken Follett claimed he did a lot of research for this book, but he appears to think medieval labor was capitalist (it was guild-based) and never to have heard about how various religious orders ran orphanages, and taking in neighbor's children was routine (hint: extended families and/or godparents), so there'd be lots of options for that baby one can't care for, apart from [[DeusAngstMachina leaving it on its mother's grave]]. He also repeats the very old, long-discredited idea that Beckett's canonization was a political maneuver. He doesn't understand medieval manorialism (he seems to think rents were owed individually rather than by the village collectively, reading the Post-Reformation landlord system back into the 12th century). Maybe we should amend his claim to, "I researched the architecture."
** ''Literature/WorldWithoutEnd'' is a SurprisinglyImprovedSequel in this regard, with the guild and feudal manor systems in particular playing a prominent role.

An epic novel, published in 1989 and set in 12th century England, ''The Pillars of the Earth'' is the chronicle of a man, his family, their enemies and the extraordinary dream that consumes them all. It is by far the [[BlackSheepHit most popular]] story Ken Follett, [[GenreAdultery mainly an author of thrillers and various spy novels]], has ever written.

* {{Asexuality}}: WordOfGod has it that Philip was deliberately created to be a "cheerfully celibate" character, as Follett was sick of the [[SexIsEvilAndIAmHorny outwardly-chaste but inwardly-smouldering-with-lust monk trope]]. Philip mentions his time as a younger man wracked with burning lust. He's grateful that age has cooled his sexual cravings to almost nothing.

* CelibateHero: Prior Philip is not sexually deviant in any way. In the novel, he talks about his sexual lusts mercifully fading away over time.

* BigBrotherInstinct: Richard is younger than Aliena by a few years, but will unfailingly step forward to defend his sister (even if it ends up with him being beaten or mutilated).

He followed it up with two sequels many years later: ''Literature/WorldWithoutEnd'', which picks up with the characters' descendants in the same village in 1327, and ''A Column of Fire'', beginning in 1558. Also adapted, along with ''Literature/WorldWithoutEnd'', into a popular {{Euro|Game}} BoardGame, and a VideoGame developed by [[Creator/DaedalicEntertainment Daedalic Entertainment]] and were released in 3 parts.

* AristocratsAreEvil: More like the whole aristocracy is an evil system.

** Ellen does not take kindly to the Church.

* CelibateHero: Prior Philip is one of the few monks who's not sexually deviant in any way. In the novel, he talks about his sexual lusts mercifully fading away over time.

* CorruptChurch: The corruption of the church is occasionally shown, both in individual ministers like Waleran Bigod and in the overall system in which ministers like Waleran are raised to the top of the hierarchy.

* UsefulNotes/TheCrusades: Richard is dispatched to the Holy Land.
* DanBrowned: Ken Follett claimed he did a lot of research for this book, but he appears to think medieval labor was capitalist (it was guild-based) and never to have heard about how various religious orders ran orphanages, and taking in neighbor's children was routine (hint: extended families and/or godparents), so there'd be lots of options for that baby one can't care for, apart from [[DeusAngstMachina leaving it on its mother's grave]]. He also repeats the very old, long-discredited idea that Beckett's canonization was a political maneuver. He doesn't understand medieval manorialism (he seems to think rents were owed individually rather than by the village collectively, reading the Post-Reformation landlord system back into the 12th century). Maybe we should amend his claim to, "I researched the architecture."

** Aliena [[ButtMonkey ends up on the horrific side of this several times]] (see BreakTheCutie and BreakTheHaughty above), but the crowning moment has to be [[spoiler:when her brother actually tries to defend her from what modern-day readers would rightfully call DomesticAbuse]]; [[spoiler:Richard killing Alfred is considered murder, since Aliena is Alfred's wife in the eyes of the Church, [[MaritalRapeLicense making her consent a non-issue]].]]

* DidntThinkThisThrough: King Henry sending William as an assassin for Thomas Beckett, a well-loved Archbishop who's remained in good standing with the Catholic Church. The backlash following this leaves Henry at the mercy of the Church and God, and [[spoiler:William at the gallows on the charges of sacrilege]].

* DoorStopper: 973 pages.

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:William receives one courtesy of Tommy, Jack and Aliena’s son, the new Earl of Shiring. William got Jack’s stepfather unemployed twice, killed him in a raid on Kingsbridge, and has been tormenting his family, including Aliena. As the earl, Tommy exercises the right to arrest William on charges of sacrilege after the latter assassinates Thomas Beckett in a church.]]

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: both grand (Maud) and petty (Aliena).

* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:William receives one courtesy of Tommy, Ellen's son with Tom, the new Earl of Shiring. William got his father unemployed twice, killed him in a raid on Kingsbridge, and has been tormenting his family, including his aunt Aliena. As the earl, Tommy exercises the right to arrest William on charges of sacrilege after the latter assassinates Thomas Beckett in a church.]]

* MedievalUniversalLiteracy: Averted, fully literate people are fairly few and far between outside of the clergy, but skilled tradesmen like Tom Builder and his son Alfred can read a few words like their own names and can also read numbers.

* TheAtoner: Brother Johnny, a former outlaw who became a monk after rescuing Jonathan when he was a baby. Later [[spoiler:Brother Remigius]].

* UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet: Dynasty founder Geoffrey Plantagenet was Maud's husband; their son [[UsefulNotes/HenryTheSecond Henry II]] was the first Plantagenet king.