A Morbid Taste for Bones
Encyclopedia
A Morbid Taste for Bones is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters, first published in 1977
. It was adapted for television in 1996
by Central
for ITV
. It is the first novel in the Brother Cadfael series
.
. A Welshman who has been on Crusade and lived as a soldier and seaman before joining the Order of Saint Benedict
in middle life, he is still sometimes regarded with curiosity by some of his brother monks, most of whom have been in the order since childhood and envy his worldly experience.
He has two young monks to assist him in his work; John, who is practical and down-to-earth, and Columbanus, who is ambitious and sanctimonious. At Mass
one evening, Columbanus is taken ill with what some take to be the "falling sickness" (epilepsy
) but which Cadfael reckons to be a hysterical fit. Brother Jerome, clerk to the ambitious Prior Robert, prays over Columbanus during the night and announces the next day that a young woman appeared to him and told him to take Columbanus to St Winefride's Well
in North Wales. When they return, Columbanus is recovered. He in turn says that Saint Winefride
appeared to him and stated that her grave at Gwytherin
in North Wales had long been neglected, and she desired to be interred somewhere more accessible to pilgrims.
Neither Cadfael nor John believe the tales. Prior Robert is known to have been searching for some time for a suitable saint's relics to grace Shrewsbury Abbey. Robert, the lazy Sub-Prior Richard, Jerome and Columbanus prepare to journey to Wales to retrieve Winefride's remains. Cadfael induces Abbot Heribert to send him with them, as a fluent Welsh-speaker will be required, and John, to do the menial work.
The Bishop of Bangor
and Owain Gwynedd
, prince of Gwynedd
, give their assent, and the monks reach Gwytherin, a community stretching for several miles along the Cledwen River. The local priest, Father Huw, is hospitable, but objects to Winefride's remains being removed without first calling an assembly of the free men of the parish. When it is held the next morning, Rhisiart, the most influential landowner in the community, opposes the Saint's removal. Prior Robert makes a misguided attempt to bribe him. Rhisiart storms off, announcing that he is implacably opposed to Robert. The assembly breaks up, with every man agreeing with Rhisiart.
Robert and Jerome take the view that Rhisiart is committing blasphemy, but Father Huw persuades Robert to appeal to Rhisiart for another meeting. Cadfael and John ride with Huw to deliver the message. At the house of Cai, Rhisiart's ploughman, John talks to Annest, the niece of Bened the blacksmith
, and they quickly fall in love despite the difference in language. Rhisiart meanwhile does not change his views, but agrees to meet Prior Robert at Huw's house at noon the next day.
The next morning Robert tells John to make himself useful to the servants and sends Jerome and Columbanus to pray at Winefride's chapel while he, Richard, Cadfael and Huw wait for Rhisiart. Rhisiart does not appear. When he has been missing for some hours, a search is mounted, and he is found dead in some dense woods, apparently shot from in front with a bow and arrow. The arrow bears the mark of Engelard, an Englishman who has fled into Wales to avoid punishment for poaching, and who is in love with Rhisiart's daughter Sioned. When Engelard appears, many locals insist that he had motive to kill Rhisiart. At Robert's insistence, they prepare to take him into custody. On the spur of the moment, Engelard flees, and Brother John impedes the only local man close enough to stop him. Robert furiously orders John to be held for breaking the law of Gwynedd and his own vow of obedience. Since he is to be held at Rhisiart's house, where he will have contact with Annest, John meekly complies.
Cadfael meanwhile realises that Engelard's arrow did not kill Rhisiart. It had rained for an hour about noon. Rhisiart's back, on which he lay, is damp, while his front is dry. Rhisiart was stabbed from behind, by a dagger which penetrated through his body, and fell face down. Some time later, after it rained, someone turned him over and pushed the arrow into the wound from the front. For the moment, Cadfael can only speculate why anyone would do this. Although the monks from Shrewsbury all appear to have alibis for the time of Rhisiart's death, Columbanus confesses the next morning to sleeping rather than praying all the previous day, making Jerome a suspect.
Father Huw tells Robert that his flock have taken Rhisiart's death as an omen and no longer oppose Winefride's removal. Robert declares that he will exhume the remains only after three nights' vigil and prayer. Cadfael takes advantage of the superstition that a corpse will bleed afresh if touched by the murderer (though he does not believe it himself, having seen men who died in battle being handled by those who killed them). At his suggestion, Sioned asks that after each night's prayer, the two who maintained the vigil place their hand upon Rhisiart's heart in token of forgiveness.
On the first morning, Jerome appears to hesitate, but eventually does as Sioned asks. The next night, Robert excuses himself from the vigil on the pretext of relating the recent events to Prince Owain's bailiff. On the third night, Cadfael and Columbanus share the vigil, but Columbanus once again has a fit of religious ecstasy and is carried off unconscious in the morning. He recovers after Mass, and relates that Winefride appeared once again to him and said that Rhisiart should be buried in her grave when she is removed.
They begin digging out Winefride's grave. Cadfael finds the body several feet down, and the monks carefully place it in the coffin brought from Shrewsbury. Prior Robert places wax seals on the coffin to prevent anyone from disturbing the contents. As they prepare to bury Rhisiart in her place, Sioned asks Peredur, another young man who has been in love with her, to place a jewelled cross on the body. Peredur refuses, terrified, and claims that Rhisiart cannot accuse him. He confesses that he found Rhisiart dead and pushed one of Engelard's arrows into the wound, thinking that Engelard would flee into England and thus remove himself as rival for Sioned's hand.
Shocked by these revelations, Peredur's mother Branwen becomes hysterical. Cadfael had previously prepared a flask of a tranquilising syrup derived from poppies, in case of further hysterical fits by Columbanus. He retrieves it from Columbanus's belongings and finds most of it is gone, though enough remains to calm Branwen. He then recalls that on the day of Rhisiart's murder, Columbanus confessed to sleeping while at vigil, but only Jerome drank some of the wine provided for sustenance. Had it been laced with the syrup, Jerome would almost certainly have slept through the vigil, but would have been ashamed to admit it. Cadfael is distracted from this train of thought by the news that the Prince's bailiff is about to take John into custody. When the bailiff arrives at Sioned's dwelling, he is met by Cai, who is wearing a bloodstained bandage and says that John broke free after striking him with a board. Though Robert is displeased, the bailiff, Cai, Bened and Annest all seem rather complacent over the escape.
On the last night before the monks depart, Columbanus, who Sioned and Cadfael reckon is taking the glory of the translation of the saint for himself, offers to mount another solitary vigil. As he believes himself to be unobserved, he composes himself to sleep. He is awakened by the vision of a young woman demanding to know why he murdered Rhisiart, her champion. Unnerved, Columbanus confesses and begs forgiveness from the saint, saying that the deed was for her glory. As she calls him a liar, Columbanus realises that the "saint" is actually Sioned, and slashes at her with a knife, inflicting only a graze, before fleeing. Cadfael and Engelard tackle him outside the chapel. Seeing Sioned bleeding from her wounds, an enraged Engelard hurls Columbanus to the ground hard enough to break his neck.
Faced with this unexpected development, Cadfael recalls Sioned's inspired words about Rhisiart being her champion. He, Engelard, and Sioned quickly undress Columbanus, open St. Winifrede's coffin, replace the remains of the saint in her grave above Rhisiart's body, and place Columbanus's naked body in the coffin. Cadfael uses his knowledge of seals (and, more importantly, how to inconspicuously break them) to give the appearance that the coffin remained undisturbed. The three then prepare the chapel for discovery in the morning.
The next morning, Columbanus's shirt and habit are found empty on the floor of the chapel. Hawthorn petals are scattered around them. Though some wonder whether Columbanus has gone mad and is wandering naked, Robert proclaims that Columbanus's prayers to be taken from the world into a state of grace have been answered. The villagers help load the saint's suspiciously heavy coffin aboard a cart without any outward sign that anything is wrong, yet Cadfael suspects that every one of them knows what happened during the night. As they leave Gwytherin, John can be seen (by Cadfael) bidding them farewell.
Two years later, Bened, the smith from Gwytherin, calls at Shrewsbury Abbey while on a pilgrimage to Walsingham
. He tells Cadfael that John and Annest are married, and John will become the smith after Bened. Sioned and Engelard are also married, and have christened their first child Cadfael. To Robert's chagrin, he relates that what Robert fondly imagines to be Saint Winefride's former resting place in Gwytherin is the scene of many pilgrimages and miraculous cures, when the ornate tomb in the Abbey is treated with indifference by pilgrims and apparently the saint herself. Cadfael is left musing that the saint is unlikely to object to sharing a grave with Rhisiart.
, the tenth book in the series, and in that book he finally concludes that his actions are vindicated when he witnesses a miraculous healing at Winifrede's shrine in Shrewsbury Abbey. In The Holy Thief
, St. Winifrede's coffin is stolen from the Abbey, and Cadfael lives in fear that the coffin will be opened and the deception discovered; he is much relieved when the coffin is eventually returned intact.
. A finger bone found its way to Rome
, and was returned to England in 1852. On the strength of Winefride's relics, Shrewsbury Abbey became second as a place of pilgrimage only to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket
in Canterbury Cathedral
.
Welsh village society (as in Gwytherin) and the terms of customary service are described. Foreigners (alltudau, or exiles) such as Engelard, with no place in the community guaranteed by family ties, may enter a form of indentured servitude. Unlike villeinage as in England, this may be terminated by the servant dividing his chattels with the master who gave him the opportunity of owning them.
The television episode makes some changes, including secondary characters and proper names. Brother John and Annest are not included, leaving only one set of young lovers for the viewer to follow. The tension between the Welsh villagers and the English monastics is played up considerably, and the acquisition of St. Winifrede is made more dangerous thereby. To that end, the naive and charming Father Huw is recharacterised as the suspicious and rather grubby Father Ianto, who opposes the saint's removal and castigates the monks for haggling over her bones as if she were a bone at a butcher's stall. Bened the smith, while retaining his name, also loses much of his openhearted good nature, being both a suspicious rival of Rhisiart's and a vehement accuser of the monks themselves.
In the climax of the adaptation, Brother Columbanus' confession is drawn out by less supernatural means than in the novel. Instead of being hoodwinked by Sioned in the dark, Columbanus confesses to a fevered figure of his own imagination. He is egged on to this by Cadfael, who pretends to see a figure of light bearing down upon them as they keep their vigil in St. Winifrede's church. Sioned's part is to stay hidden as a witness, but when Columbanus relates with what joy he struck down her father in the saint's name, Sioned loses control and flies at him, with disastrous consequences as Columbanus realizes that he has been tricked. Sioned's lover, renamed from Engelard to Godwin, appears to defend Sioned, and Colombanus's accidental death occurs as in the novel. However, Columbanus' own motives are a good deal more ambiguous in the television adaptation. He innocently denies any ambition on his own part to be "the youngest head under a mitre," and his actions appear to stem from religious fervor and criminal insanity, rather than from a cold, calculated pass at fame. Otherwise, the episode remains primarily faithful to the text, with the necessary exception of being well into Abbott Radulfus' tenure at the abbey, instead of introducing the series.
The "Cadfael" series eventually extended to thirteen episodes, all of which starred Sir Derek Jacobi as the sleuthing monk. The series was filmed mostly in Hungary.
1977 in literature
The year 1977 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Douglas Adams begins writing for BBC radio.*V. S. Naipaul declines the offer of a CBE....
. It was adapted for television in 1996
1996 in television
The year 1996 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1996.For the American TV schedule, see: 1996-97 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1950s:...
by Central
Central Independent Television
Central Independent Television, more commonly known as Central is the Independent Television contractor for the Midlands, created following the restructuring of ATV and commencing broadcast on 1 January 1982. The station is owned and operated by ITV plc, under the licensee of ITV Broadcasting...
for ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
. It is the first novel in the Brother Cadfael series
The Cadfael Chronicles
The Cadfael Chronicles is a series of historical murder mysteries written by the linguist-scholar Edith Pargeter under the name "Ellis Peters"....
.
Plot summary
The book is set in 1137. Brother Cadfael is introduced, contentedly working in the herb gardens of Shrewsbury AbbeyShrewsbury Abbey
The Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, commonly known as Shrewsbury Abbey, was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1083 by the Norman Earl of Shrewsbury, Roger de Montgomery, in Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire, England.-Background:...
. A Welshman who has been on Crusade and lived as a soldier and seaman before joining the Order of Saint Benedict
Order of Saint Benedict
The Order of Saint Benedict is a Roman Catholic religious order of independent monastic communities that observe the Rule of St. Benedict. Within the order, each individual community maintains its own autonomy, while the organization as a whole exists to represent their mutual interests...
in middle life, he is still sometimes regarded with curiosity by some of his brother monks, most of whom have been in the order since childhood and envy his worldly experience.
He has two young monks to assist him in his work; John, who is practical and down-to-earth, and Columbanus, who is ambitious and sanctimonious. At Mass
Mass (liturgy)
"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...
one evening, Columbanus is taken ill with what some take to be the "falling sickness" (epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
) but which Cadfael reckons to be a hysterical fit. Brother Jerome, clerk to the ambitious Prior Robert, prays over Columbanus during the night and announces the next day that a young woman appeared to him and told him to take Columbanus to St Winefride's Well
St Winefride's Well
St Winefride's Well is a holy well located in Holywell, in Flintshire in North Wales. It is the oldest continually visited pilgrimage site in Great Britain....
in North Wales. When they return, Columbanus is recovered. He in turn says that Saint Winefride
Winefride
thumb|right|300px|St Winifred's Well, [[Woolston, north Shropshire|Woolston]], ShropshireSaint Winefride was a legendary 7th-century Welsh noblewoman who was canonized after dying for the sake of her chastity...
appeared to him and stated that her grave at Gwytherin
Gwytherin
Gwytherin is a village in Conwy county borough, Wales. The church is dedicated to Saint Winefride.Gwytherin is a peaceful and picturesque little village in a small valley through which the River Cledwen flows...
in North Wales had long been neglected, and she desired to be interred somewhere more accessible to pilgrims.
Neither Cadfael nor John believe the tales. Prior Robert is known to have been searching for some time for a suitable saint's relics to grace Shrewsbury Abbey. Robert, the lazy Sub-Prior Richard, Jerome and Columbanus prepare to journey to Wales to retrieve Winefride's remains. Cadfael induces Abbot Heribert to send him with them, as a fluent Welsh-speaker will be required, and John, to do the menial work.
The Bishop of Bangor
Bishop of Bangor
The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire...
and Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd
Owain Gwynedd ap Gruffydd , in English also known as Owen the Great, was King of Gwynedd from 1137 until his death in 1170. He is occasionally referred to as "Owain I of Gwynedd"; and as "Owain I of Wales" on account of his claim to be King of Wales. He is considered to be the most successful of...
, prince of Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
, give their assent, and the monks reach Gwytherin, a community stretching for several miles along the Cledwen River. The local priest, Father Huw, is hospitable, but objects to Winefride's remains being removed without first calling an assembly of the free men of the parish. When it is held the next morning, Rhisiart, the most influential landowner in the community, opposes the Saint's removal. Prior Robert makes a misguided attempt to bribe him. Rhisiart storms off, announcing that he is implacably opposed to Robert. The assembly breaks up, with every man agreeing with Rhisiart.
Robert and Jerome take the view that Rhisiart is committing blasphemy, but Father Huw persuades Robert to appeal to Rhisiart for another meeting. Cadfael and John ride with Huw to deliver the message. At the house of Cai, Rhisiart's ploughman, John talks to Annest, the niece of Bened the blacksmith
Blacksmith
A blacksmith is a person who creates objects from wrought iron or steel by forging the metal; that is, by using tools to hammer, bend, and cut...
, and they quickly fall in love despite the difference in language. Rhisiart meanwhile does not change his views, but agrees to meet Prior Robert at Huw's house at noon the next day.
The next morning Robert tells John to make himself useful to the servants and sends Jerome and Columbanus to pray at Winefride's chapel while he, Richard, Cadfael and Huw wait for Rhisiart. Rhisiart does not appear. When he has been missing for some hours, a search is mounted, and he is found dead in some dense woods, apparently shot from in front with a bow and arrow. The arrow bears the mark of Engelard, an Englishman who has fled into Wales to avoid punishment for poaching, and who is in love with Rhisiart's daughter Sioned. When Engelard appears, many locals insist that he had motive to kill Rhisiart. At Robert's insistence, they prepare to take him into custody. On the spur of the moment, Engelard flees, and Brother John impedes the only local man close enough to stop him. Robert furiously orders John to be held for breaking the law of Gwynedd and his own vow of obedience. Since he is to be held at Rhisiart's house, where he will have contact with Annest, John meekly complies.
Cadfael meanwhile realises that Engelard's arrow did not kill Rhisiart. It had rained for an hour about noon. Rhisiart's back, on which he lay, is damp, while his front is dry. Rhisiart was stabbed from behind, by a dagger which penetrated through his body, and fell face down. Some time later, after it rained, someone turned him over and pushed the arrow into the wound from the front. For the moment, Cadfael can only speculate why anyone would do this. Although the monks from Shrewsbury all appear to have alibis for the time of Rhisiart's death, Columbanus confesses the next morning to sleeping rather than praying all the previous day, making Jerome a suspect.
Father Huw tells Robert that his flock have taken Rhisiart's death as an omen and no longer oppose Winefride's removal. Robert declares that he will exhume the remains only after three nights' vigil and prayer. Cadfael takes advantage of the superstition that a corpse will bleed afresh if touched by the murderer (though he does not believe it himself, having seen men who died in battle being handled by those who killed them). At his suggestion, Sioned asks that after each night's prayer, the two who maintained the vigil place their hand upon Rhisiart's heart in token of forgiveness.
On the first morning, Jerome appears to hesitate, but eventually does as Sioned asks. The next night, Robert excuses himself from the vigil on the pretext of relating the recent events to Prince Owain's bailiff. On the third night, Cadfael and Columbanus share the vigil, but Columbanus once again has a fit of religious ecstasy and is carried off unconscious in the morning. He recovers after Mass, and relates that Winefride appeared once again to him and said that Rhisiart should be buried in her grave when she is removed.
They begin digging out Winefride's grave. Cadfael finds the body several feet down, and the monks carefully place it in the coffin brought from Shrewsbury. Prior Robert places wax seals on the coffin to prevent anyone from disturbing the contents. As they prepare to bury Rhisiart in her place, Sioned asks Peredur, another young man who has been in love with her, to place a jewelled cross on the body. Peredur refuses, terrified, and claims that Rhisiart cannot accuse him. He confesses that he found Rhisiart dead and pushed one of Engelard's arrows into the wound, thinking that Engelard would flee into England and thus remove himself as rival for Sioned's hand.
Shocked by these revelations, Peredur's mother Branwen becomes hysterical. Cadfael had previously prepared a flask of a tranquilising syrup derived from poppies, in case of further hysterical fits by Columbanus. He retrieves it from Columbanus's belongings and finds most of it is gone, though enough remains to calm Branwen. He then recalls that on the day of Rhisiart's murder, Columbanus confessed to sleeping while at vigil, but only Jerome drank some of the wine provided for sustenance. Had it been laced with the syrup, Jerome would almost certainly have slept through the vigil, but would have been ashamed to admit it. Cadfael is distracted from this train of thought by the news that the Prince's bailiff is about to take John into custody. When the bailiff arrives at Sioned's dwelling, he is met by Cai, who is wearing a bloodstained bandage and says that John broke free after striking him with a board. Though Robert is displeased, the bailiff, Cai, Bened and Annest all seem rather complacent over the escape.
On the last night before the monks depart, Columbanus, who Sioned and Cadfael reckon is taking the glory of the translation of the saint for himself, offers to mount another solitary vigil. As he believes himself to be unobserved, he composes himself to sleep. He is awakened by the vision of a young woman demanding to know why he murdered Rhisiart, her champion. Unnerved, Columbanus confesses and begs forgiveness from the saint, saying that the deed was for her glory. As she calls him a liar, Columbanus realises that the "saint" is actually Sioned, and slashes at her with a knife, inflicting only a graze, before fleeing. Cadfael and Engelard tackle him outside the chapel. Seeing Sioned bleeding from her wounds, an enraged Engelard hurls Columbanus to the ground hard enough to break his neck.
Faced with this unexpected development, Cadfael recalls Sioned's inspired words about Rhisiart being her champion. He, Engelard, and Sioned quickly undress Columbanus, open St. Winifrede's coffin, replace the remains of the saint in her grave above Rhisiart's body, and place Columbanus's naked body in the coffin. Cadfael uses his knowledge of seals (and, more importantly, how to inconspicuously break them) to give the appearance that the coffin remained undisturbed. The three then prepare the chapel for discovery in the morning.
The next morning, Columbanus's shirt and habit are found empty on the floor of the chapel. Hawthorn petals are scattered around them. Though some wonder whether Columbanus has gone mad and is wandering naked, Robert proclaims that Columbanus's prayers to be taken from the world into a state of grace have been answered. The villagers help load the saint's suspiciously heavy coffin aboard a cart without any outward sign that anything is wrong, yet Cadfael suspects that every one of them knows what happened during the night. As they leave Gwytherin, John can be seen (by Cadfael) bidding them farewell.
Two years later, Bened, the smith from Gwytherin, calls at Shrewsbury Abbey while on a pilgrimage to Walsingham
Walsingham
Walsingham is a village in the English county of Norfolk. The village is famed for its religious shrines in honour of the Virgin Mary and as a major pilgrimage centre...
. He tells Cadfael that John and Annest are married, and John will become the smith after Bened. Sioned and Engelard are also married, and have christened their first child Cadfael. To Robert's chagrin, he relates that what Robert fondly imagines to be Saint Winefride's former resting place in Gwytherin is the scene of many pilgrimages and miraculous cures, when the ornate tomb in the Abbey is treated with indifference by pilgrims and apparently the saint herself. Cadfael is left musing that the saint is unlikely to object to sharing a grave with Rhisiart.
Links with other works
St. Winifrede and her shrine are mentioned in most of the subsequent books, and Cadfael often prays to her or talks to her in Welsh. For much of the series, Cadfael is only partly sure that he acted correctly when dealing with the saint's relics. He admits his actions to his friend, Deputy Sheriff Hugh Beringar, in The Pilgrim of HateThe Pilgrim of Hate
The Pilgrim of Hate is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters. It is the tenth in the Brother Cadfael series, and was first published in 1984.- Plot Summary :...
, the tenth book in the series, and in that book he finally concludes that his actions are vindicated when he witnesses a miraculous healing at Winifrede's shrine in Shrewsbury Abbey. In The Holy Thief
The Holy Thief
The Holy Thief is a Historical whodunnit by Ellis Peters. It is the 19th and penultimate volume of the Brother Cadfael series, and, like the others, is set in England during The Anarchy.-Plot:...
, St. Winifrede's coffin is stolen from the Abbey, and Cadfael lives in fear that the coffin will be opened and the deception discovered; he is much relieved when the coffin is eventually returned intact.
Background and setting
The book mixes fictional with real people and events. Abbot Heribert and Prior Robert Pennant were indeed officers of Shrewsbury Abbey in 1137, and Prior Robert wrote a history of the translation of Saint Winefride to the Abbey. As a matter of fact, the saint's relics remained at the Abbey until its dissolution in 1540 during the reign of Henry VIIIHenry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
. A finger bone found its way to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and was returned to England in 1852. On the strength of Winefride's relics, Shrewsbury Abbey became second as a place of pilgrimage only to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170. He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion...
in Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
.
Welsh village society (as in Gwytherin) and the terms of customary service are described. Foreigners (alltudau, or exiles) such as Engelard, with no place in the community guaranteed by family ties, may enter a form of indentured servitude. Unlike villeinage as in England, this may be terminated by the servant dividing his chattels with the master who gave him the opportunity of owning them.
Television adaptation
A Morbid Taste for Bones was the seventh Cadfael book to be adapted for television, very much out of sequence, by Carlton Media for distribution world wide. It was first shown in the UK on 26 July, 1996. The episode starred Sir Derek Jacobi as Brother Cadfael, Michael Culver as Prior Robert, and Anna Friel as Sioned.The television episode makes some changes, including secondary characters and proper names. Brother John and Annest are not included, leaving only one set of young lovers for the viewer to follow. The tension between the Welsh villagers and the English monastics is played up considerably, and the acquisition of St. Winifrede is made more dangerous thereby. To that end, the naive and charming Father Huw is recharacterised as the suspicious and rather grubby Father Ianto, who opposes the saint's removal and castigates the monks for haggling over her bones as if she were a bone at a butcher's stall. Bened the smith, while retaining his name, also loses much of his openhearted good nature, being both a suspicious rival of Rhisiart's and a vehement accuser of the monks themselves.
In the climax of the adaptation, Brother Columbanus' confession is drawn out by less supernatural means than in the novel. Instead of being hoodwinked by Sioned in the dark, Columbanus confesses to a fevered figure of his own imagination. He is egged on to this by Cadfael, who pretends to see a figure of light bearing down upon them as they keep their vigil in St. Winifrede's church. Sioned's part is to stay hidden as a witness, but when Columbanus relates with what joy he struck down her father in the saint's name, Sioned loses control and flies at him, with disastrous consequences as Columbanus realizes that he has been tricked. Sioned's lover, renamed from Engelard to Godwin, appears to defend Sioned, and Colombanus's accidental death occurs as in the novel. However, Columbanus' own motives are a good deal more ambiguous in the television adaptation. He innocently denies any ambition on his own part to be "the youngest head under a mitre," and his actions appear to stem from religious fervor and criminal insanity, rather than from a cold, calculated pass at fame. Otherwise, the episode remains primarily faithful to the text, with the necessary exception of being well into Abbott Radulfus' tenure at the abbey, instead of introducing the series.
The "Cadfael" series eventually extended to thirteen episodes, all of which starred Sir Derek Jacobi as the sleuthing monk. The series was filmed mostly in Hungary.