Ellis Peters' Brother Cadfael
The Murder-Solving Medieval Monk from Shrewsbury
Ellis Peters' detective novels created the sleuthing monk Brother Cadfael, who has since been played by Derek Jacobi in the BBC adaptations.
Brother Cadfael has the distinction of being one of the most famous monks in fiction, and his medieval crime-solving activities have featured in twenty novels by Ellis Peters, bringing worldwide fame to his home abbey of Shrewsbury.
A Morbid Taste for Bones
The Benedictine detective first featured in the 1977 mystery novel A Morbid Taste for Bones and finished his career in 1994’s Brother Cadfael’s Penance. Though Cadfael is already a monk by the time the first novel introduces him, he has already had an active career before taking the tonsure. He spent the first fifty or so years of his life as a soldier, much of it in the Crusades to the Holy Land, so his experience of violence and bloodshed is not simply confined to the cowl-and-dagger intrigues of Shrewsbury. He has also experienced the company of women more than his brother monks, and even fathered a son by one of his past lovers, who turns up expectedly during one of his cases. Despite their hero’s rather violent and roistering past, the Cadfael books are traditional “cosy” whodunnits, which tend to take a gentle and optimistic look at human nature.
Clues and Cures
Brother Cadfael’s principle duties in the monastery are those of a herbalist, mixing up medicines and poultices for the brothers and for the needy of the town. This occupation provides him with an insider’s knowledge of the various kinds of poison, which stands him in good stead during his cases. Like many other fictional sleuths, Cadfael pays close attentions to details which other people miss. His friend Hugh Beringar, an officer in charge of maintaining law and order for the King in Shrewsbury, retains an affectionate regard for Cadfael, despite the monk’s tendency to involve himself in criminal cases.
King and Empress
The Cadfael novels take place during the twelfth century, whilst a civil war was raging in England between King Stephen and the Empress Maud, rival claimants to the throne. This upheaval often provides the occasion of a mystery, such as The Holy Thief or One Corpse Too Many, and medieval politics are often discussed as a background to the stories, though they tend to fade away quickly when the murder investigation begins.
Brother Cadfael was brought to a wider public when the BBC made a series of extremely successful TV adaptations of some of the novels, starring the veteran classical actor Derek Jacobi. The sympathetic and shrewd character which Jacobi brought to the screen remains the defining image of Cadfael for many people.
