The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett

Lord William's role had low mercy for Tom and his family (Tom had to trick the Lord into paying him a couple of weeks' severance pay). So the mightiness of the monarchy appears absolute and supreme, barely this changes.

After Tom meets Ellen, he finds that, because Ellen was raised in a convent, she learned to read, write and draw and is far more educated than his own children, who, as offspring of a craftsperson, have a better position in society than an "outlaw." Many of the functional people in England could not read and therefore piece organizing or writing laws which index benefit them difficult. In contrast, perform figures, such as monks, priests and nuns, were educated, just like the members of the royal family and the aristocracy. The perform wielded power as an unofficial educational institution (and, as the story afterward reveals, eve as an ad hoc designator of topical anesthetic police officers).,

The influence of church leaders is shown through the character of Philip, an orphan who rises a position of power within the church. Philip's parents were killed by King Henry's army. Monasteries acted as unofficial orphanages. Sometimes, if a family had many sons, govern five, the youngest would be given to the church, along with a farm, church, or even a whole village as payment for aerodynamic lift him to become

Lord Hamleigh's motives for battle were revealed later to Philip by monk Cuthbert. Apparently King Stephen supported the church, and, therefore, Hamleigh (a long-time semipolitical ally of Waleran) would defend Stephen. Had Hamleigh not defended King Stephen, then Stephen might have been overthrown by the Earl Bartholomew's men, and Empress Maud would have taken over practice from the dethroned king. As Cuthbert explained it, Empress Maud was not in favor of the church increase its power in England, and she would have taken back grave land holdings, reconveying them to the crown, thereby decreasing the political power of the church (220-221).

This shows a delicate balance of power between the rule aristocracy and the royalty, and, without the backing of the church, a royal leader was probably to be overthrown. In this respect, the church, indirectly, had just as much power as the sovereign. Later, the king would appoint Hamleigh the Earl of Shiring, and Earl Bartholomew's two children were left poor now that their father, the former earl, was jailed (378-379).

The church was organized much like the hierarchy of a modern army. Monks were ruled by priors, who were overseen by abbotts, who answered to bishops and an archbishop. Ultimately, the archbishop reported to the King of England, but, as the book demonstrates, a power struggle was ongoing between the bishops and those members of the church who were eagre to increase their power and the power of the church through its holdings of land, leases, castles, instalings, and congenital resources (i.e., the right to harvest timber or rocks needed to build a church from quarries (325-330)), which were owned by the King.

The church had pecuniary problems, as illustrated by the microcosm of Philip's experience in his priory. While Philip knew that the real estate holdings of the prior were vast and that the acreage which it controlled, at least(prenominal) in practice, was substantial, the prior was sti
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