The Pillars of the Earth

Aliena and Richard escape from William and his henchman, grab a few weapons and provisions, steal the Hamleigh’s warhorses, and ride towards Winchester. On the way, they are robbed of their horses. Near Winchester, a man tries to rob them of their weapons, and they kill him, which is a new experience for the noble-born children. They stay at the monastery for the next two nights. They learn that the king is not there to be petitioned, and that their father is being held in a nearby jail. They search for jobs to pay the jailor a bribe to see their father, but their noble breeding makes them unsuited for most work. A wool merchant named Meg takes pity on them, feeds them, and pays their bribe. Bartholemew is dying in his prison cell; he informs them that he left some money with a priest, and that the children should travel to Huntleigh, to stay with their Aunt Edith. He makes them swear an oath that “you will not rest until you are earl of Shiring and lord of all the lands I ruled” (381).

The corrupt priest parts with the former earl’s money only under threat of violence, a last resort of which Aliena finds herself increasingly adept. Only a small portion of it remains. Traveling by foot to Huntleigh, they discover that Aunt Edith has died, and that their uncle, a knight named Simon, has been impoverished by the tumbling fortunes of the family. He turns them away. 

Aliena comes up with a new plan to gather wool along the road back to Winchester and sell it to Meg at a profit. When she returns, however, Meg is gone, and the merchants who remain in town will not give her a fair price. At this point, Philip steps in and offers her not only a fair price, but the promise of continued enterprise in Kingsbridge.

A year passes. Tom begins a survey of the Shiring quarry to find Hamleigh’s men already working there under armed protection. Tom and his men are unarmed, and though they have a legal right to the quarry, they are turned away. 

Later, Phillip returns to the quarry with more than 40 monks. They frighten off the armed guards. Philip then works out a deal with the Hamleigh’s quarrymen to hire them all under his own employ. This decision complicates his planning, as he will have an excess of quarrymen but will not be able to hire masons to assemble the collected quarry. He also has a group of undisciplined and resentful workers led by a quarryman named Harold, as well as Tom’s quarryman Otto.

Walerian schemes with the Hamleighs to undermine Philip and proposes a political campaign to move Philip’s priory to Shiring. Such a move would secure Walerian’s power and bring wealth to the Hamleigh’s stolen earldom. Once again, this scheme comes down to winning the favor of Bishop Henry, who is looking forward to a promotion to the recently leaderless Canterbury cathedral. Walerian plans to give Henry a tour of Philip’s poor and ramshackle priory in order to undermine the less-powerful prior’s authority.

Philip is prewarned about Walerian’s plans and hatches his own to make the priory look more industrious than it is by absolving the sins of his congregation for a half day’s labor. His plan succeeds, and hundreds of laborers show up on the day of Henry’s tour. Henry is impressed by Philip’s ingenuity and by Tom’s knowledge of building, and Walerian’s plan is foiled.

Among the volunteers is Aliena and her brother. Their wool-gathering business has been successful due to Philip’s generosity, and she feels duty-bound to pitch in. William Hamleigh spitefully surveys Kingsbridge, comparing it to Shiring’s own lackluster economic standing. Ellen returns from exile and commits to marrying Tom, who promises to take her son Jack as an apprentice. Jack is enthusiastic about seeing Aliena again, and though she wants nothing to do with him, he decides he is in love.