Monks Behaving Badly

When Ken Follett wrote the page-turner novel The Pillars of the Earth thirty-odd years ago I had to read it because it was about a twelfth century monk who was driven to build a magnificent cathedral. Because of my art history background I am something of a church architecture nerd. Pillars was entertaining and educational, but the church and its leaders were not treated kindly. Follett's best-seller begot a  cathedral trilogy and it seemed that the wickedness of clergy was ramped up as the series progressed and I actually abandoned the second novel partway through because of it.

Last Fall a fourth book, a prequel of sorts called The Evening and the Morning was published, set a couple of centuries earlier than the others. I decided to give it a chance when I saw it was available through the library. I made it through perhaps forty pages before deciding I'd had enough because a central clergy character was portrayed as almost cartoonishly villainous from the get-go. Why is this necessary?

The reality is that there was corruption and nefarious allegiance with power by the church of that era and others. It's why there were reform movements in monastic orders along the way, and the reason a monk named Martin Luther reluctantly broke with the Roman Catholic church. 

Just the same, monastic orders made tremendous contributions to science, including medicine during the Medieval period, as well as astronomy and the arts. Their contributions to advancements in brewing and distilling were impressive as well. And blessed are the cheesemakers!

Yet  priests, monks and nuns are rarely portrayed in a positive light in novels about this era. To be fair to Follett, I've read other series which follow the same path. I suppose it heightens the entertainment, but it isn't fair to those who were faithful servants of Christ and all who were leaders in their fields of endeavour because of their faith. 

Ah well, thank God for the library and the freedom to close the cover on what seems inaccurate or unfair. There are always the Brother Cadfael novels for those who would prefer a monk who has integrity and the smarts to solve crimes.