World Without End

At the Wooler house that night, Buonaventura announces that he will switch to Shiring’s market because it has made more investments that traders need. Edmund takes Caris, Merthin, and Buonaventura to see Prior Anthony (also Edmund’s brother) about upgrading the market and bridge to keep important traders coming back. Caris cleverly suggests they build a new bridge using funds from the tolls that the priory usually claims. Merthin promises he can build a bridge by the upcoming December using innovative methods. Anthony cannot believe Caris figures out such a plan for herself, because she is a woman, so he rejects the idea. Caris is puzzled by how downcast Merthin is.

Earl Roland of Shiring brings Lady Phillipa (his wife) and his household to Kingsbridge. Ralph, now a squire eager to gain more power and the attention of the aloof Phillipa, is with them. During the visit, Ralph gropes Annet, daughter of a prosperous peasant family in Wigleigh. His actions lead to a fight during which Wulfric, Annet’s fiancé, punches Ralph and breaks his nose. Phillipa intervenes to protect Wulfric from punishment. Squires are never held accountable for their bad actions because they have the backing of powerful lords, so Ralph feels deeply humiliated that a person of lesser status like Wulfric has gotten the better of him.

Godwyn and Holger (now a novice called “Philemon”) discover Richard of Shiring having sex with Margery, a young kinswoman of the earl who is engaged to be married to someone else. Godwyn and Philemon observe the couple through a peephole that Philemon, already known as a sneak, created to spy on people lodging at Kingsbridge. Godwyn makes a show of accidently discovering the couple as they have sex. He promises not to tell anyone, but he actually plans to use this knowledge to force Richard to support him as he attempts to ascend the church hierarchy. Godwyn wants power and to reform the church. He needs Anthony out of the way, however, to become prior. His central reform will be barring women, especially nuns, from mingling with the monks. This plan, which he conceives with his mother, will also diminish the financial power the nunnery has over the monastery by undercutting Cecilia’s authority.

Merthin embellishes a repaired door in the church with a beautiful carving of virgins, making Elfric jealous. When he returns to the Builder house, Elfric and Alice (now Elfric’s wife) accuse him of coercing Griselda into sex, leaving her pregnant. Elfric beats up Merthin, takes the expensive tools masters traditionally give to their apprentices, and ends Merthin’s apprenticeship. Elfric later destroys the new door.

Gwenda has grown to be a young woman, and she is in love with Wulfric. She accompanies Caris to the home of Mattie Wise, a wise woman (herbalist and midwife), to get a love potion that will help her gain Wulfric’s affection. Caris buys the potion for her. Gwenda’s plan to give Wulfric to the potion fails when Joby sells her to one Sim, an unsavory man, for a cow. Over the objection of a townswoman, the constable and Godwyn decide the sale is legal. Sam takes her away from town and to the hideout of a gang of outlaws who plan to exploit Gwenda sexually. The men are too tired to rape her that night, however.

Gwenda kills Alwyn, the man set to guard her, when he tries to rape her. Sim pursues her all the way to town when she runs away. The town of Kingsbridge is abuzz with the condemnation of Crazy Nell, a woman who likely has a psychological illness, for heresy and witchcraft. Her main persecutor is Murdo, a corrupt Benedictine friar. Caris is the only person willing to defend Nell when people superstitiously blame Nell for any random bad thing that has happened in their lives.

The town is also in a tumult because the king is raising taxes on their trade to fund a war with France. Meanwhile, Ralph intimates to William, son of Roland, that he knows a secret about Thomas. Ralph hopes to advance from being a squire using this information, but William refuses to give him what he wants. Merthin tells Caris about the to-do with Griselda.

All of these events converge when Nell, condemned to death, is whipped across the bridge. The earl, Father Anthony, Bishop Richard, Ralph, and many important people are on the bridge when it collapses.

Several things happen with the collapse. Sim and Gwenda are on the bridge. She uses the confusion in the aftermath of the collapse to drown Sim. Anthony dies after near-drowning, leaving the prior’s office open. Caris, meanwhile, organizes the rescue and triage efforts until Mother Cecilia and more experienced hands arrive. Ralph rescues Roland, who has a head injury that leaves part of his skull pressed into his brain. The earl is transported to the hospital at the priory, where—over the objection of the monks—Mathew Barber performs cranial surgery on him. Matthew gives a nod to the religious beliefs of the time by asking the monks to put relics around the earl to protect him, but he also tells those gathered to leave the earl undisturbed for 10 days.