The Cloister and the Hearth

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The Cloister and the Hearth', by Charles Reade, was published in 1861. It's a long and winding picaresque novel set in 15th century Europe, telling the story of the love between Gerard Eliason, an artist turned priest, and Margaret Brandt, the daughter of a poor scholar, and reflects the conflict between family and church which overshadowed the lives of so many in medieval times. Its uniqueness lies in the way Reade, having meticulously researched his subject and the period, gives us insights more detailed than any other writer of fiction into medieval lifestyles and morals, combined with vivid descriptions of his characters – many based on real historical figures – and locations. He deliberately strays towards a medieval writing style, with many an archaic word to tantalise the reader or listener (an education in itself). Until well into the twentieth century, ‘The Cloister and the Hearth’ was considered one of the greatest novels in the English language. Its popularity may have faded, but those who have read it will tell you of the enduring power of Reade’s tour de force. A revival is long overdue, and is deserved: it’s an exceptional book. - Summary by Tom Denholm

being on the road with Gerard. I love a good Chaucerian journey with changing travelling companions, dangers and tales shared between the characters.Mercy! What's this? A gibbet! and ugh, two skeletons thereon! Oh Denys, what a sorry sight to woo by!" "Nay, said Denys, "a comfortable sight; for every rogue i' the air there is one the less a-foot." Gerard is a tiresome hero. He foregoes his monastic vocation at the beginning, but he never loses his monkish personality. His virtuous and priggish manner does not make him endearing. In the book’s only piercing moment of psychological insight, he responds to news of Margaret’s possible death by descending into a life of hedonism and easily indulging in all the vices that he once deplored. The prude is generally one step away from the rake, and this proves so here, at least briefly.

It is said that speech is the familiar vent of human thoughts, but Life is an intermittent fever, and there are emotions so simple and overpowering that they rush out not in words, but eloquent sounds. In the longer journey of it, there are days that come by with passions and perils, by fits and starts, and as it were, in clusters. And yes, I would candidly confess, this novel also made me sob single-mindedly. It is indeed a glorious book, it has all, all in all together, and especially vivid unforgettable adventures, marvellous occurrences, that can hardly be ever dismissed from human’s fancy :) I am surely one of his greatest fans now! What is more, few medieval stories do not contain aristocrats, soldiers, servants, fair maidens and clergymen. To call these clichés or tropes is almost to underestimate the importance of these fictional conventions. They are the only story of the age. They are almost literally present in any tale about medieval times, no matter who the writer or artist is.

CHAPTER XXX

THERE IS AN ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WITH LINKED TABLE OF CONTENTS WHICH MAY VIEWED AT EBOOK The big kerfuffle about flebotomy. An interesting topic that Reade must have been just waiting to give a platform to. Denys fights with Gerard about the efficacy of the procedure for a good while. there was the dwarf, slit and fanged from ear to ear at his expense, and laughing like a lion. (think Victor Hugo 'The Man Who Laughs' and in turn think The Joker from Batman stories)

Doyle compliments the quantity of minute detail giving the feeling of daily life in the 1500s, from a clean Dutch home to a slovenly medieval German Inn to conflicted pre-Renaissance Rome. He incidentally mentions clothing, hobbies, morals, attitudes, and popular outlook at the end of the Middle Ages. On the downside he mentions There were always priests, monks and other clergy to be found, and they were either ascetic or corrupt – rarely anything inbetween. Women could be lewd, shrewish, strong-minded or virginal, but essentially dependent on their menfolk. Taverns and prostitutes were a-plenty. Aristocrats were noble or dishonest, not much else. Poor people were subservient and loyal. Opening Chapter 1: Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows. Of these obscure heroes, philosophers, and martyrs, the greater part will never be known till that hour, when many that are great shall be small, and the small great; but of others the world's knowledge may be said to sleep: their lives and characters lie hidden from nations in the annals that record them. The general reader cannot feel them, they are presented so curtly and coldly: they are not like breathing stories appealing to his heart, but little historic hail-stones striking him but to glance off his bosom: nor can he understand them; for epitomes are not narratives, as skeletons are not human figures. Fourthly, the young man Gerard as the chief hero is from start different than the rest, in his family, but also amongst strangers. He was going into the Church, despite the fact that his own’s habits were frivolous, in the sense that his trivialities, whereas he easily got advanced in learning and skills, were reading and penmanship, also coquetting a bit with drawing and fine art. Moreover, as the story develops, it turns out that the young man Gerard is a prodigy of Don Quixote, in a sort of parallel. He is fighting all kinds of robbers, thieves, even wild animals, and it gets out of it victorious. I am still remembering the scene with the wind-mill, where Gerard managed to keep at distance all those ill men, and one by one they are eventually killed by a blazing fire… And then, more marvellous occurrences happened, and Gerard became Brother Clement, a friar of St. Dominic, as if dying to the world, the monk parted with the very name by which he had lived in it, and so broke the last link of association with earthly feelings. But that’s not all, because there are other steps on the ladder of his becoming till his end of days…a hermit, too, and then a priest, and then a monk again. And, surely, that age was not a time for fooling, if you know what I mean ;)Firstly, because under the historical outline of the novel there is painted a true story. That’s because I say so :D As most of the synopsis were telling the same I refer to mentioning the famous scholar Desiderius Erasmus von Rotterdam as being the child of the tragic pair on which the story gravitates I have really enjoyed how the author used his imagination to extend from a couple of lines that was assumed to be written by Erasmus about his parents, and tell the strange history of a pair that loved each other truly and deeply, but couldn’t enjoy their earthly happiness as a normal married couple. To keep it simple, whatever story I do myself believe through the author’s words is true to me. This tale not only found a place in my heart whilst reading it, but I feel it’s going to remain there indefinitely, especially the tale of those two sore-tried souls… all the world, an if one will but let the world starve one in return.”“That is no more than just,” said the mayor: he added, “an' ye make no Just some personal notes I started keeping before the eye-scorching set in. - the writer of fiction may be of use to the public—as an interpreter. If fiction is to be believed, there were soldiers and knights regularly roaming the country aimlessly on some pointless and digressive quest. Some were brave, some were evil, some were comical, some were weak – and there were very few of any other kind. These knights were always defending damsels, getting into skirmishes or being drawn into battles. For some, this is evidence of an anti-Catholic tinge in the book. If Gerard and Margaret had embraced Protestantism, he could have married her and remained a vicar. This is true, but Reade seems to have an admiration for asceticism, and he appears to side with Gerard’s decision. There is pathos in their separation and their deaths, but there is no criticism of Gerard’s choice, or of a religious system that caused him to make it.