A Column of Fire

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Beta

Discussion Questions

Part 5-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 5: “1602 to 1606”

Part 5, Chapter 28 Summary

Content Warning: This section of the guide mentions suicidal ideation.

Rollo sees a final opportunity to advance Catholic interests when he learns that King James VI of Scotland, a potential heir to the English throne, may be open to Catholic influence through his wife, Anne of Denmark. Rollo travels to Edinburgh under the guise of a priest, meets with Queen Anne, and advocates for Catholic tolerance under James's rule. Anne says that James would be open to this, and Alison confirms it. James then arrives and accepts the idea, and Rollo expresses his gratitude.

Ned Willard, who was with Elizabeth when she died, now mourns her loss. He and Cecil work to declare James the new King of England in order to avoid potential disruptions, such as a plot to kidnap James and install his Catholic son as king. Ned and Margery attend Elizabeth's funeral. Margery has come to share Ned’s views on tolerance and grieves for the queen, while Ned reflects on Elizabeth’s compromised ideals and the blurred line between heresy and treason. Of the important women in his life, only Margery is left.

A year later, Rollo seeks revenge against King James for betraying Catholic interests by renewing Elizabeth’s laws against them. Rollo plots to assassinate the royal family, the courtiers, and Ned during the opening of Parliament.

Part 5, Chapter 29 Summary

Despite his dislike of the intolerant King James, Ned remains concerned about the king’s safety. At Philip Herbert’s wedding, Ned is tense due to rumors of assassination plots against the king. Meanwhile, Rollo plans his attack on Parliament and recruits conspirators, including Guy Fawkes and Thomas Percy, despite the fact that Ned has placed Fawkes under surveillance. Margery notices and questions her brother's suspicious behavior, but he remains secretive. Rollo, Fawkes, and Percy work to dig under the council room and discuss kidnapping Princess Elizabeth to take control once the king is dead. However, they stop digging when they realize that they can use the old kitchen to store their gunpowder barrels, as it is closer to the king than their tunnel is.

Concerned about rumors of a plot in London, Ned travels to Paris to meet with Alain, who informs him of a plan to eliminate the entire royal family, excluding the princess. Ned is worried about Rollo's involvement and decides to investigate further. Meanwhile, Margery visits New Castle with her grandson, Jack, and talks to Bartlet, who says that he won’t attend Parliament. Rollo finally brings the gunpowder to Westminster and uses piles of firewood to hide the barrels.

Ned returns from Paris with the knowledge of the plot, and Margery realizes that Rollo warned Bartlet to stay away. Still afraid of her brother, she writes an anonymous letter detailing the conspiracy and delivers it to Lord Monteagle. Monteagle gives Cecil and Ned the letter. Although uncertain of its authenticity, Ned shows it to the king. Margery finally confesses that Rollo is behind the plot. Ned says that those who lost trust in him for marrying Margery, a Catholic, were right. He leaves. Cecil and Ned are determined to prevent the conspiracy, so they share the information on the plot with King James. Ned reveals Rollo to be the mastermind, and the King instructs Ned to catch him.

Part 5, Chapter 30 Summary

The conspirators learn about Monteagle's letter and accuse each other of writing it. Rollo dismisses the possibility of betrayal and instead emphasizes the need to continue the plan. He sends Percy to gather information on what the Privy Council knows. While it initially appears that there is no suspicion, Rollo later sees Monteagle questioning Guy Fawkes about the firewood. They very narrowly avoid discovery.

Margery is devastated by Ned's departure and wishes that she had not hidden her knowledge of Rollo’s plot. She contemplates dying by suicide but is stopped by a vision of Sister Joan, her deceased great-aunt, who was a former nun. Meanwhile, Rollo and Fawkes finalize their plan. They aim to ignite the gunpowder during Parliament's opening. Ned, who was suspicious of the incongruous firewood, conducts a second search and detects Fawkes's nervousness. He remembers how Sylvie would hide her Bibles, and this insight helps him to discover the barrels. Fawkes attempts to flee but is apprehended. Ned then intercepts Rollo in New Castle, telling him that they found the gunpowder and that Margery finally gave him up. He prevents Rollo’s attempts to start a fight and receive a quick death. Margery is summoned to meet the king, and Ned convinces the king to pardon her and her sons by emphasizing that Rollo and Bart coerced her. Outside, Ned takes Margery’s hand. It is finally revealed that the execution from the Prologue is Rollo’s. Ned retires from court to return to Kingsbridge with Margery.

Epilogue Summary: “1620”

In 1620, an 80-year-old Ned lives in Kingsbridge surrounded by family, including Roger and Alfo, who now have children and grandchildren. Ned has retired from court life and now spends his time with his great-grandchildren. Although the house is filled with loved ones, Ned still seeks out moments of solitude to talk to Margery, who died peacefully three years prior. Ned's grandson, Jack, is a builder who has prospered in Kingsbridge. However, due to religious differences between the English church and King James, Jack has decided to travel to the New World. He and a group of like-minded people plan to start a colony where they can practice their beliefs without interference. Ned is envious of Jack's youth and boldness but encourages his decision and promises to pray for him. Jack states that their ship is called the Mayflower. As Jack leaves to prepare for the journey, Ned gazes out at the cathedral and the graveyard, where both Sylvie and Margery rest.

Part 5-Epilogue Analysis

The fifth and final part of the novel is the shortest, but it nonetheless manages to wrap up the lingering threads of the narrative. As Ned noted in the first-person ending to Part 4, not everything was concluded following the triumph of the English over the Spanish. This section therefore focuses on the death of Queen Elizabeth I and the aftermath, during which James I took the throne. As a result, the historical event that takes center stage is the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605. As with most of the other historical events that Follett fictionalizes in the novel, he uses one of his antagonists as the instigator. In this case, Rollo takes the place of the real conspirator, Robert Catesby, and the character’s motivation mirrors that of his real-life counterpart, for Catesby used the attempted regicide as revenge for the perception that King James reneged on promises made to Catholics.

Margery’s role is also based on the historical record of Anne Vaux. Like Margery, Anne was a Catholic lady who sheltered priests and was related to one of the plot’s conspirators. She is also considered to be one of the possible authors of the anonymous Monteagle letter, as she was concerned about the Catholics who might be caught in the bombing of Parliament. In the book, Margery is explicitly cast as the author of the letter, the text of which Follett lifts directly from the real Monteagle letter. These details reveal the true extent of the author’s dedication to researching his topic and following historical events as closely as his fictionalized plot will allow. Within the context of the novel, Margery’s decision to write the letter represents her last act of attempted neutrality between Ned and her brother, as the letter is intended to foil Rollo’s plot without revealing his involvement. This plan does not work, as Ned is unaware that Rollo is Jean Langlais, and the balance finally tips and causes her to side with Ned, laying to rest several underlying conflicts that have lingered throughout the novel.

Meanwhile, Ned continues to support his goal of tolerance, highlighting once again the theme of Idealism and the Realities of Politics. With Elizabeth’s death, his idealistic efforts go beyond merely serving the queen and evolve into a broader attempt to preserve the peace for England’s future. To accomplish this, he overcomes his personal dislike of James, who “turned out to be less tolerant than Elizabeth, and not just of Catholics” (848). However, while James is less than ideal, Ned recognizes that his rule is still the only factor preventing England from falling back into civil war. Therefore, for the sake of furthering religious tolerance, Ned prioritizes James’s protection. On the other side of the theme of Religious Tolerance and Intolerance, Rollo’s desire to use flame to destroy his enemies ties into the overarching motif of burning and its connections to religious intolerance. The plot is also a last, desperate grasp at achieving Catholic dominance. However, unlike the earlier symbolic burnings in the novel, this one is ultimately thwarted when his sister chooses the difficult path to peace, sacrificing her own interests for the greater good.

Significantly, as the political turmoil finally subsides, the novel’s conclusion emphasizes the theme of Ambition as a Foil to Love and Community. While the characters on the side of love and tolerance have faced many hardships, they are now rewarded with a quiet retirement in each other’s company, and Margery is ultimately pardoned and allowed to go home with Ned. By contrast, the ambitious Rollo follows a trajectory similar to Pierre’s, for both men’s ambitions only lead to their failure and humiliating deaths. Ironically, they are both betrayed by people whom they never consider to be genuine threats. Finally, the contentment of love and community is reflected in Ned’s retired life in Kingsbridge amidst his extended family, for as Follett states, “He was happy with his thoughts. They were often enough for him, nowadays” (908). He constructs a mental house filled with his memories, and this becomes a metaphor for the richness of his life. He is therefore content with the thought that one day, like an old building, everything that he has done will turn to dust.