World Without End

Caris and Merthin have now been married for 10 years. They lead a comfortable life in their house on Leper Island, and the hospital has flourished under Caris’s stewardship and that of the nuns of St. Elizabeth, the order that works at the hospital. Joan is now the prioress at Kingsbridge. Lolla is 15 and constantly at odds with her father and stepmother over her socializing with disreputable people like Jack Riley, likely her lover. At 49 and chained to Ralph, Phillipa is miserable but finds delight in her visits to Merthin with her sons, now students at the Kingsbridge monks’ school. Sam, on the run from the law because of his murder of Jonno, shows up at Merthin and Caris’s house to ask for sanctuary, but the constable and two deputies show up to arrest him soon after.

The day of Sam’s trial arrives soon after his capture. Ralph is there to see the culmination of his 20-year campaign of revenge against Wulfric. The trial initially goes just as every expects. Sam is found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. The verdict breaks Wulfric, much to Ralph’s satisfaction, but Gwenda seems defiant.

Gwenda asks Merthin to apply to Ralph for mercy, but Ralph tells him no: Ralph wants to break Wulfric, and killing his son is the surest way to do it. Gwenda then approaches Ralph directly and tells him to intervene because Sam is his son. Ralph sees that Sam looks like his mother and learns from others that he has the same killing instinct as his father. He intervenes to save Sam and decides to take him under his wing.

Construction of the tower stops when Philemon takes the funds for it to build a Lady chapel, a place for adoration of the Virgin Mary, now popular with conservative clergy looking to salvage the church’s reputation. Meanwhile, Lolla runs away while Caris and Merthin are at Shiring for Sam’s trial. After hunting for her at the White Horse Tavern and Jack Riley’s lodging, they discover that she is Jack’s lover and has likely run off with him. He is a horse dealer but also a likely horse thief. Lolla briefly returns a week later but runs away again.

Gregory Longfellow meets with Caris and Merthin to let them know that Bishop Henri is likely to be elevated to archbishop in Monmouth with the death of the previous archbishop. Philemon is a likely replacement, nothing the three of them or anyone with the best interests of the town wants. Secular authorities play a larger role in selecting the religious officers these days, but there is still a pro forma election by the monks and church hierarchy. Longfellow wants Merthin’s support in coming up with an alternate candidate. It cannot be Thomas, now 60 and showing signs of dementia.

In Wigleigh, Sam becomes a squire in Ralph’s household, despite being older than usual for this role. Davey, now a young man, secretly grows a crop of madder, the key ingredient in scarlet dye. Nate discovers the crops and tells Ralph about it. Ralph and Alan trample the crop, an act that can only earn them the ire of the peasantry, which despises waste. They fail to destroy the roots, the larger part of the plant, so Davey recovers. Nate reports Davey to Ralph, who imposes a fine. Ralph gives Davey permission to marry Amabel, daughter of Annet, mostly to spite Gwenda, who opposes the match. To make sure that Davey cannot advance economically, Ralph refuses to allow Amabel’ s family to transfer land to Davey after the marriage.

Caris and Merthin work to avert Philemon’s ambitions to become the bishop of Shiring by recruiting Canon Claude as the town’s favored candidate and getting Bishop Henri to find a post that suits Philemon’s tastes. Caris is called into town to treat people who are clearly suffering from the plague, a sign that the plague is surging again. She meets with Madge, Merthin, and the leadership of the nunnery, and Brother Sime to plan the measures to isolate the town from the plague. They agree to cancel the Fleece Fair, conduct all trade via Leper Island to prevent traders from entering town, and keep all people from inside the town separate from outsiders. Sime refuses to commit to the monks staying inside the town walls, and the monks once again abandon the town.

Back in Wigleigh, the plague makes its way to Ralph’s seat in Shiring. Sam is thriving as a squire, while Davey manages to salvage and harvest his madder crop. His courtship of Amabel continues, inspiring conflict with Gwenda. When Gwenda goes to Shiring to visit Sam, Ralph threatens to tell Wulfric that Ralph is Sam’s biological father unless Gwenda agrees to have sex with him. With few good choices, she agrees to meet him later.

Caris’s precautions reduce deaths in Kingsbridge and keep trade flowing.

Caris is confined to the hospital on Leper Island as she takes care of the sick. Henri becomes archbishop, but there is still no bishop at Shiring because the king has possibly been swayed both by Philemon’s appeal to the conservatives and by his promise to be quiet if the king demands that clergy begin to pay taxes. Davey makes a profit from his madder crop.

Brother Thomas dies. Merthin decides to complete his promise to Thomas to give the mysterious letter to a priest. He digs up the letter and finds a startling secret in it: Edward II was not executed. He switched places with one of his would-be executioners instead, a substitution that would have been obvious to Isabella. With the king alive somewhere, Edward III safe on his throne, and Thomas and Isabella dead, Merthin reasons disclosing the secret in the letter will only cause trouble. He buries the letter again.

While Kingsbridge weathered the plague with trade intact, Ralph’s income is so reduced that he is desperate for laborers to farm his land. He is forced to give Davey his free tenancy and to put the agreement in writing, a rare concession that shows his powerlessness. Ralph agrees to have it ready in a week, but he requires that Gwenda come to pick it up. Ralph once again tries to coerce her to have sex with him to secure the family’s future. When she later makes her way to the lodge where Ralph wants to meet her, Sam has a hunch that something is bothering his mother. He beats her to the lodge. Sam attacks Ralph in the lodge during Ralph’s assault of his mother. Gwenda kills Alan by ambushing him. Sam strikes Ralph with a mortal blow, and Gwenda finishes him off with a stab through the mouth, preventing Ralph from telling Sam the truth about his father.

The last plague victim in the Leper Island hospital dies, allowing Caris and Merthin to reunite. Lolla also returns after all her companions die of the plague. She decides to become a healer like Caris. The town gives Caris a golden key to the city to recognize her efforts in protecting the town. Philemon is the choice as bishop, but Merthin decides to use the king’s letter as leverage to persuade Longfellow to choose Claude instead. Philemon has stolen the letter by then, but Merthin figures out Philemon has hidden it in the cache where he keeps his stolen treasures. Philemon agrees to become ambassador to the pope. Merthin and Caris watch from the top of the cathedral as Philemon leaves. Merthin shows Caris that he has given her face to the angel on the cross atop the cathedral.