The Cloister and the Hearth

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I do not know where I can find a book in which the highest qualities of head and of heart go together as they do in this one. [1] 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. However, after finishing the book, I felt I had a little better understanding of the different medieval civilizations of Europe—France, Germany, Italy, Holland. I read strange and unusual vocabulary words. And best of all I felt the satisfaction of finishing something hard. This is the reason why writers as diverse as Shakespeare, Charlotte Bronte, Herman Hesse and Henrik Ibsen usually come down on the side of seeking joy from the material comforts of this life rather than losing oneself in the abstractions of religion, book-learning or being an artist.

The Cloister and the Hearth (1861) is a historical novel by the British author Charles Reade. Set in the 15th century, it relates the travels of a young scribe and illuminator, Gerard Eliassoen, through several European countries. The Cloister and the Hearth often describes the events, people and their practices in minute detail. Its main theme is the struggle between man's obligations to family and to Church.

So that is the setting for the bigger picture, the up close and personal details of this story are made of tragedy and you'll be left booing and hissing at many a personality in this very fine Victorian era written, mediaeval historical fiction. 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 Love thwarted by the machinations of a spiteful burgomaster and Gerard's greedy brothers, Gerard sets out for Rome, determined to make his way in the world and provide for his secret bride. Adventures ensue. Many adventures. He befriends Denys, a woman-crazy but good-hearted arbalestrier (a crossbowman--I had to look that one up) who becomes his boon companion. Adventures and more adventures. I won't give anything away, but the part where Gerard and Denys are beset by bandits at an inn, and the way Gerard cleverly uses his talents to gain the upper hand, is one of the coolest things I've ever read.

One reason the lovers are kept apart is perhaps that it is hard to imagine Gerard and Margaret living any normal life. Just as I cannot imagine Romeo and Juliet arguing over a smelly latrine, so I cannot picture Gerard and Margaret debating what colour to paint their spare room. These are idealised characters, and one whiff of reality would bring about their deaths. Rudyard Kipling, discussing his masterpiece Kim (in his autobiography Something of Myself) said he had wanted to write something “worthy to lie alongside” Cloister. ‘Not being able to do this, I dismissed the ambition as ‘beneath the thinking mind. So does a half-blind man dismiss shooting and golf.’

The scene with the gibbet wherein (haha) they stand under the decaying bodies of certain criminals and are regaled with the tales of how each poor soul was brought to this sorry end. Classic macabre medieval lit. Toothsome, that. Here's the first passage of the book: "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. The story is about two lovers, Gerard Eliassoen and Margaret Brandt. Gerard is training to be a monk, but he soon becomes enamoured by Margaret, the daughter of a herbalist. Faced with serious opposition that leads to his arrest, Gerard decides to flee the country and to meet with Margaret in Italy. This pads out the book at the expense of any pacing, but perhaps this is as well, as there is not a lot of story to begin with. It is hard not to feel frustrated that the two lovers seem to spend decades before meeting up when a journey across Europe should not have taken more than a few months. This is achieved by the piling up of unlikely events designed to detain or deter Gerard from completing his travels. 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 ;)

It is the latter half of the fifteenth century, and twenty-two year old Gerard Eliassoen is the eldest of nine children of Elias, a cloth merchant, and his wife Catherine of Tergou, Holland. His next two younger brothers, Richart and Jacob, have left for work in Amsterdam. Another brother became a tailor, and his oldest sister a robe maker. That left four others at home, the dwarf Giles, the crippled Kate, and the two youngest, Cornelis and Sybrant, both ne’er-do-wells. Gerard has been taught by the monks, became a scribe and illuminator, and is destined for service in the Church. However, on the way to a contest in Rotterdam, where some of his work has been entered, he meets Peter Brandt, a physician from the nearby village of Sevenbergen, and immediately falls in love with the doctor’s daughter Margaret. They also run across Ghysbrecht van Swieten, Burgomaster of Tergou, who years before had secretly cheated Peter’s father out of a huge sum of money.If the crowd runs after the false, it must neglect the true. The intolerable "Romola" is praised; the admirable "Cloister and the Hearth" is waived aside.

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 In the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Archive at the Harry Ransom Center in Austin, Texas, there is a document list of Doyle's 18 favourite things. When asked who his favourite heroine in fiction was, he replied, "Margaret" in Cloister and Hearth. [2] 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.THERE IS AN ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THIS TITLE WITH LINKED TABLE OF CONTENTS WHICH MAY VIEWED AT EBOOK novel by Charles Reade 1893 poster by Edward Penfield advertising a US edition of The Cloister & the Hearth