Point Books To Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1)
| Original Title: | Dissolution |
| ISBN: | 0330411969 (ISBN13: 9780330411967) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Matthew Shardlake #1 |
| Characters: | Matthew Shardlake, Mark Poer, Thomas Cromwell, Abbot Fabian, Brother Edwig, Brother Gabriel of Ashford, Brother Guy of Malton, Brother Hugh, Brother Jude, Brother Mortimus of Kelso, Joan Woode, Robin Singleton, Alice Fewterer, Simon Whelplay, Ralph Spenlay, Master Bugge, Jerome Wentworth, Lawrence Goodhaps, Brother Athelstan, Gilbert Copynger, Joan Stumpe, Orphan Stonegarden, Thomas Oldknoll, Master Hodges |
| Setting: | Scarnesea, Sussex, England,1537(United Kingdom) |
C.J. Sansom
Paperback | Pages: 456 pages Rating: 4.09 | 37139 Users | 2720 Reviews
Define About Books Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1)
| Title | : | Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1) |
| Author | : | C.J. Sansom |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Deluxe Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 456 pages |
| Published | : | 2004 by Pan (first published April 28th 2003) |
| Categories | : | Historical. Historical Fiction. Mystery. Fiction. Crime. Historical Mystery. European Literature. British Literature |
Interpretation In Favor Of Books Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1)
”’This is not Thomas More’s Utopia, a nation of innocent savages waiting only for God’s word to complete their happiness. This is a violent realm, stewed in the corruption of a decadent church.’ ‘I know.’ ‘The papists will use every means to present us from building the christian commonwealth, and so God’s blood I will use every means to overcome them.’ ‘I am sorry if my judgement erred.’ ‘Some say you are soft, Matthew, ‘ he said quietly. ‘Lacking in fire and godly zeal, even perhaps in loyalty.’ Lord Cromwell had the trick of staring fixedly at you, unblinking, until you felt compelled to drop your gaze. You would look up again to find those hard brown eyes still boring into you. I felt my heart pound. I had tried to keep my doubts, my weariness, to myself; surely I had told nobody.”
A view eastwards along the chancel of the church at the Cistercian monastery of Rievaulx Abbey in the Yorkshire Wolds. The monastery was founded in the 12th century and abandoned during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
I had just been introduced to Matthew Shardlake when he is summoned to the office of Lord Thomas Cromwell. Shardlake has become disillusioned about working for Cromwell. It is arduous work, requiring travel hither and yon, and mentally draining to see the look of fear and barely suppressed loathing that people feel for a representative of Cromwell. To make matters worse the infirmity he was born with, a hunchback, continues to give him more and more trouble with each passing day. Already weary in soul and feeling the physical toil of the past few years the last thing Shardlake wants to do is to be dispatched to the St. Donatus monastery at Scarnsea.
But there has been a murder and not just any murder, but the murder of a Cromwell representative while he was investigating the monastery for improprieties. The killer was sending a very clear message to Cromwell by beheading his agent. Cromwell’s own head is lucky to still be setting squarely on his shoulders after he became such an ardent ally of the recently beheaded Anne Boleyn.
To prove his loyalty to Henry the 8th Cromwell is fervently enforcing the recent First Act of Succession (1536) dissolving as many monasteries as possible, within the confines of the new law. He is confiscating their lands and gold baubles to help bolster the King’s treasury. St. Donatus is one of the larger monasteries all of whom hope to survive the purge. Although anybody in the know realizes that Henry will not be happy with just a few when he can pass a law, Second Act of Succession (1539), that will bring them all down. Right now it is 1537 and Shardlake can offer some assurances to the abbot that the monastery can still be saved.
Haughmond Abbey. The extensive remains of an Augustinian abbey, including its abbots' quarters, refectory and cloister.
This was a time of uneasy alliances with Catholics swearing allegiance to the new church not because they necessary believed, but because they wished to keep their property and to keep their heads attached to the rest of their bodies. People used the new laws to settle old grievances, turning their enemies in for Catholic devotion that reminds me of neighbors turning on neighbors in Germany under the Third Reich.
Protestants killing Catholics. Catholics killing Protestants. Good lord, all so a king can bed a particularly crafty young lady who would settle for nothing less than the crown on her head before she ministered to the Kingly “crown”.
Anne Boleyn was a true Eve, nearly bringing a kingdom down with her feminine wiles and her “progressive” religious ideas. Think of the lives that would have been saved if Henry the 8th in one of his many mishaps had crushed his balls or better yet sliced his dinger off. Are we to believe that his main objective in having so many wives was to procreate an heir? Maybe so, but truly in the course of doing so it is hard not to see him as bordering on sexual conquesting lunacy.
I know he was worried about starting a war with Spain and France, but wouldn’t this all have been easier and saved a lot of hanging, beheading, burnings etc. if only Catherine of Aragon had say had an accident in the bath or had a bit of loose stone masonry fall on her head? Not that I wish ill on Catherine. She seems to be the one purity in this whole sordid mess, but would thousands of lives been spared?
Shardlake with his rather comely (male) assistant in tow arrives at the monastery to discover that there are more problems than just one murdered man. Needless to say everyone is on edge knowing that the King’s representative needs very little cause to close the monastery and confiscate their lands. Shardlake finds a nest of barely repentant monks still clinging to their idols and traditions. It is too much to expect that people can just flip a switch and do away with beliefs that have sustained them their whole lives.
The ruins of Glastonbury Abbey dissolved in 1539, following the execution of the Abbot on charges of treason.
A monk is poisoned...what did he know or what did he see? An old murder comes to light of a young girl who once worked at the monastery. Before long Shardlake wonders if he is chasing one murderer or three? He soon discovers that the monastery keeps two sets of books and the missing blue book may be the very thing he needs to find to unmask at least one of the killers. To make things even more irritating for him he finds himself competing with his young assistant for the affections of a young lass who works in the infirmary of the monastery.
Shardlake is very dismissive of Catholicism, a true believer in the Reformation, but at the same time he is sickened by the lives that are being ruined needlessly. He certainly feels the pressure to not only uncover the true murderers, but also to reach solutions that will put him back in the good graces of Cromwell. It is a time when people must deny their true nature whether they are homosexual, Anabaptist, or harboring affection for the Pope of Rome. It is always tragic when people who have much more in common than they have in disagreement are killing each other over the whims of Kings. I will definitely be reading more in this series. I’ve heard that the books just keep getting better and better.
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Ratings: 4.09 From 37139 Users | 2720 ReviewsAppraise About Books Dissolution (Matthew Shardlake #1)
A realistic view of fallen mankind. (3.5 stars)I dont recall how this series got on my radar, but when a good friend starting reading, and loving, the series I had to bump it up on my to read pile.I will admit that Dissolution took me a while to get into, despite the fact that its setting and subject matter are right up my alley. The reason is because initially it reminded me (in terms of plot points) of The Name of the Rose, a novel I detest! As a result I was leery of it for the first 100First published in 2003, this is the first novel in the Matthew Shardlake series, and introduces us to our unlikely hero; lovelorn, hunchbacked, a reformist lawyer who begins the book as utterly loyal to Cromwells ideals and ends it plagued with doubts about his role and mission. Shardlake is sent by Cromwell to the Monastery of St Donatus the Ascendant at Scarnsea, Sussex. It is 1537 and the dissolution of the monasteries is underway. Cromwell had sent Commissioner Robin Singleton there with
I purposely ordered book precisely because as a historical mystery it covered a period after Thomas More. I was swayed by the authors credentials as writer of 80 novels and PhD in history. I know nothing of the early period of the Dissolution of the monasteries. What could go wrong? Everything. The book reads like a religious tract. It goes out its way to denigrate everything papist with outrageous propaganda used by the Anglican Church and then successive Protestant. There is a lot of modern
This is not Thomas Mores Utopia, a nation of innocent savages waiting only for Gods word to complete their happiness. This is a violent realm, stewed in the corruption of a decadent church.I know.The papists will use every means to present us from building the christian commonwealth, and so Gods blood I will use every means to overcome them.I am sorry if my judgement erred.Some say you are soft, Matthew, he said quietly. Lacking in fire and godly zeal, even perhaps in loyalty.Lord Cromwell had
Great book!
This is a great murder mystery set in the 16th century, during the religious reformation of Thomas Cromwell and Henry VIII. The setting is a monastery in Scarnsea, and Matthew Shardlake is a hunchbacked lawyer who serves as a commissioner of Cromwell to investigate the murder, and to hasten the dissolving of St. Donatus, as a precedent and warning to other religious orders as to what awaits them. One murder turns into 4, with twists and turns and red herrings all along the way. This book has it
I have a special affinity for historical mysteries and Dissolution is one of the good examples of this genre, at least for me. The novel is the first installment in Matthew Shardlake series. The action is set in the time of (in)famous king Henry VIII and it has as main character a hunchback lawyer under the service of the equally famous and controversial figure, Thomas Cromwell. The titles hints on the subject of the novel, at least it does to readers familiar with British history. I knew
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