History Series / Cadfael

* DuringTheWar: The series is set against the backdrop of the English civil wars known as The Anarchy.

[[BritishBrevity A 13-episode British series]] based on the ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' murder mystery novels of Creator/EllisPeters. It's rather unorthodox in its choice of setting: a 12th-century town somewhere near the Welsh border -- a time of civil war, disease and strife, where Death is a frequent visitor. Many are those who would take advantage of this fact to conceal a murder. After all, who would notice one suspicious corpse amongst so many?

* ExactWords: One episode opens with Brother Jerome and Prior Robert trying to punish a novice for singing a BawdySong he learned from his soldiering grandfather, about a soldier who misses MyGirlBackHome. Cadfael (who knows the song from his crusader days) points out that the song doesn't say the woman ''isn't'' the soldier's wife, and isn't encouraging love within wedlock something the Church should approve? The Abbot decides that (tenuous though it is) this is a good enough explanation and lets the young man go unpunished.

* BadDreams: In "The Devil's Novice", Meriet has screaming nightmares that disrupt the abbey and lead Oswin to ask if he's possessed by demons. [[spoiler:It's guilt over his family's involvement in Clemence's death.]]

** The Pilgrim of Hate: [[Rhun, instead of being genuinely cured and taking the cowl in gratitude, has been faking his condition for an unknown amount of time and leeches off those who give him money after the "miracle". The second occurrence is the murder of an old man with his sons taking the place of Matthew and Ciaran. Instead of Matthew seeking to enforce Ciaran's penance for the murder of his master, he murdered their father in a fit of zealous rage]].

Cadfael is a middle aged monk who took up the cowl after abandoning the violent, passionate life of a soldier. It was in the Crusades that he learned how to fight with a sword, which he often wears under his robes during dangerous missions. Yes, he may have sworn off violence, but he knows enough about the world to know that his vocation alone will not protect him from dangerous men. Cadfael's keen senses, ability to communicate with people, and EncyclopaedicKnowledge of herbs and plants make him the perfect forensic expert -- a fact which has not gone unnoticed by the local sheriff, Hugh Beringar, who often sends for Brother Cadfael whenever a mysterious corpse turns up in the town.

* DuelToTheDeath: In "The Leper of St. Giles", [[spoiler:Cadfael and Hugh decide that Lazarus--aka Guimar de Massard--can go uncharged for Picard's death because they met in "single combat" with Lazarus unarmed, and not a murder]].

** Father Ailnoth's cruelty towards Eleanor. Even though having a baby out of wedlock was a serious matter, everyone liked her, and were outraged at his treatment of her.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Cadfael isn't afraid to play up the image of a chatty, cloistered brother to make people more talkative.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: After it's proven that Eleanor [[spoiler:did commit suicide and thus would not be allowed a Christian reburial, Cadfael visits to her unmarked grave and leaves a small cross there anyway]].

* SeekingSanctuary: Of course. In "The Sanctuary Sparrow," Liliwen the minstrel claims sanctuary by putting his hand on the altar cloth, which entitles him to forty days of safety.

* TurnInYourBadge: The Prior threatens Cadfael with this, more or less (not that monks have badges, but he threatens to kick him out of the abbey).

* UnreliableNarrator: [[spoiler:Cynric says that he could do nothing to save Ailnoth, as he had been struck in the head during his fall from the bridge and this he took in for dead. The audience, however, is shown that he saw Ailnoth struggling to keep from falling to his death and did nothing to help]].

* ActuallyIAmHim - Cadfael [[spoiler: has a son who never knew him. They meet.]]

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Brother Eleanor from "The Rose Rent".]]

* HangingJudge: For a holy man, Canon Eleanor is quite insistent on having someone to hang for Clemence's murder, even if it's a forest vagabond whose only crime was having picked up Clemence's dagger. When the real murderer is found, Eleanor says that his neck will "stretch better" and then tells the other conspirators that they'd better hope King Steven is more forgiving than he himself is.

* PoisonedChailiceSwitcheroo: A mutually-agreed and fair one between a wife and her husband's lover takes place before the events of ''The Potter's Field''. There was a fifty-fifty chance that one of them would die. The lover ends up having taken the poison one, but as a chronically ill woman whose condition has prevented her from being able to share a bed with husband and only promises to get worse, the wife feels that she has lost the wager.

* HangingJudge: For a holy man, Canon Eluard is quite insistent on having someone to hang for Clemence's murder, even if it's a forest vagabond whose only crime was having picked up Clemence's dagger. When the real murderer is found, Eluard says that his neck will "stretch better" and then tells the other conspirators that they'd better hope King Steven is more forgiving than he himself is.

** Father Ailnoth's cruelty towards Elured. Even though having a baby out of wedlock was a serious matter, everyone liked her, and were outraged at his treatment of her.

* NeverSuicide: Averted in "The Raven in the Foregate". [[spoiler:Cadfael insists that they should treat Eluned's drowning as suspicious, but she really did do it herself after Ailnoth drove her out of the church. Cadfael wanted to prove otherwise mainly out of pity and guilt, as suicide was considered to deny you a place in Heaven (and the church graveyard) back then.]]

* NotNowKiddo: Eluned attempts to make a confession to Cadfael, but he assumes she's been arguing with her sister as usual and sends her to Ailnoth, rather impatiently. He's deeply ashamed of himself when she's found dead the next day.

* ObfuscatingStupidity: Cadfael isn't afraid th play up the image of a chatty, cloistered brother to make people more talkative.

* PoisonedChailiceSwitcheroo: A mutually-agreed and fair one between a wife and her husband's lover takes place before the events of ''The Potter's Field''. There was a fifty-fifty chance that one of them would die. The wife survives, but as a chronically ill woman whose condition has prevented her from being able to share a bed with husband and only promises to get worse, she feels that she has lost the wager.

* SacrificialLamb: [[spoiler:Brother Eluric from "The Rose Rent".]]
* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: After it's proven that Eluned [[spoiler:did commit suicide and thus would not be allowed a Christian reburial, Cadfael visits to her unmarked grave and leaves a small cross there anyway]].

* TakingTheHeat: Meriet Apsley loudly confesses to having killed Clemence when the body is found in a charcoal mound, thinking that [[spoiler:it was done by his beloved older brother, Tristan. The murder was really done by Janyn.]]

** Ailnoth's parish pursues him to the abbey at a march, chanting his name, after they find that Eluned drowned herself.

* WhatTheHellHero: In "The Raven in the Foregate", both Eluned's sister Katherine and, to a lesser extent, Cynric chew Cadfael out for sending Eluned away when she came to him for help. An ashamed Cadfael admits he behaved badly.

[[quoteright:248:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2953_7392.jpg]]

** Brother Cadfael himself. He borders on BadassGrandpa, especially in the episode where he karate-chops a soldier for mistreating a homeless guy, and he can always be counted on to do the right thing even when the church itself tells him not to.

* AssInAmbassador: Prior Robert is put in charge of the mission to obtain Saint Winifred's bones from a Welsh village. He opens with aninsult towards the whole town for neglecting her grave, then offends Rhrisiart, the local landowner, by a graceless attempt to bribe him. He refuses all of Cadfael's counsel in spite of the fact that Radulfus sent Cadfael along specifically to help him understand the Welsh. Cadfael has to wince and cringe his way through Robert's high-handed behavior until he finally puts his foot down to keep Robert from angering a growing mob of angry Welshmen to violence.

* KnightInShiningArmor: Olivier de Bretagne, the half-Syrian, half-English knight who refuses to go along with the other knights' turn to banditry and helps Ermina and Yves escape bandits.

* DuelToTheDeath: In "The Leper of St. Giles" [[spoiler:Cadfael and Hugh decide that Lazarus--aka Guimar de Massard--can go uncharged for Picard's death because they met in "single combat" with Lazarus unarmed, and not a murder]].

* RedShirt: [[spoiler:Brother Eluric.]]

* AssholeVictim

* AxCrazy: le Gaucher, a former crusader who betrayed his liege so he could RapePillageAndBurn across the Shrewsbury farmlands. He doesn't bother to cover his track and clearly delights in the violence he inflicts.

* NightmareFace: [[spoiler:This is why the legendary knight Guimar de Massard travels with the lepers as "Lazarus" even though the disease is no longer active in him. He briefly lifts his mask to show Cadfael why he doesn't want to return to his family.]]

* AdaptationDistillation: The conflict between Stephen and Maud is phased out in all but two of the episodes, and Hugh is less Cadfael's {{True Companion|s}}, and more TheLestrade to his AmateurSleuth.

* GossipyHens: Pesh is a male version in "Sanctuary Sparrow." His snooping, and attempting to profit on his knowledge, get him killed.

* HeyYou: In "Sanctuary Sparrow." When Liliwen escorts his sweetheart home under a hood to disguise himself, someone calls out "hey!" behind him. They ignore it and continue at a normal pace--quite wisely, because the person who shouted was hailing a different man to say a friendly hello.
* TheHighMiddleAges

** The entire Aurifaber family (except [[spoiler:the unwed spinster sister and her lover]]) in ''The Sanctuary Sparrow.''

** [[spoiler: Susannah]] in ''The Sanctuary Sparrow,'' not that it makes much of an impact.

* {{Confessional}}: Subverted multiple times. Several characters ''want'' to confess to Cadfael, but as he keeps explaining, they can't: he isn't a priest. This becomes important for plot purposes in both ''The Devil's Novice'' and ''The Raven in the Foregate.''

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: ''An Excellent Mystery''

* FixFic: ''One Corpse Too Many'' attempts to explain a RealLife OutOfCharacter moment for King Stephen.

** Father Ailnoth in ''The Raven in the Foregate.''
** Luke in ''The Pilgrim of Hate.''

** Lord Cassale from ''The Raven in the Foregate'' and Le Gaucher from ''The Virgin in the Ice'' both delight in killing hapless peasants.

* ObfuscatingDisability: [[spoiler: Walter]] in ''The Pilgrim of Hate.''

* RomancingTheWidow: ''The Rose Rent'' has Judith Perle being pursued by several men after her husband's death, even at the poor man's funeral - including [[RichSuitorPoorSuitor Thomas Hynde and Godfrey Fuller]]. Needless to say, she is not particularly impressed with either. [[spoiler:Niall Bronzesmith, the abbey's tenant who moves into her old house, [[RescueRomance has better luck]]. [[VillainousIncest Her cousin]], [[LoveMakesYouEvil Miles Coliar]], [[MurderMakesYouCrazy does not]].]]

** ''The Raven in the Foregate.'' [[spoiler: Technically, nobody murdered Father Ailnoth: one man was defending himself and the other refused to help Father Ailnoth when he fell into the river. However, Cadfael lets one escape back to Wales and helps the other craft a story that suits Beringar and Lord Casale.]]
** ''The Rose Rent.'' [[spoiler: The murderer is dying and, as in ''Monk's Hood,'' repentant.]]

[[BritishBrevity A 13-episode British series]] based on the Literature/BrotherCadfael murder mystery novels of Creator/EllisPeters. It's rather unorthodox in its choice of setting: a 12th-century town somewhere near the Welsh border -- a time of civil war, disease and strife, where Death is a frequent visitor. Many are those who would take advantage of this fact to conceal a murder. After all, who would notice one suspicious corpse amongst so many?

* AlwaysMurder: Although sometimes it is ''attempted'' murder instead.
** One of the TV adaptations has Cadfael have doubts about a suicide being a possible murder, but it turned out to be a suicide after all.
* AmateurSleuth: Cadfael, especially considering the actual detective profession wouldn't be established for centuries.

* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: At the end of "A Morbid Taste for Bones," [[spoiler:Cadfael lays out Columbanus' robe on the ground and surrounds it with petals to make the other monks believe that this has happened]].

* BadDreams: In "The Devil's Novice," Meriet has screaming nightmares that disrupt the abbey and lead Oswin to ask if he's possessed by demons. [[spoiler:It's guilt over his family's involvement in Clemence's death.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: In "The Leper of St Giles," [[spoiler:Simon Aguilon killed his uncle, hoping to marry Iveta in his stead, and allowed Joscelin to fall under suspicion for the murder while pretending to help him hide and pursue his own love for Iveta]].

** Cadfael does this on behalf of Meriet in "The Devil's Novice," severely chastising Leoric for refusing to see any worth in his younger son to the point of instantly believing him a murderer. [[spoiler:Although it doesn't sink in until the whole truth comes out, Leoric is genuinely guiltstricken and apologizes to Meriet at the end.]]

* ConflictBall: Beringar is extremely testy in "St Peter's Fair," snapping at Cadfael for questioning his choice in the civil war and being almost as dismissive as Prescotte.

* DeadMansChest: Played with in ''A Morbid Taste for Bones.'' The monks successfully dig up St. Winifred and house her bones in the reliquary. [[spoiler: Then, after Brother Columbanus is killed, Cadfael conspires with the locals to sneak her bones back into her original grave, and stows Columbanus' corpse in the reliquary instead.]]
* DirtyCoward: From "The Virgin In the Ice," [[spoiler:Evrard Boterel. Early on Hugh is disdainful of his failure to protect the people on his lands from bandits. Turns out he actually fled; when Ermina left him for it, he took out his rage on poor Sister Hilaria]].

* HeroicBystander: Brother Oswin puts up a pretty decent effort against the fleeing murderer in "The Devil's Novice," and though he eventually gets half-strangled it buys the time needed for Cadfael and Prescotte to take over.

** Brother Oswin loudly proclaims that he is guilty of mortal sin and "was [Sister Hilaria's] death" in "The Virgin in the Ice," leading the other monks to wonder if he was the one who raped and murdered her. [[spoiler:What he felt guilty for was not protecting her and also being attracted to her when a blizzard forced them to huddle together.]]

* ItsPersonal: In "Monk's Hood," Cadfael is particularly driven to solve the case despite being strictly ordered away because the murder was done with a medicinal oil that he made with his own hands.

* PapaWolf: In "The Leper of St Giles," the second murder is done [[spoiler:by Lazarus, aka Guimar de Massard. He kills Picard in revenge for Picard's ill-treatment of Iveta, Lazarus' granddaughter]].

* RightUnderTheirNoses: Joscelin Lucy tries hiding in the town in "The Leper of Saint Giles," at the instigation of Simon, but his hiding place is betrayed. He has better luck when the leper Lazarus shelters him under one of their cloaks, because people avoid looking at them.

** In "One Corpse Too Many," he puts a murder victim's clothing in with a pack Beringer will open to see if he recognizes it.

** ''Monk's Hood.'' [[spoiler: Cadfael does catch the murderer and expose him in public. That done, though, he lets the man go, on the grounds that he is a SympatheticMurderer who clearly repents of his sin.]]
** "A Morbid Taste for Bones." Cadfael ''had'' arranged circumstances to out the truth of Rhisiart's murder, but a SpannerInTheWorks [[spoiler:forces him to elaborately deceive the monks and hide Columbanus' body, because otherwise Godwin would certainly be convicted of Columbanus' accidental death]].

* WhatTheHellHero: In ''The Raven in the Foregate,'' both Eluned's sister Katherine and, to a lesser extent, Cynric chew Cadfael out for sending Eluned away when she came to him for help. An ashamed Cadfael admits he behaved badly.
* WorstAid: In "The Monk's Hood," Cadfael gives an emetic to a man who was poisoned, but he admits that it may do as much harm coming up as going down. Prior Robert also says that he "rid himself" of his own dinner on Oswin's advice (having been eaten from the same brace of partridge, although his was not tainted).

* MercyKil: At the prelude of "The Rose Rent," Cadfael warns Judith Perle that too much of the pain medicine he made will kill her husband, who is in constant, agonizing pain from a terminal illness. Their conversation after his funeral makes it clear that she deliberately gave him an overdose to release him from his suffering, and Cadfael tells her not to feel guilt over it.

** Some critics have pointed out that most lovers in the show (and in the books) marry in their early 20s, which is supposedly very late by pre-modern standards. This is [[YouFailHistoryForever utter rot]]. The average age at marriage has not changed in England for centuries.