Gilles of Bec and The Cage Full of Birds

In 1138, Gilles, a monk barely into manhood, is sent by the great Benedictine abbey of Bec in Normandy to its estate of Stivetun in Berchescire. His charge seems routine: to oversee the farming of the abbey’s lands and to cure the souls of its peasant tenants. But England is in a state of political and religious upheaval, a morass that draws the naïve Gilles into a series of dilemmas which will test his ingenuity and his faith. He must contend with the self-serving Bishops of Wyncestre and Sarum; Alvric, the obdurate reeve of the village; and the seductive Maud of Walingeford. And then there is the guileful Peter of Waneting, his old mentor from Bec, who is forever shifting shape. Gilles’ sense of justice and truth thrusts him to the forefront of calamitous events and compels him to make choices that will seal the fate of some and the salvation of many.

It is nearly nine hundred years since my predecessor, Gilles of Bec, was appointed priest of Steventon. Yet the troubles he faced are echoed by modern day events: the dominion of the powerful over the weak; people driven from their homes and loved ones by war and ethnic tensions; the wrestling between religion and politics for the high-ground. The story will resonate with all who have a sense of the past and an eye for future. It is a tale of courage that will not fail to inspire.
- Rev’d Phil Sutton, St Michael’s and All Angels, Steventon 2017-25