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''The Potter's Field'' is a medieval mystery novel by Ellis Peters set in August to December 1143. It is the 17th volume of the Cadfael Chronicles and was first published in 1989 (1989 in literature). It was adapted for television in 1998 by Carlton Media and Central for ITV. The hastily buried body of a young woman is found in a newly tilled field recently given to the Benedictine abbey in a land exchange. Uneasiness pushes Cadfael to find the whole truth behind this unexpected discovery. ==Plot Summary== The two monasteries are quick to seal the deal once they decide to trade two plots of land at Saint Peter's Fair in August 1143. By early October, the monks of the Abbey of Saint Peter and Saint Paul are in the newly acquired Potter's Field, setting the plow with a huge team of oxen to till the long fallow land. Soon into the work, they stop, having found what they least expect: the bones and long dark hair of a woman in her unblessed and unmarked grave. She has no marks of identity besides her hair, nor wounds to her bones to tell how she died. She held a cross made from twigs, the only sign she had been laid there by someone who wished her well. The civil authority and the monks must learn who she was, and how she came to her death. The field was a gift from the lord of Longner Manor to the Augustine Priory at Haughmond Abbey, who then traded it to the Shrewsbury Abbey, as it was closer to them. For fifteen years, until fifteen months earlier, it was the home of a potter, Ruald and his wife Generys. Ruald is now a happy man in the monastery, finding his true calling. His wife is no longer in the area, abandoned by her husband's decision, not free to marry again, and not happy about her situation. Soulien Blount, novice monk, reports to Abbot Radulfus of the devastation of Ramsey Abbey, having survived the long walk. Learning of the local mystery, he shares the news that Generys was seen within the last three weeks, having sold her wedding ring to a silversmith in Peterborough as she and her new man flee the devastation of the Fens. Soulien shows the ring, given him for his sentimental attachment. This rules her out as the unfortunate woman now buried in the Abbey's cemetery, and frees Ruald of suspicion of being a murderer. Geoffrey de Mandeville is destroying towns in the Fens, and ejecting the Benedictine monks from their monastery at Ramsey, in his rebellion against King Stephen. Sheriff Hugh Beringar is on battle alert, if King Stephen calls for support. Britric of Ruiton, a pedlar of the area, used the empty cottage during Saint Peter's fair soon after it was abandoned. He shared it with Gunnild that year, a lovely woman not seen at this year's fair. He is the next suspect as murderer, and she as victim. Gunnild appears alive at the castle, releasing Britric, leaving the mystery of who is buried in the grave, and why Sulien acted in the release of each suspect. Hugh's armed force sets off to assist King Stephen on 3 November, against the anarchy in East Anglia. They return at the end of the month, no men lost. In Peterborough, Hugh learns that Sulien lied in part about how he got the ring. Sulien lies a third time to Hugh, Cadfael and Radulfus to save the honour of his family, and is ready to die for that honour. Hugh deftly discerns that Sulien does not know the truth, because he was not party to the death or burial. Cadfael argues that it is time to stop shielding Sulien's mother Donata, by sharing this matter with her now. At Longner manor, Pernel has the same idea, telling Donata of the local mystery; the two were alone after Sulien, no longer a monk, left to see the Abbot. Donata travels to the Abbey to tell Hugh, Cadfael, and Abbot Radulfus the story of the wager between her and Generys, the story of two identical cups, one with hemlock. Donata had not lain with her husband due to her illness for a few years. Generys sought help from her lord in persuading Ruald not to join the monastery. Generys and her liege lord Eudo Blount have an affair. Neither Donata nor Generys can bear sharing this man. Donata proposes the wager, the two conducting it so neither knows which cup has the poison. It is Generys in the grave, first buried by Eudo Blount, watched from afar by his younger son Sulien. After that, he joined the King's army in Oxford. The frail but steely Donata survives but feels she lost the wager. Hugh decides this case is closed unsolved for him, but the name of the dead woman must be given out publicly. Donata will tell the whole truth to Pernel and Sulien, but not to her son Eudo or her daughter-in-law. Radulfus can neither condone nor condemn; Donata is her own penance. Ruald accepts the few facts he is told, finally realising how he mistreated his wife in his pursuit of the cloistered life. Cadfael thinks long about it, saying "God's justice, if it makes no haste, makes no mistakes."〔Peters, Ellis ''The Potter's Field'' 1989 Chapter Fourteen〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Potter's Field (Peters novel)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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