Set in 12th century England, a time of great poverty and war, The Pillars of the Earth takes place in the fictional town of Kingsbridge as it begins the construction of a Cathedral to assure wealth and security for its people. Philip, a monk, becomes the prior of Kingsbridge abbey. Jack, an ambitious architect, is commissioned to build the village cathedral. Aliena and her younger brother Richard, have to survive on their own; after their father, the Earl of Shiring, is incarcerated and murdered. Meanwhile, Prior Philip's rivals, Bishop Waleran and William Hamleigh, a vengeful noble rejected by Aliena, see the town and its rise to importance as a thorn in their flesh. They want to see Kingsbridge burn.
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