Even in such troubled times, the Abbey holds the feast in honour of its own Saint Winifred, whose remains were taken (translated) from Wales four years earlier in the first of these tales, A Morbid Taste for Bones.

Cadfael removed Winifred's remains from the casket, returned them to her Welsh soil and replaced them with the body of a monk who died on their mission to seek the holy bones.

Among the pilgrims streaming into the Abbey is the widow Dame Alice Weaver with her crippled nephew Rhun and his sister, Melangell.

Ciaran is under vow to walk barefoot to Aberdaron in Wales to die in peace, hampered by a great iron cross around his neck and protected by a bishop's ring.

Setting a net to catch the thieves, Beringar meets Olivier de Bretagne, messenger from the Bishop's conference, whom Hugh first met when they worked together to save the Hugonin children.

Beringar breaks up a crooked dice game, and recovers a ring stolen from Ciaran, which is found on the hand of local man Daniel Aurifaber, who bought it from Simeon Poer.

Near dawn on the day of the procession, Ciaran tells Melangell that he is leaving Shrewsbury for Wales now that his "safe-passage" ring is returned to him.

He prays in complete silence; when he steps back, his foot whole and fully functional, and the church is filled with praise for the saint who has performed this miracle.

Ciaran, once in Bishop Henry's service, tells how he stabbed Bossard, wrongly believing that his master would condone the impulsive crime.

During the course of the story, King Stephen, having been captured by Robert of Gloucester at the Battle of Lincoln (February 1141), is now imprisoned in Bristol by the Empress Maud.

[6] The plot, which takes place in June 1141, also details the unsuccessful attempt by Maud and her brother Robert to have her crowned in London, where she took the title Lady of the English, one step before coronation.

[8] As this novel explains, Maud made herself extremely unpopular by the strictures of her government, her arrogant disposition, and her demands for money.

[9][10][11] Queen Matilda, wife of King Stephen, takes over the leadership of his armies while her husband is imprisoned, and does well in keeping up the pressure against the forces of the Empress.

As he promised in the previous novel, Dead Man's Ransom, Hugh Beringar took Caus Castle from the Welsh of Powys, so it could no longer be used as a base for raids into Shropshire.

The religious festival is keyed on the events of the first novel, A Morbid Taste for Bones, carrying (translating) the holy relics from Wales to the Abbey.

The neutrality of this monk in the political scene is strengthened by the contrast between the two young men now most important in Cadfael's life—his son Olivier and Sheriff Hugh Beringar.

Not all clerics or monastics in that era were neutral, of course, highlighted by the actions of King Stephen's brother, Henry, Bishop of Winchester.

The reviewer finds that rich secondary characters add to the plot: The celebration of St. Winifred, in The Pilgrim of Hate, is usually a time of great rejoicing at the Benedictine abbey in Shrewsbury.

Even in 1141, with the political factions of Empress Matilda and King Stephen engaged in bloody civil war, the faithful come to Shrewsbury to honour the Saint and pray for miracles.

A colourful cast of well-drawn secondary characters adds richness and depth to a plot that examines joys of faith, as well as the evils of guilt and vengeance.

The latest was issued in the US by Thorndike in September 1999, followed by a large print soft cover edition in the UK by Chivers in 2000.

Twelve audiobooks on cassette or CD have been released, by various readers, including Sir Derek Jacobi, Stephen Thorne, Roe Kendall, Vanessa Benjamin.

[15] The Pilgrim of Hate was adapted by Carlton Media and WGBH Boston for ITV as the last episode of the fourth season of Brother Cadfael.

In this version, a well-aged corpse is found in the baggage of the pilgrims on St. Winifred's day, and its identity, not the murder of a faraway knight, becomes the subject of the mystery.

Crippled Rhun (here named Walter), far from being one of Cadfael's most promising future novices, confirms Father Abbot's suspicions that he is only faking his condition to earn the charity of those around him; his sister Melangell has been forced by guilt to wait on him hand and foot, even stealing to support their needs.