The Hermit Of Eyton Forest Brother Cadfael 14 Ellis Peters by Ellis Peters 9781784080648, 1784080640 instant download after payment.

On 18 October 1142, Richard Ludel, lord of Eaton manor, dies of wounds sustained at the battle of Lincoln in February 1141. Ludel had appointed Abbot Radulfus of Shrewsbury Abbey as guardian of Ludel's 10 year old son Richard. Brother Paul informs Richard that he is orphaned, and has become lord of Eaton manor. As Richard is a minor, Sheriff Hugh Beringar has charge of the manor lands for King Stephen, with the steward John of Longwood running the manor. His grandmother, Dame Dionisia Ludel, does not believe in education for a lord. Her goal is to marry the boy to Hiltrude, daughter of Fulke Astley, who will inherit the estates on either side of Eaton manor: Wroxeter and Leighton.

Dame Dionisia gives the hermit Cuthred and his helper Hyacinth a disused hermit's chapel. The two are present at the funeral of Richard's father. Otherwise, Cuthred never leaves his hermitage.

In November, Eilmund, forester for the abbey, reports unusual damage in the Eyton Forest, and sends Hyacinth to tell the abbot that this is punishment for Richard being kept at the Abbey. Needing a friend, Richard approaches Hyacinth. They form a pact. Returning to the hermitage, Hyacinth saves Eilmund in Eyton Forest by rolling a fallen willow tree off him. Local men carry Eilmund to his assart. Hyacinth runs ahead to warn Annet, Eilmund's daughter, of his father's injury. She asks Hyacinth to fetch Cadfael to set her father's broken leg.