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Revision as of 19:36, 5 October 2009 by JaGa (talk | contribs) (Fixing links to disambiguation pages using AWB)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Brother Eadulf is a fictional character created by Peter Tremayne (nom de plume of the Celtic scholar and author Peter Berresford Ellis). He has appeared in all but two of the Sister Fidelma series of mystery novels, set in 7th-century Ireland.
Background and History
A Saxon by birth from Seaxmund's Ham in the Kingdom of East Anglia, Eadulf was raised as a hereditary gerefa, or reeve, of his people. Eadulf was converted to Christianity by an Irish monk named Fursa sometime before the novels begin and subsequently studied first at Durrow then medicine at the great medical school of Tuaim Brecain in Ireland. He then undertook a pilgrimage to Rome to understand the differences between the ideas of the Church of Rome and those of the Church of Ireland, remaining there studying for two years and returning as a follower of Rome. In the novel Absolution by Murder, which is set during the Synod of Whitby, Brother Eadulf is part of the deputation from Canterbury to the Synod, where he meets Sister Fidelma for the first time. After the Synod's conclusion, both join a party to Rome. After the events of Shroud for the Archbishop in Rome, Fidelma returns to Ireland while Eadulf remains in Rome as secretary to the new Archbishop of Canterbury Theodore of Tarsus. Later, he is sent to Cashel as Theodore's emissary and is reunited with Fidelma in The Subtle Serpent. After the events of that novel, he returns to Cashel with Fidelma and in subsequent novels they become almost inseparable companions and collaborators.
Eadulf and Fidelma's intellectual and personal relationship develops throughout the series, despite another separation in which Eadulf (reluctantly and partly at Fidelma's insistence) intends to return to Canterbury. However, he almost never makes it back to Britain, as at the abbey of Fearna he is charged with rape and murder and almost hanged (a predicament from which Fidelma rescues him barely in time). Eadulf convinces Fidelma to accompany him to Canterbury, and after concluding his business with Archbishop Theodore, he returns to Ireland with Fidelma. In 667, they enter into a trial marriage of a year and a day, during which their son Alchu is born. In February 668, Eadulf and Fidelma celebrate a permanent marriage (see A Prayer for the Damned).
Role in the Series
Tremayne uses Brother Eadulf's status as an outsider to the Celtic communities in which many of his and Fidelma's cases take place to provide explanations about legal and cultural matters to his readers. This allows Tremayne to include many fascinating details about the history of the Celtic church and society, without overtly appearing to educate.
Being a foreigner, Eadulf's status in Ireland is originally that of cu glas (which translates as "grey dog"), meaning a person without legal standing or honor price; however, since his marriage to Fidelma (recognized and approved by her family), he now has an honor price of half that of Fidelma's but he is not entitled to make legal contracts without her permission (she is also responsible for any debts that he might incur) or have any legal responsibility in the raising of Alchu. Despite these legalities, he is treated as an equal and a friend and accepted as a member of Fidelma's family. After the events of Dancing with Demons in the winter of 669-670, he is made a member of the Nasc Naidh, an elite corps of bodyguards to the kings of Munster, by King Colgu and entitled to wear the golden torc of that order.
Brother Eadulf is a stolid man who provides a much-needed stability to Fidelma during emotionally difficult cases, and Fidelma has often admitted that Eadulf has an uncanny ability to see the obvious that she has overlooked. His medical knowledge and assistance is often very valuable as well, and on one occasion (after a "cram course" in the Law of the Fenechus) he acted as Fidelma's advocate to successfully get her released when she was charged with murder (see Valley of the Shadow), although his use of a bluff to get a witness to admit to lying shocked her sensibilities as a dalaigh.
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