Religion and war

It always surprises me that people find it important to influence what other peoples believes. Please, don´t bother me with that. I would like to believe what I believe and I won´t bother you with it. So please don´t bother me. There was a time in history when believing the wrong religion could get you killed. If you were a Catholic in Protestant England in the 16^th century, you better be careful. There was a lot of animosity between Catholics and Protestants in that age. After Henry VIII created the Church of England in order to marry Anne Boleyn, a lot of people got killed. Henry VIII and Elizabeth I prosecuted the Catholics and (Bloody) Mary I the Protestants. Following the wrong religion could even be considered treason to the throne. A ghastly death awaited you, after a horrible time of torture and interrogation.

S.J. Parris' "Heresy" is set in these uncertain times. The hero of the book – Bruno – used to be a monk in Italy. Caught on the toilet with a book by Erasmus he escapes the monastery in order to escape the Inquisition ("Nobody escapes the Spanish Inquisition. It weapons are…" – sorry). On the run for the Inquisition he finally makes it to England. Bruno has these strange ideas of the Earth circling the sun. Therefore he's asked to be part of a royal party to Oxford to participate in a dispute at Lincoln College. Secretly he is also asked to investigate a possible Catholic plot to overthrow the Queen. In Oxford, Bruno is accommodated at Lincoln College. The rest of the royal assembly stays in Christchurch. But not before long a horrible murder takes place at Lincoln. And Bruno is in front. The man – a fellow of the College – is torn to pieces by a hunting dog. Bruno does something of an investigation, but both the rector and another fellow are not co-operative. He receives some mysterious letters, encounters the beautiful daughter of the rector and is ridiculed during the dispute. He does realize that the murders resample a book by Foxe, a favorite author of the rector. Foxe's book writes about people who died for their faith. The first murder looks like St. Ignatius (who found his death in the Colloseum); the second death like St. Sebastian (who looked like a porcupine); the third death like another saint. All men died in horrible ways. The hidden Catholic priest of Lincoln College dies the most horrible death on the scaffold at Tyburn, London. It has something to do with hanging, cutting off his privates, cutting out his intestines and at last beheading.

Il Sodoma, "HI. Sebastian und
 Madonna mit Heiligen"  (1525)

In the end Bruno finds the Catholics in Oxford, but he isn't convinced that they pose a threat to the throne. As he was prosecuted and excommunicated for reading the wrong books, he doesn't want to be the cause of their death. His view is actually quite modern. The other characters in the book are more than willing to kill for what they believe is right. Whether this is the Protestant or Catholic faith.

 
So besides a mystery of who murdered three people in Lincoln College, this book is also about religious intolerance. That makes it kind of sad. Bruno is a changed man at the end of the book. He had small hopes of making a academic name for himself in Oxford. He is a philosopher after all. Now he is in service of Elizabeth as a spy. His life will never be the same.