Scholarium [Hardcover]

Claudia Gross (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 2004

An overcast, rainy night in Cologne. A neighborhood is wrenched suddenly from its sleep by piercing screams. As residents rush down to the street, they catch only the merest glimpse of a figure in a billowing cloak hastening from the scene. The master cloth-maker is about to set off in hot pursuit when he finds on the ground a book, a pair of sleeves, shoes, a shirt and hose; and the body of Frederico Casall, a Master of the Seven Liberal Arts and an impassioned champion of the teachings of Thomas Aquinas.

The Chancellor of the newly-founded university charges Konrad Steiner, another of the Masters in the Arts faculty, with the investigation of the crime. Who is behind it? Is the murderer a member of the faculty, an opponent of the philosophical tendency represented by Casall? Or is there any basis for the rumor that Casall's young and well-read wife, Sophie, might have had good reason to rid herself of him? Steiner finds himself confronted with a riddle that is more than philosophical when, shortly afterwards, Sophie vanishes without a trace...

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This taut medieval puzzle plunges deep into the philosophical battle between the Church and scholars who dared think outside biblical confines. Reminiscent of The Name of the Rose in atmosphere, with its images of ancient tomes chained to damp stone walls in nooks inhabited by myopic scholars, the scene is set with a pervasive cloud of impending evil hovering over the Cologne Scholarium. Master Casall's murderer sends perplexing riddles to the frustrated and suspicious faculty. Casall's widow and select students disappear, the prior stirs potions in a shack, and Master Lombardi hides a guilty secret. In the midst of the debate surrounding the murder, brilliantly timed accusations of witchcraft and sorcery emerge, and rumors fly about pagan sex rites on crumbling altars. Aside from some awkward translations and a tendency to drop unknown characters into conversations, Gross weaves a fascinating tapestry depicting the birth of the schism between church and state and showing how the search for truth becomes a life-and-death quest for a group of determined scholars. Jennifer Baker
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

Murder and philosophical controversy are intertwined in a dense web which keeps the reader trapped for a long time. -- Nordbayerischer Kurier

This book will keep you from falling asleep at night. Guaranteed. -- Bild

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Toby Press; 1st English Language Ed edition (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592640567
• ISBN-13: 978-1592640560
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,362,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Medieval Mystery, August 26, 2004

By 

Suzanne Epstein (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scholarium (Hardcover)

Set in Cologne, Germany, in the year 1413, this multi-layered book reveals the scholastic life of medieval Europe, as well as the role of women at that time. The book opens with the discovery of a body that proves to be that of one of the Masters of the Seven Liberal Arts. Clothes and belongings strewn about the scene, as well as a riddle contained in a book, suggest that the killer is issuing a challenge to identify him.

Scholarship in that time involved much philosophical debate among several different factions: the followers of Thomas Aquinas versus those who favor some newer ways of viewing life. Master Steiner is given the task of solving the riddle, and he enlists the help of his students.

Many characters are given distinct personalities and motivations. We meet Laurien, a young and poor student, full of innocence and the belief in truth; Lombardi is a young Master with a secret in his past and a passion for women and new ways of thinking. The widow of the murdered Master, Sophie Casall, hungrily devoured her husband's books and wants to find a way to continue learning, although women were discouraged from this highly impractical pursuit.

There are many twists and turns that make this book fairly complex. Latin phrases are sprinkled into the text, and their meanings are fairly evident even without translation. A second murder happens, and other mysterious events interweave, but everything comes together eventually.

Claudia Gross is a German woman who studied medieval philosophy, so I can only assume that she got all that right. This book was published several years ago in Germany, and has just been translated into English by Helen Atkins. Although I'm not a big fan of historical mysteries, this one had me turning pages as fast as I could.

4.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful historical mystery, October 27, 2011

By 

Srdjan Pesic (Minneapolis, Mn United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Scholarium (Hardcover)

Writing a historical mystery seems a daunting, almost impossible task. Creating a believable atmosphere, but not overwhelmed with details, respecting the archaic language, but keeping it fresh and alive, are some of the hurdles.
Claudia Gross, a scholar of medevil history manages to bring the 1413 Cologne back to our life. Her novel is a blend of fiction and mystery. There are murders, and there is the scholarium of philosophy. Ms. Gross introduces us to different schools of thought and theological prospectives. This is an original and thoughtful book that both educated and entertained us. Not an easy task.