62 pages • 2 hours read
Kevin SandsThe Blackthorn Key
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 8-11Chapter Summaries & Analyses
“Saturday, May 30, 1665: The Feast of the Burning of Joan of Arc, Heretic”
Chapter 8 Summary
Christopher makes more burn cream for Master Benedict before he and Tom go up to the roof. Later, Tom goes home, and Christopher falls asleep. He wakes at six, preparing the shop for opening. There is no answer when he calls at Master Benedict's door, and he goes in to check on his master, who is not there. No neighbors have seen him, and Christopher starts to worry. In the street, Margaret Willis, Baron Cobley's servant, calls to Christopher. She needs a refill of an emetic, so Christopher takes her inside to get it, then writes up the account in the leger. More customers come in for Christopher to serve. Finally, Master Benedict comes back.
While serving a customer, Master Benedict notices something outside that disturbs him. He calls angrily to Christopher, who joins him at the counter. Master Benedict is angry that Christopher did not collect Baron Cobley's account and strikes Christopher's jaw. He gives Christopher coins and sends him to the Exchange for natron, as well as on several other errands. Christopher goes, stunned that Master Benedict would hit him. Not only is this unlike Master Benedict, but he is also sure that Master Benedict never asked him to collect the account. He is also confused because natron comes to market on Wednesdays, and it is Saturday. When he arrives at the Exchange, they don't have any natron, and Christopher is unable to find it elsewhere.
Christopher returns to the workshop tentatively to find the back door unlocked. Someone has left the fireplace tongs in the oven, and he goes to pull them out, burning himself. Next to the oven, he notices a jar of madapple seeds. Concerned that the shop is silent, Christopher moves toward the door and sees liquid beneath it. He follows tracks from the liquid, noticing that the shop has been closed and locked. Against the counter, he sees Master Benedict's body: tied up, slit open, and dead.
Chapter 9 Summary
Christopher unties Master Benedict and lays him out. Neighbors begin to gather. The soldiers from the day before come in with Lord Ashcombe, who questions Christopher. Christopher explains that he untied Master Benedict. He tells them that Master Benedict usually went out until midnight but did not so the previous day, though Christopher doesn't know why. He further explains that Stubb threatened Master Benedict. Lord Ashcombe asks if Master Benedict was religious and loyal to the king; Christopher says yes. Lord Ashcombe then takes a book, The Saints of Roman Catholic Virtues, down from the shelf and questions Christopher about what his master read and taught him. Christopher replies that he read books on many subjects.
Then, Lord Ashcombe asks if Master Benedict talked about the Cult of the Archangel. Christopher remembers the name from the raving man in the street and becomes anxious, explaining that his master didn’t believe there was a cult. Next, Lord Ashcombe asks about the last customers, an apprentice with red hair and a wealthy man with a black wig. Trying to identify them, Christopher proposes looking at the ledger, but it is gone. Instead, he sees the strongbox, emptied of its money. Lord Ashcombe notices the ledger on a shelf near some lemon juice but cannot read it. Christopher knows it is written in code and explains that the last entry is a reminder to purchase more supplies, but he is lying. When someone enters and Lord Ashcombe turns away, Christopher rips out the page.
Chapter 10 Summary
Christopher puts the ledger page into his waistband as an older man comes in, followed by two others. He recognizes them as part of the Apothecaries' Guild Council: Sir Edward Thorpe, Valentine Grey, and Oswyn, the man who invited Christopher to become an apprentice and who strictly examined him when he joined the Guild.
The four men talk. Sir Edward believes that the Guild is being attacked. Lord Ashcombe responds sharply to Oswyn, calling him a Puritan. Despite the unpopularity of Puritan beliefs, which go against the king's beliefs, Christopher remembers Oswyn's kindness to him when he was taking the test and likes him anyway. Lord Ashcombe asks the men about the Cult of the Archangel, but before they can fully respond, Stubb comes in. He asserts a claim to the shop, which enrages Christopher. When Christopher tells him that he has no rights, Stubb demands that Lord Ashcombe arrest him for assault because Christopher threw eggs at him the other day. However, when Christopher explains what happened, it seems trivial to the Guild members.
Lord Ashcombe and the Guild members question the claim Stubb has made for the shop. Stubb once again says that Master Benedict stole his secrets, and Christopher calls him a liar. Sir Edward responds that it is a matter for the Council and that they will review Master Benedict's will. He then tells Christopher to come to the Guild Hall on Monday to discuss his future. In the meantime, he will need somewhere else to stay. Christopher has nowhere else to go and worries about the pigeons, but Oswyn tells him that someone will care for the pigeons and that the shop is no longer his to worry about. Christopher tries to take his cube, but Stubb says he is stealing it; even when Christopher explains, Sir Edward tells him that apprentices do not have belongings and that its owner will be decided when they read the will. Stubb tells the men to search Christopher, which terrifies him—he still has the ledger page in his waistband. However, the Guild members think this is ridiculous.
Chapter 11 Summary
Tom's father, William Bailey, initially refuses to let Christopher stay at the bakery because of the expense. Tom's mother, Mary, finally intervenes and lets him stay. She gives Christopher some of Tom's old clothes to wear. Washing up, Christopher is alone for the first time since finding Master Benedict's body and starts to feel the extent of his grief and fear. Christopher realizes that, by sending him on useless errands, Master Benedict actually kept him alive. He stares at the ledger page, knowing there is a message for him there and that Master Benedict died in order to write it for him. Christopher swears that he will solve the puzzle and find the murderer.
Chapters 8-11 Analysis
As the Cult of the Archangel strikes by killing Master Benedict, Sands continues to provide narrative tension through plot twists. When Master Benedict hits Christopher and speaks to him harshly, both Christopher and the reader know that something has gone wrong. This is confirmed as Christopher finds his master murdered. Although it is unclear how Master Benedict’s actions relate to this murder, Christopher will later realize that his master mistreated him to protect him. This gave him a smokescreen to hide behind, drawing the murderer away from Christopher.
This confusion of motives—whether Master Benedict is good or bad, or whether he loves or hates Christopher—is reinforced by the shifting narrative roles major characters take on during the early chapters of the novel. The book’s title, The Blackthorn Key, leads readers to believe that Master Benedict is a major character in the book. Of course, he is—but he also happens to be dead for most of it. This makes his murder surprising, giving Christopher a mission. While previously Christopher found the apothecaries’ murders intriguing and somewhat worrisome, this incident makes it impossible for him to sit innocently by anymore. Knowing that Christopher is both curious and brave, the reader can anticipate that he will become involved in the search for Master Benedict’s murderer. At this point, the vague mystery in the background of the narrative now turns into Christopher’s quest. Master Benedict’s murder has served as a call to action for Christopher, which he accepts at the end of Chapter 11 as he swears to solve the puzzle and find the murderer.
People’s hidden sides, as well as the hidden meaning of their actions, play an important role in The Blackthorn Key. Just as Master Benedict is initially presented as the hero of the book, before a plot twist shows that Christopher is the true hero, so too does Sands play with the reader’s expectations of Stubb. As Stubb confronts the apothecaries in the shop, he takes on an antagonistic attitude: greedy, impolite, and accusatory. When he dies shortly afterward, the reader realizes that he was not the murderer—that this was yet another red herring. Similarly, Sands distinguishes between and among the adults in these scenes carefully. Although Stubbs has power over Christopher, the Guild members have power over him, and Lord Ashcombe has power over them all. As Stubbs makes accusations in the store, the consequences Christopher will face depend entirely on what those above Stubbs believe. This allows Christopher to escape being arrested for assault or searched as a thief.
Larger social tensions also come directly into play for the first time in this section as the conflict between Catholics and different sects of Protestants emerges. Lord Ashcombe represents the Protestant king in power, as indicated when he questions Christopher about the book of Catholic saints in the shop. On the other hand, Oswyn—while in power as a Guild Member—has a more precarious position as a Puritan, a strict Protestant denomination. Just as with the social hierarchy, Sands depicts the religious hierarchy in London at this time as tense and potentially dangerous for those who are not “correctly” placed.
Sands indicates his position on this by showing the importance of independent actions despite hierarchical constraints. In this section, Christopher takes the ledger page instead of giving it to Lord Ashcombe. While the “correct” and lawful action would have been to pass this on to the king’s officer, Christopher knows that his master meant for only him to see this page. This will pay off in later chapters as it allows Christopher to find both the Archangel’s Fire and Master Benedict’s murderer. For the moment, neither Christopher nor the reader knows if this was an appropriate action to take. Nevertheless, Christopher’s relationship with Master Benedict, and his own inner wisdom, allow for hope that his actions will pay off.
