Brother Columbanus

A monk of Shrewsbury Abbey. He is a young, ambitious monk. He is given to extremes of emotion in display of his spiritual feelings, and is in service under Brother Cadfael in the herbarium. He is the younger son of an aristocratic Norman family, fair haired and strong, age 25, and less than a year since "tonsured", that is, took his vows. While yet a monk, he is shown to be a man who puts his ambition over honesty and moral behaviour