The Pillars of the Earth

For anyone lamenting the end of Masterpiece's Downton Abbey, The Pillars of the Earth offers a view of the grittier side of English history. The story is set in the 11th Century, before the English became quite so refined, during the struggle for the crown of England between two of William the Conqueror's grandchildren, Stephen and Maud. At this time religious orders where amassing great estates, and this makes up another one of the subplots in the series. In the arc of history these religious estates would eventually be expropriated by Henry VIII, and handed out to become the foundation of many of the vast private estates in England. Thus the source of the name Downton Abbey, which by the early 20th century was a private home, but would have originally start out as the seat of a religious order.