Salvatore

Salvatore of Montferrat is an assistant of Remigio of Varagine. Like Remigio, he was a supporter of Fra Dolcino and has taken sanctuary in the abbey. Salvatore speaks an unusual mixture of several languages, including Latin, an Italian dialect, and others. To be brief, Adso of Melk describes his face and body as brutal and inhuman. He is taken into custody by Bernard Gui for using mysterious rituals to try to cast a love spell on a girl from the village, and Remigio blames him for cooperation in the murders. His bad Latin accidentally gives William and Adso the key to opening the finis Africae: he mentions a horse as “of the third” instead of “the third,” which helps William to get a conception of Venantius’s riddle (Venantius is a translator who worked in the scriptorium with Adelmo). Salvatore’s ridiculous language displays that even confusing and unintelligible signs can have some message.