William of Baskerville

William of Baskerville is the protagonist of the novel Umberto Eco "The Name of the Rose," a fictional Franciscan monk. William came from England. He was studying at the Oxford and the University of Paris. To be more exact, William studied under the scientist and philosopher Roger Bacon. Like Bacon, he is a supporter of scientific knowledge of nature and the study of foreign languages. In the past, William was the inquisitor, a persecutor of heretics, and by the time of the novel - one of the main advisers of the emperor Ludwig of Bavaria. At the end of November 1327, he and Adso of Melk (Benedictine novice accompanying William) arrived in the Benedictine abbey in northern Italy. William's mission was the organization and participation in the negotiations between the delegates of Pope John XXII, on the one hand, and the general of the Order of the Franciscans, Michael of Cesena, his supporters at the papal court and "imperial theologians" (William represents them), on the other. In addition, abbot of the abbey asked William to find out the reasons for the death of one of the monks, Adelmo of Otranto, which soon was followed by several more deaths. He is preoccupied with the relationship between signs and their meanings, which makes him an ideal detective, able to look at the physical evidence, he sees in the world and devises plausible explanations. William reminds Sherlock Holmes. Adso of Melk noted such features as high growth, thinness, hooked nose. In addition, he could fall into a prolonged apathy, when nothing aroused his interest and chewed some grass to stimulate mental activity (aHolmes used tobacco and cocaine for the same purposes).