Under the surface of this orderly community are countless secrets and rivalries.
The abbey’s scriptorium, the seat of all learning in the medieval monastic world, is also introduced. On the first day, the novel introduces the principal characters, the layout of the abbey, and the central conflicts within the Catholic Church, and between the Church and the imperial powers of the secular world. Each section is divided into periods corresponding to the strict liturgical hours in which Benedictine monks are awake, during which they are required to pray, study, eat, and work. The novel is divided into seven sections, each corresponding to the seven days that William and Adso stay at the abbey. The prodigious collection of books is at the heart of this mystery, for the library is forbidden to all but three men: the abbot, the librarian, and his assistant. He collects evidence, deciphers secret symbols and coded manuscripts, and explores the eerie labyrinth which protects the abbey’s library. His tools are the logic of Aristotle, the theology of Aquinas, and the empirical insights of Franciscan theologian and English philosopher Roger Bacon, whom he reveres. As the novel unfolds, several other monks die under mysterious circumstances, and William must play detective.
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