The Name of the Rose: First Day Summary & Analysis

William and Adso approach an unnamed abbey somewhere in northern Italy, where William plans to attend a summit between the envoys of the Pope and Emperor. Adso admires the abbey’s Aedificium, an octagonal building constructed on a hill. The building includes four towers with seven sides each, five of which are visible from the outside. Adso admires the building’s proportions because these numbers are not just aesthetically pleasing, but symbolically significant: eight is a “number of perfection,” four is the number of Gospels, five is the number of zones in the world, seven is the number of the gifts of the Holy Ghost. Despite the physical beauty of the building, however, Adso also has a sense of “fear” and a “subtle uneasiness.”

William and Adso encounter Remigio of Varagine, the cellarer, who is searching for the abbot’s lost horse, Brunellus. William amazes both Adso and Remigio when he is able to accurately deduce the horse’s name, appearance, and which way it has gone. On their walk up to the abbey, William explains to Adso how he was able to assess the evidence and come to this conclusion. William saw footprints in the snow. Because the prints were small and the gallop was regular, he deduced that the horse had a steady gait. He knew that it took the right path because some twigs of a blackberry bush on that side of the road had been broken off at a height of five feet when the horse had turned in that direction.

William was able to accurately describe the horse’s appearance (small head, sharp ears, big eyes) because those are the most valued physical traits in horses, which the abbot’s favorite horse would naturally possess. And finally, William knew that the horse was called Brunellus because that is the stock name for a horse in the writings of the famous Paris theologians.

William and Adso arrive at their destination. As they enter through the courtyard, Adso notices that the Aedificium is much older than the other buildings around it. They are greeted by Abo of Fossanova, the abbot. Abo thanks William for finding his horse, and asks him about his past, when he worked for the Inquisition. William explains that he believed the Devil sometimes worked through the judges as well as the accused, an allegation that seems to make Abo uncomfortable. He also tells Abo that he was reluctant to condemn people because he could never believe that the Devil was working through the defendants. After all, “reasoning about causes and effects is a very difficult thing” at any time, let alone in judging a matter of such importance, and he believes the only true judge is God. 

Abo appears somewhat disturbed by William’s arguments. Nevertheless, he requests William’s expertise as a detective and inquisitor in solving a mystery: a monk named Adelmo of Otranto, who illustrated manuscripts in the scriptorium, recently fell to his death from the Aedificium. The case particularly disturbs Abo because it is not clear whether Adelmo fell or was pushed: the windows were closed, so he might not have thrown himself off the top of the tower. The top floor of the Aedificium, which houses the library, is forbidden to all monks except the librarian. Abo worries that an “evil force, whether natural or supernatural,” is at work in the abbey. He doesn’t think any of the abbey’s one hundred fifty servants could have committed the murder, because they are also forbidden to enter the Aedificium at night, so he fears that one of the monks is the guilty party.

William agrees to help, provided that he is given the authority to move freely throughout the abbey and question everyone involved. Abo grants this permission, but insists that the library will remain off-limits. He explains that the abbey’s library is different than any other, in that it has one of the largest collections of books in Christendom, and monks come from all over the world to study and copy its manuscripts. Because the library has thousands of books from many different cultures and traditions, some of the books contain “falsehoods,” and thus only the librarian is permitted to enter the library and fetch the books requested. This is because “not all truths are for all ears” and “not all falsehoods can be recognized as such,” Abo explains. The library is secret and impenetrable because the knowledge it contains might be dangerous to its readers.

Adso contemplates the door of the church, which is decorated with elaborate carvings of Biblical figures. At the center is a figure of God seated on a throne with a Bible in his hands, surrounded by carvings of twenty-four ancient kings dancing in ecstasy. Although Adso is first transported with joy, he then sees that the interwoven figures at the base of the pillars include diabolical figures such as a “voluptuous woman…gnawed by foul toads,” a “proud man” with a devil on his shoulders, and creatures from “Satan’s bestiary,” such as sirens, hippocentaurs, and gorgons.” Adso is horrified and fascinated by the images, and comes to feel that “the vision was speaking precisely of what was happening in the abbey.” Over the next few days, he returns several times to contemplate the door.

Adso’s reverie is broken by the appearance of Salvatore of Montferrat, a vagabond-looking monk and former Franciscan who speaks an odd combination of several different languages including Latin, Provençale, and the local Italian dialect. William asks him if, as a Franciscan, he knew the “so-called apostles,” but Salvatore goes pale and runs away.

William introduces Adso to Ubertino of Casale, a Franciscan who has taken refuge at the abbey because his views on the poverty of Christ have put him out of favor with the Pope. Adso explains Ubertino’s background: he is a Spiritualist, meaning he belongs to a faction of the Franciscans who advocate for a return to absolute poverty and a renunciation of worldly goods. Ubertino tells William that “they were on the point of killing [him]” at the Pope’s court in Avignon. 

William and Ubertino greet each other warmly and seem to be old friends. Ubertino tells William that he disassociates himself from Spiritualists like the “Pseudo Apostles,” who lived in the hills and raided villages for food, preaching free love and abolition of property. William points out that these people were friends of Clare of Montefalco, a nun with whom Ubertino was very close, but Ubertino angrily denies any connection with them. His primary objection to the Pseudo Apostles is their sexual practices (they advocated for free and love and abolition of marriage) which Ubertino considers sinful.

Ubertino accuses William of weakness in his prosecution of heretics: he believes that William was overly lenient when he worked as a judge for the Inquisition. Ubertino also has some less-than-kind words for Adelmo, whom he accuses of “pride of the intellect.” In his eyes, scholarship has made William “idolize reason” and lose his prophetic capacities. Ubertino, on the other hand, believes that the Last Judgment is at hand. To prepare for the coming of the Antichrist, he advises William to “mortify your intelligence, learn to weep over the wounds of the lord, throw away your books.” Before they part, William asks Ubertino about Salvatore and Remigio: Ubertino admits that they were once followers of a “heretical” group as well.

William and Adso meet Severinus of Sankt Wendel, the herbalist, who gives them a tour of the abbey. On the tour, they see that the kitchen is on the ground floor of the Aedificium, and that the scriptorium and the library are on the top floors. In the infirmary, Severinus explains how he protects the dangerous herbs that can induce visions. Afterwards, William and Adso visit the scriptorium, where they meet Malachi of Hildesheim, the librarian: he is tall and thin and there is something “upsetting about his appearance.” Adso thinks that his face looks as if he had “many passions which his will had disciplined.”

William and Adso also meet Berengar of Arundel, Malachi’s assistant. They also meet Venantius of Salvemec, a translator, and Benno of Uppsala, a rhetorician. Malachi explains that the library is a labyrinth and only the librarian knows its secrets. The catalogue indicates where the books are stored, but only he knows how to retrieve them.

Malachi shows them Adelmo’s now empty desk. Adelmo’s marginal illustrations are very creative and unusual, including one drawing of two baboons kissing, Adso thinks that these drawings “naturally inspired merriment, though they were commenting on holy pages.” The other monks gather around and begin laughing at Adelmo’s drawings. They are interrupted by Jorge of Burgos, an aged and blind monk. Jorge thinks that Adelmo’s illustrations are “nonsense,” and that they turn the “masterpiece of creation” into the subject of laughter. William argues that marginal images provoke laughter for useful purposes, keeping people interested and engaged in the religious content.

Jorge accuses Adelmo of taking pleasure in the “monsters he painted,” and of following the “path of monstrosity” himself. Venantius speaks up and defends Adelmo, revealing that Jorge had debated with Adelmo on the topic of laughter just before his mysterious death. Adelmo argued that it is better to use corporeal things to convey the truth of God, because corporeal things are more easily understood than images of the divine. According to Venantius, Adelmo had said he remembered reading something in the works of Aristotle on this point. Jorge sharply cuts Venantius off when he mentions Aristotle, saying that he does not remember this conversation.

Venantius persists, however, insisting that Berengar had also participated in the conversation. Berengar also denies remembering; Venantius suggests that he should remember a conversation involving his “dear” friend, alluding to a particular closeness between Berengar and Adelmo. Jorge warns William and Adso that the Apocalypse is at hand, and that they should not squander the last seven days by laughing.

Before they leave the scriptorium, Malachi tells William and Adso that there are no doors between the kitchen and the scriptorium: thus it would have been possible for someone to enter the scriptorium at night, despite the abbey’s prohibition. William and Adso explore the rest of the abbey and talk with Nicholas of Morimondo, the master glazier. Nicholas is very impressed with William’s glasses, and William praises the capacity of science to improve human life. Although he admits that people of his own age are dwarves on the shoulders of giants, at least when it comes to science, “we sometimes manage to see farther on the horizon than they.” Nicholas points out that “many would speak of witchcraft and diabolic machination” when faced with new technologies, and William confesses that he avoided using his glasses when he worked for the Inquisition, since he knew that he might be accused of being in league with the devil himself. William expresses concern that technology might fall into the wrong hands, and that people might use technology for ill ends such as waging war.

Afterwards, William hypothesizes that Adelmo’s death had something to do with his intimate relationship with Berengar. He also believes that many people have tried to enter the library at night, and that Adelmo may have killed himself. This is because it is the simplest explanation, as it would have been far easier for Adelmo to throw himself from the top of the tower than for someone to have killed him and hoisted his lifeless body out the window.

At dinner that night, William and Jorge argue again about laughter. Jorge asserts that Christ never laughed, so neither should anyone else. William points out that, actually, the Scriptures are silent on the subject of whether Christ laughed or not (they just don’t mention it)—and in fact there is no reason why he shouldn’t have laughed, since “laughter is proper to man.” William also gives several examples of jokes in the Christian tradition: for instance, Saint Lawrence told his executioners to “eat, for it is well done,” as they roasted him on a spit. Jorge replies that this merely proves that laughter is “something very close to death.”

Abo says that the librarian locks all the doors to the Aedificium at night. William asks him how the librarian gets out, but Abo “glares at him” and says stiffly that the librarian obviously does not sleep in the kitchen. William deduces from this evidence that there must be a secret entrance to the Aedificium. And indeed, that night, William and Adso see Malachi emerging from the chapel, suggesting the entrance must be in the crypt. Adso asks William whether he plans to break into the library, and William says that he is only trying to evaluate as many possibilities as he can.