Jorge of Burgos (or Jorge de Burgos) is the main antagonist of Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose.
Character[]
A blind monk and one of the oldest monks within the abbey, Jorge is completely blind. He does not see this as a handicap but rather as an opportunity for his other natural senses (such as hearing) to be strengthened. He is an extremely steadfast opponent to the works of Aristotle (viewing them as a boon to God's kingdom) and is especially hateful towards Aristotle's views on comedy. He is an extreme dogmatist.
As such, this is the main driving force behind Jorge's crimes. His poisoning of the only known copy of Aristotle's book on comedy is driven by his desire to keep this work from ever being seen again. He is also a major mover-and-shaker within the abbey - controlling most of the events going on from the shadows.
History[]
Born in the city of Burgos in Spain, Borges was born in the 1420s (possibly, for he was in his eighties by the time of The Name of the Rose). According to rumours learned by William and Adso, Jorge had a gift for foreign languages from an early age. He joined the Order of St. Benedict as a young man and moved to an abbey in the mountains of northern Italy. Shortly after entering the abbey (a place of great learning with many secret passages), Jorge distinguished himself as a scholar and quickly found out its many secrets.
While Jorge was a candidate to become the next librarian (and therefore, a candidate for the position of abbot), Jorge visited Spain to claim more books on the Apocalypse. While there, Jorge discovered a copy of the second book of Aristotle's Poetics. Greatly disturbed by this work, Jorge shut it into the "finis Africae" - a series of tunnels within the abbey meant to hide those works which were thought to be harmful. His discovery of the books on the Apocalypse allowed him to briefly become the abbey (to the chagrin of another candidate for the position of abbot, the elder Alindaro).
Ten years after this, Jorge's eyesight began to fail and he was forced to step down as librarian. While Jorge was unable to keep the finis Africae from being discovered by future abbots, he still kept a large amount of control over the abbey. As such, he purposefully chose weak candidates for the position of abbot that would forever be dependant on him for advice.
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Notes[]
- Large parts of Jorge's character are based on Jorge Luis Borges. Like Jorge of Burgos, Borges was a librarian and scholar who went blind later in life. It is also possible that Jorge of Burgos' viewpoints were based off of Borges' support for the Argentine military junta (something he later changed his mind on) and his support for the Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet.
Sources[]
- Villians Wiki
- Wikipedia