Michael of Cesena

Michael of Cesena was a Franciscan minister general and theologian involved in disputes over poverty and papal authority in the fourteenth century. His conflict with Pope John XXII placed him in one of the major religious controversies of the late medieval church.

Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose places Michael of Cesena within a narrative shaped by religion, belief and institutional authority, social change and the pressures of ordinary life, and exploration, travel and cultural encounter.