The Name of the Rose is itself a recounting of events as experienced by Adso of Melk, a Benedictine novice (a Franciscan one in the 1986 film adaptation) who travelled under William's protection.
Years before the main events of the novel, as an inquisitor, Brother William presided at some trials in England and Italy, where he distinguished himself by his perspicacity along with great humility.
In one of his most consequential cases, William refused to condemn a man on charges of heresy, despite the demands of the inquisitor Bernardo Gui.
Despite his appeals to the Pope, William was imprisoned and tortured until he recanted, in turn leading to the translator's death by burning at the stake.
In 1327, William and Adso travel to a Benedictine monastery in Northern Italy to attend a theological disputation between the Franciscans and Papal emissaries on the poverty of Christ.
The name itself is derived from William of Ockham and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's book The Hound of the Baskervilles.