Benedetto Accolti the Elder

Benedetto Accolti (1415–1466) was an Italian jurist and historian.

He was born at Arezzo, in Tuscany, of a noble family, several members of which were distinguished like himself for their attainments in law.

He was for some time professor of jurisprudence in the University of Florence, and on the death of the celebrated Poggio Bracciolini, in 1459, became chancellor of the Florentine republic.

Accolti was so great a master of the Latin language, that he was called the 'Cicero' of his age. His memory was uncommonly retentive. Having, one day, heard a speech delivered by an ambassador from the king of Portugal to the senate of Florence, he afterwards repeated it, word for word.

In conjunction with his brother Leonardo, he wrote in Latin a history of the first crusade, entitled "De Bello a Christianis contra Barbaros gesto pro Christi Sepulchro et Judaea recuperandis libri tres" (1432), or "On the War carried on by the Christians against the Barbarians, for the Recovery of Christ's Sepulchre, and of Judea", which is said to have furnished Tasso with the historic basis for his "Jerusalem Delivered". Another work of Accolti's, "De Praestantia Virorum sui Arretii", was published at Parma in 1689; in this work, which passed through many editions, the author compares the characters of the moderns to the ancients, in order to prove that the former are in no respect inferior to the latter.

His brother Francesco was also a distinguished jurist. His son Pietro became a cardinal, while younger son Bernardo was a notable poet.

References

*1911
*genbio|Accolti, Benedetto

ee also

*Accolti, other members of the family