BENEDETTO

ACCOLTI (1415–1466)  , Italian jurist and historian, 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, in 1459, became chancellor of the Florentine republic . He died at Florence . 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 (Venice, 1432, translated into Italian, 1543, and into French, 1620), which, though itself of little interest, is said to have furnished Tasso with the historic basis for his Jerusalem Delivered . Another work of Accolti's—De Praestantia Virorum sui Aevi—was published at Parma in 1689 . His brother Francesco (1418–1483) was also a distinguished jurist, and was the author of Consilia seu responsa (Pisa, 1481); Commentaria super lib. ii. decretalium (Bologna, 1481); Commentaria (Pavia, 1493); de Balneis Puteolanis (1475) .