ACCOLTI, Benedict, was born in 1415 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 in 1466. In conjunction with his brother Leonard, he wrote in Latin a history of the first crusade, entitled De Bello a Christianis contra Barbaros, pro Christi Sepulchro et Judaea recuperandis, libri tres, which, though itself of little interest, furnished Tasso with the historic basis for his Jerusalem Delivered. This work appeared at Venice in 1432, and was translated into Italian in 1543, and into French in 1620. Another work of Accolti’s— De Praestantia Virorum sui Aevi — was published at Parma in 1689.

ACCOLTI, Bernard (1465-1535), son of the preceding, known in his own day as l’ Unico Aretino, acquired great fame as a reciter of impromptu verse. He was listened to by large crowds, composed of the most learned men and the most distinguished prelates of the age. Among others, Cardinal Bembo has left on record a testimony to his extraordinary talent. His high reputation with his contemporaries seems scarcely justified by the poems he published, though they give evidence of brilliant fancy. It is probable that he succeeded better in his extemporary productions than in those which were the fruit of deliberation. His works, under the title Virginia, Comedia, Capitoli e Strambotti di Messer Bernardo Accolti Aretino, were published at Florence in 1513, and have been several times reprinted....