Home > Gianfrancesco Poggio Bracciolini

Born near Arezzo, Italy, he studied at Florence and went to Rome about 1402. Pope Boniface IX made him one of the Apostolic secretaries, a position he held under Innocent VII, Gregory XII, Alexander V, and Antipope John XXIIIAntipope John XXIII antipope of the Pisan party (1400-1415), (about 1370 November 22, 1419), was born as Baldassare Cossa . Cardinal Baldassare Cossa was one of the seven cardinals who, in May of 1408, deserted Pope Gregory XII, and, with those belonging. The deposition of John XXIII in 1415 and the lengthy delays of the Council of ConstanceThe Council of Constance held from 1414 to 1418 in Constance, was an ecumenical council of the Christian Church. Its main purpose was to end the Papal schism which had resulted from the Avignon Papacy, or as it is sometimes known, the " Babylonian Captivi (1414-1418) gave him time to search the libraries of the monasteries of Germany and France for classical texts whose names were known to earlier humanists but which did not survive in Italy. He discovered long-unknown texts of CiceroFor other uses see Cicero (disambiguation Marcus Tullius Cicero ( January 3, 106 BC December 7, 43 BC) was an orator and statesman of Ancient Rome, and is generally considered the greatest Latin prose stylist. Biography Cicero was born in Arpinum and caug, QuintilianQuintilian c. AD 35- 95), Roman rhetorician, was born at Calagurris (now Calahorra) in Spain. Concerning his family and his life but few facts remain. His father taught rhetoric, with no great success, at Rome, and Quintilian must have come there at an ea, VegetiusVegetius (Flavius Vegettos Renatus was a celebrated military writer of the 4th century. Nothing is known of his life, station and military experience, save that in manuscripts he is called vir illustris and also comes''. His treatise, Epitoma rei militari, ManiliusMarcus Manilius (fl. 1st century AD) was a Roman poet, astrologer, and author of a poem in five books called Astronomica''. The author is neither quoted nor mentioned by any ancient writer. Even his name is uncertain, but it was probably Marcus Manilius;, Ammianus MarcellinusAmmianus Marcellinus thought by some to be the last Roman historian of worth, was born about A. 325330 likely at Antioch (the likelihood hingeing on whether he was the recipient of a surviving letter to a Marcellinus from a fellow citizen of Antioch)., VitruviusMarcus Vitruvius Pollio was a Roman writer, architect and engineer, active in the 1st century BC. He was the author of De Architectura known today as The Ten Books of Architecture a treatise in Latin on architecture, and perhaps the first work about this, Statius, and Petronius. He specialized in recognizing fragments of authors by their writing styles and revealing the lost works.

From June, 1453, Poggio was head of the chancery of Florence under the Medici.

In the way of many humanists of his time, Poggio himself wrote only in Latin, and translated works from Greek into that language. His letters are full of learning, charm, detail, and amusing personal attack on his enemies and colleagues. His history of Florence from 1350 to 1455 is much less interesting.

He died in Florence.