ACCOLTI, BENEDETTO

ACCOLTI, BENEDETTO. — Cardinal Archbishop of Ravenna. Born in Florence on 29 October 1497, died there on 21 September 1549. A learned humanist, he pursued a brilliant ecclesiastical career: abbreviator of apostolic letters, bishop of Cádiz (1521) and of Cremona (1523); after having been secretary to Clement VII, he was finally created cardinal (1527), and in 1532 succeeded his uncle Pietro Accolti in the archbishopric of Ravenna. In the same year he was entrusted with the legation of the March of Ancona, which two years later he had to relinquish because of his poor administration. In April 1535, Paul III had him confined in Castel S. Angelo, instituting proceedings against him. But in October he was released, upon payment of a sum of money, through the intercession of Cardinal Gonzaga and Charles V. He wrote various works in prose and verse. His death was believed to be mysterious.

Giuseppe Sanità