ACCOLTI, BENEDETTO

BENEDETTO ACCOLTI. — Cardinal archbishop of Ravenna. Born in Florence on 29 Oct. 1497, died on 21 Sept. 1549. A learned humanist, he pursued a brilliant ecclesiastical career: abbreviator of apostolic letters, bishop of Cadiz (1521) and of Cremona (1523); after serving as secretary to Clement VII he was finally created cardinal (1527), and in 1532 succeeded his uncle Pietro Accolti as archbishop of Ravenna. In the same year he received the legation of the Marca Anconetana, which he had to relinquish two years later because of misrule. Paul III, in April 1535, had him confined in Castel S. Angelo, instituting a trial against him. Yet in October he was released, upon payment of a sum, through the intercession of Cardinal Gonzaga and Charles V. He wrote various works in prose and poetry. His death was regarded as mysterious.