ACCOLTI, Francesco. – Known as l’Aretino, brother of Benedetto, born in Arezzo around 1416–1418, died in Siena in 1484 or shortly thereafter. He taught law at Ferrara from 1448 to 1461, except for the year 1455–56, during which he lectured at the Studium in Siena. From 1462 to 1466, he served as secretary to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan; after the duke’s death, he returned to teaching civil and canon law in Siena (1467–79), and later in Pisa (from 1479 at least until 1484).
He authored several legal works: commentaries on the Digest, *Consilia seu responsa*, commentaries on Book II of Gregory IX’s Decretals, and others. Contemporaries regarded him as the “prince of jurists,” perhaps more for his lectures than for his writings.
He was also active as a literary figure: he translated Leonardo Bruni’s *Guerra gotica* (Venice, 1528) and composed many poems in Italian. Some other works were erroneously attributed to him by later biographers.