MUSSATO, ALBERTINO. — Scholar, born in Padua in 1261, probably to Alberto Mussato, but died in Chioggia on 31 May 1329. He was a skilled diplomat, a politician endowed with keen insight, a lover of his country and of freedom, a truthful and impartial historian, and a pre-humanist poet. He began his career as a lawyer, was knighted in 1306, and undertook several missions to the Emperor. Between 1302 and 1303, he was part of a Paduan legation sent to Boniface VIII against the Inquisitors.
In 1315, in Padua, he was awarded the poetic crown for his literary works. He dissuaded his fellow citizens from a revolt against Cane della Scala, but once war broke out, he distinguished himself in battles near Marostica, Vicenza, and Lonigo. Taken prisoner, he was treated humanely by Cane. After a truce was signed between the belligerents, he returned to Padua and wrote the history of the events in which he had taken part. When war flared up again, he rendered further important services to the Paduans both as an advisor and as one of the four elders charged with preserving the State’s liberties. Yet all this did not save him from their unjust suspicions. Exiled to Chioggia, he died there.
Various works by him are published in RIS, X (1730): Historia Augusta de rebus gestis Henrici VII Caesaris; De gestis Italicorum post Henricum VII Caesarem; Ludovicus Bavarus; De traditione Patavii ad Caesarem Grandem; the Latin tragedies: Ecerinis and others; poems, epistles, elegies, eclogues, dialogues. His style is easy and elegant.