MUSSATO, ALBERTINO. - Man of letters, born in Padova in 1261, probably to Alberto Mussio; died at Chioggia on 31 May 1329. He was a skilful diplomat, a politician endowed with the keenest insight, a lover of his country and of liberty, a truthful and impartial historian, and a pre-humanist poet. He began with the practice of law; in 1296 he was made a knight and undertook several missions to the Emperor. Between 1302 and 1303 he was a member of a Paduan legation to Bonifacio VIII against the Inquisitors.
In 1315, at Padova, he was awarded the poetic crown for his literary works. He dissuaded his fellow citizens from a revolt against Cane della Scala; but, when war broke out, he distinguished himself in fighting near Marostica, Vicenza, and Lonigo. Taken prisoner, he was treated humanely by Cane. Once a truce had been signed between the belligerents, he returned to Padova and wrote the history of the events in which he had taken part. When the war was rekindled, he again rendered important services to the Paduans as a counsellor and as one of the four elders entrusted with preserving the liberty of the State. But all this did not protect him from their unjust suspicions. Exiled to Chioggia, he died there.
Various works by him have been published in RIS, X (1730): Historiae augustae de rebus gestis Henrici VII Caesaris; De gestis Italicorum post Henricum VII Caesarem; Ludovicus Bavarius; De traditione Patavii ad Caesarem Grandem; the Latin tragedies Ecerinia and others; poems, epistles, elegies, eclogues, and dialogues. His style is easy and elegant.