SPINELLI, NICCOLÒ. — Jurist, born perhaps at Giovinazzo between 1320 and 1325, died at Pavia (?) after 1396.
He first taught at the University of Padua around 1350–1351, and then at Bologna. He was sent by Giovanni d'Oleggio, lord of Bologna, to Cardinal Albornoz from 1 to 23 September 1355. In 1357 he went, on behalf of the city, to the Pope to obtain the revocation of the interdict. In 1360 he represented Giovanna I d'Angiò at Avignon. He favored the restoration of papal rule in Bologna. From 1360 he collaborated with Albornoz and for a certain period was his representative at Avignon. In reward for his services he received the castle of Montenovo. He was an advocate of the Apostolic Camera around 1365 and an agent of Giovanna I d'Angiò auprès the Pontiff in 1366. Following this latter assignment, he permanently closed his school in Bologna. In February 1367 he appears in a document with the title of grand chancellor of the Kingdom of Naples. He was sent by Urban V to negotiate with the Florentines (1367), in order to obtain Florence’s support for the Pope, who intended to come to Italy, but he achieved no satisfactory results. Seneschal of Provence in 1370, captain general of Piedmont in 1372, plenipotentiary—first papal and then Angevin—at the Congress of Sarzana (1378). On the occasion of the schism he supported the opponents of Urban VI, supporters of Clement VII. Captured by Carlo di Durazzo when the latter imprisoned Giovanna I d'Angiò, he was held in Castel dell'Ovo together with her (1381). This marked the collapse of his fortunes; following the confiscation of his property came the bull of 4 August 1383, by which he was declared deprived of certain vicariates in Romagna and the Marches. In September 1383 he was free, at Taranto, in the company of Luigi d'Angiò; he then went to France (1384), where he was staying in the winter of 1394–95. Finally, he left the Angevins and entered the court of the Visconti, where he died.