ALAMANNI, Luigi, Italian poet: b. Flor ence 1495; d. 1556. His father was zealously devoted to the party of the Medici, and he him self stood in high favor with the Cardinal Giulio, who governed in the name of Pope Leo X ; but conceiving himself to have been injured he joined a conspiracy formed against the life of the cardinal. The plan was discovered; Ala manni fled to Venice; and when the cardinal ascended the papal chair, under the name of Clement VII, he took refuge in France. But the misfortunes which befell this Pope giving Florence an opportunity to become free, Ala manni returned thither in 1527. His country sent him on an embassy to Genoa. Here he became the friend of Andrea Doria with whose fleet he went to Spain. Charles V soon after sailed in the same fleet from Spain to Italy to arrange the affairs of Florence and subject it to the Medici. After this new revolution, Ala
manni, now proscribed by the Duke Alessandro, went to France (1530) where the favors of Francis I retained him. Here he composed the greater part of his works. The King esteemed him so highly that after the peace of Crespy in 1544 he sent him as ambassador to the Emperor Charles V. Alamanni discharged his office with great skill. He was held in like estimation by Henry II, who also employed him in several negotiations. He followed the court and was with it at Amboise, where he died in 1556. His principal works are