POGGIO BRACCIOLINI, pOd'jt, briVe116 le'nts. GIOVANNI FRANCESCO (1380-1459). A dis tinguished Italian scholar and author in the Renaissance period. He was born at near Florence. and after studying tinder John of Ravenna and Manuel arysoloras became a copyist of manuscripts. His skill in that pursuit attracted the attention of the leading Florentine scholars, and at the age of twenty-two he entered the service of Pope Boldface IX. as Apostolic Secretary. He served in the same capacity tinder the seven succeeding popes (1404-53), attended the Council of Constance in 1414, and was present at the trial and martyrdom of Jerome of Prague, of which he wroteanalmost sympathizing account. For the most part, however, lie seems to have cared little for the important political and ecclesias tical movements of the period, and is remembered chiefly for his persevering and successful re searches in various European monasteries where masterpieces of classic literature were lying un known. Among the manuscripts he thus recov ered were those of Quintilian (complete). the great philosophic poem of Lucretius, De Xatura Heroin, seven orations of Cicero, twelve plays of Plautus. the commentaries of Asconius Pedianus, the history of Ammianus Marcellinus. Petronius,
the Dialogus and Germania of 'Inc it us, and the fragment of Suetonius, Dc Grammaticis et Rhe lovibus. Among his own works, all of which arc in Latin, are a. collection of Letters (1437) ; va rious moral essays, including De Nobilitate Diu logos and De larictate Fortumr; Historia nor entina, written in imitation of the style of Livy; and his most famous work, Giber Facetiarum (ed. by 1. Lisieur, Paris, 1878), a collection of violent and often indecent diatribes against the monks and clergy. The most scurrilous are those against Valhi and Filelfo. with whom he was engaged in a long and bitter controversy. His works contain lively descriptions of the life and customs of va rious European countries. and valuable notes on the remains of antique art in Rome. Ile spent his last years at Florence, where he was chosen Chancellor. The material for the collection of French tales Cent nouvelles nouvelles (q.v.) was taken in part from the works of Poggio. His statue in the Cathedral of Florence is the work of Donatello. Consult the Life by Shepherd (Liverpool, l802), and Symond's Renaissance Italy.