Ammanati de' Piccolomini, Jacopo
AMMANATI DE' PICCOLOMINI, JACOPO
Cardinal, patron of the arts, papal official; b. Villa Basilica near Lucca, Italy, March 8, 1422; d. San Lorenzo, Sept. 10, 1479. Jacopo Ammanati, who came from a poor family, owed his advancement to his classical studies in Florence. Cardinal Domenico Capranica made him his private secretary in 1450. Subsequently, he became secretary of briefs under callistus iii and pius ii. Pius valued him highly, adopting him into the Piccolomini family, and investing him with the rights of a citizen of Siena. In turn he had great admiration for Pius and wrote a continuation of his Commentarii, which gives much information about the intrigues in the papal court. He was named bishop of Pavia in 1460 and cardinal in 1461. He soon disagreed with paul ii and was even imprisoned on a charge of conspiracy. In 1470 he was transferred to Lucca and named papal delegate to Umbria. Pope sixtus iv sent him as legate to Perugia in 1471. He was a conscientious ecclesiastic and a Christian humanist.
Bibliography: s. pauli, Disquisizione istorica della patria, e compendio della vita di Giacomo Ammanati Piccolomini (Lucca 1712). g. calamari, Il confidente di Pio II, 2 v. (Rome 1932). j. wodka, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche 2, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner, 10 v. (2d, new ed. Freiburg 1957–65) 1:439–440.
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