Poggio Bracciolini

Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459), known as Poggio, was a humanist and manuscript hunter born near Arezzo. Recommended by Salutati and Bruni, he became a cardinal's secretary in 1403 and joined the Roman Curia a few months later, eventually serving seven popes.

Searching German, Swiss and French monastic libraries, he recovered forgotten classics—Lucretius' De rerum natura, Quintilian's Institutio Oratoria and lost speeches of Cicero; his elegant book hand shaped the new humanist script.

After five years in England (1418–1423), he returned to Florence in 1453 as chancellor, succeeding Carlo Marsuppini. He died in Florence in 1459, leaving the satirical Facetiae and an unfinished history of Florence.