Ammanati, Giacomo

Ammanati, Giacomo also called Piccolomini, an Italian cardinal and historian, was born in 1422 at Villa Basilica, near Pescia, in Tuscany, of a noble family. He acted as papal clerk under Calixtus III. Pius II (Piccolomini) intrusted him with an important mission to Sigismund Malatesta, who finally made peace with the papal see. On account of his talents, learning, and energy, Pius II took a great liking to him, and received him into his family by adoption. In 1460 the same pope made him bishop of Pavia, and in 1461 cardinal (hence cardinalis Papiensis). Under Sixtus IV Ammanati received the archbishopric of Lucca and the cardinal-bishopric of Frascati. He died Sept. 10, 1479, at St. Lorenzo, near Bolsena. He wrote Commentarii Rertum suo Tempore Gestarum Libri VII, comprising the period from 1464 to 1469, and thus forming a continuation of the commentaries of pope Pius II. They were published, together with his Epistles, at Milan in 1506, and at Frankfort in 1614. See Paoli, Disquisizione Istorica della Patria e Compendio della Vita del Card. G. Ammanati Piccolomini detto il Papiense (Lucca, 1712); Voigt, Enea Silvio III (Berlin, 1863), p. 538 sq.; Stahl, in Wetzer u. Welte's Kirchen-Lexikon, s.v. (B. P.)