Jacopo Piccolomini-Ammannati (Paperback)

High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles Jacopo Piccolomini-Ammannati, or Giacomo Piccolomini (1422 - 10 September 1479) was an Italian Renaissance cardinal and humanist. He was born at Pescia (now in the Province of Pistoia). He was related to the Piccolomini of Siena. His literary and theological education he acquired in Florence. Under Pope Nicholas V he went to Rome, where, for a while, he lived in extreme penury. In 1450 he became private secretary to Cardinal Domenico Capranica; later Pope Callixtus III appointed him Secretary of Briefs. He was retained in this office by Pope Pius II, who also made him a member of the pontifical household, on which occasion he assumed the family name of Piccolomini. In 1460 he was made Bishop of Pavia by Pius II, and throughout the pontificate of the latter was his most trusted confidant and adviser. He exhibited paternal solicitude in the government of his diocese, and during his prolonged absences entrusted its affairs to able vicars, with whom he remained in constant touch.