Giovanni Francesco Poggio Bracciolini, an Italian scholar, born at Terra Nuova, near Arezzo, about 1380, died in Florence, Oct. 30, 1459. In 1414 he attended Pope John XXIII. at the council of Constance, as apostolic secretary. In 1416 he engaged in searching the ancient monasteries for manuscripts, and recovered seven orations of Cicero, and a great number of other classical writings. He accompanied Cardinal Beaufort to England, returned to Italy in 1421, became apostolic secretary to Martin V., and served several popes in the same capacity. On the appearance of the plague at Rome in 1450 he withdrew to Florence, where he was chosen chancellor in 1453. His "History of Florence" (translated by his son Jacopo from Latin into Italian) comprises the period from 1350 to 1455. Among his most finished productions is his "Dialogue on Nobility." His works have not yet been properly collected, the Basel edition of 1538 being imperfect. His biography, by the Rev. William Shepherd (Liverpool, 1802), was translated into Italian, German, and French.