This is the first biography of one of the outstanding humanists of the fifteenth-century Renaissance. Benedetto Accolti´s interests ranged from rhetoric, humanism and Italian poetry to Roman law, from historical thought and medieval antiquarianism to the crusades and church history, and his work as a scholar, author and historian is placed in a wide context stretching from antiquity to the eighteenth century. The intellectual, political and economic milieu of Accolti´s native city of Arezzo, neglected in modern scholarship, is explored, and the importance of Accolti´s career as chancellor of Florence, his role in bringing the new learning to the chancery and his work as an administrative reformer are recognized for the first time. Florence´s response to the Turkish menace and contribution to papal crusading efforts are reinterpreted, and new information regarding Accolti´s connections with leading Florentine patricians is brought to light.