Beccadelli, Antonio (1394-1471)

Italian poet. He came to fame in 1425 when he published his collection of Latin poems Hermaphroditus. Containing poets that explicitly avowed homosexual love, the book was condemned by the Church and copies publicly burnt, though he was widely admired by scholars and patrons and found work at the courts of Pavia and Naples.

He was born in Palermo - in Latin, Panormus, from which he took his pen-name - and studied law and classical poetry in several northern Italian cities 1420-34. His collection Hermaphroditus was dedicated to Cosimo de' Medici, who, despite the church's condemnation of the work as immoral, was happy to accept the dedication. Beccadelli's scholarship and literary skill were admired and he was offered a post at the court of Pavia. He then moved to Naples, where he spent the rest of his life in the service of Alfonso (I) the Magnanimous. In 1455 he composed De dictis et de factis Alphonsi regis/On the Words and Deeds of King Alfonso, which became a source of the legend of Alphonso's magnanimity.