Castiglionchio, Lapo da (1406-1438)

Italian humanist author, a native of Florence. He produced two tracts written in humanist Latin, Comparatio inter rem militarem et studia litterarum/A Comparison of Arms and Letters and De Curiae Commodis/On the Benefits of Court. He was a respected and prolific translator from Greek, producing versions of works by Plutarch, Lucian, and Isocrates, among others.

Castiglionchio dedicated his works to a range of leading figures, including Alfonso V, Cosimo de'Medici, and Humfrey, Duke of Gloucester. However, his dedications (letters or verse prefacing a literary work and presenting it to a particular person) outnumbered his works since he indulged in the practice of dedicating a text to more than one patron. For example, he presented one of his Plutarch translations to Pope Eugenius IV but he also dedicated the work to Cardinal Giordano Orsini.