Niccolò Acciaioli was an Italian noble, a member of the Florentine banking family of the Acciaioli. He was the grand seneschal of the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

 and count of Melfi

Melfi

Melfi is a town and comune in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.-Geography:On a hill at the foot of Mount Vulture, Melfi is the most important town in Basilicata's Vulture, both as a tourist resort and economic centre.-Early history:Inhabited...

, Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, and Gozo

Gozo

Gozo is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago...

 in the mid-fourteenth century. He was the son of Acciaiolo, a wealthy Florentine merchant. He had a sister by the name of Andrea Acciaioli

Andrea Acciaioli

Andrea Acciaioli was an Italian noblewoman, a Countess of Altavilla in the 14th century. Born in Florence she was a friend of Giovanni Boccaccio, and the person to whom he dedicated his book On Famous Women.-Life:...

.

Niccolò was sent to Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

 by his father in 1331 and there he rose in influence and power under King Robert

Robert of Naples

Robert of Anjou , known as Robert the Wise was King of Naples, titular King of Jerusalem and Count of Provence and Forcalquier from 1309 to 1343, the central figure of Italian politics of his time. He was the third but eldest surviving son of King Charles II of Naples the Lame and Maria of Hungary...

 and the exiled Empress Catherine II

Catherine II of Valois, Princess of Achaea

Catherine of Valois was titular Empress of Constantinople from 1308 to her death as Catherine II, Princess consort of Achaea from 1332 to 1341, and Governor of Cephalonia from 1341 to her death.-Life:...

 of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

. The king made him a knight and gave him the title of Grand Seneschal. Likewise, Catherine and her children granted him and his family many estates in the Morea

Morea

The Morea was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. It also referred to a Byzantine province in the region, known as the Despotate of Morea.-Origins of the name:...

. He assisted Catherine's son Louis of Taranto in reconquering the Principality of Achaea

Principality of Achaea

The Principality of Achaea or of the Morea was one of the three vassal states of the Latin Empire which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thessalonica, along with the Duchy of Athens, until Thessalonica...

 and, on 23 April 1358, he was appointed lord and castellan of Corinth and eight other fiefs in the remnant of the Latin Empire in Greece

Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...

 by the emperor Robert II

Robert of Taranto

Robert II of Taranto , of the Angevin family, Prince of Taranto , King of Albania , Prince of Achaea , Titular Emperor of Constantinople ....

. He was present at the marriage between Robert's daughter, Joan I

Joan I of Naples

Joan I , born Joanna of Anjou, was Queen of Naples from 1343 until her death. She was also Countess of Provence and Forcalquier, Queen consort of Majorca and titular Queen of Jerusalem and Sicily 1343–82, and Princess of Achaea 1373/5–81....

, and Louis and after the latter's death (1362), he struggled against the rebellious barons who sought to overthrow Joan and supported Louis I of Hungary.

A lover of art and letters, he was a friend and protector of Petrarch

Petrarch

Francesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...

 and Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio

Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...

. In 1362, the latter was his guest at Naples. In a preserved letter from himself to his cousin Angelo Acciaiuoli Senior, the bishop of Florence, he defended himself against the charges levelled at him by his opponents, giving unique insight into his character and that of 14th century Italian politics. He left four sons: Lorenzino, Angelo

Angelo Acciaioli

Angelo Acciaioli II or Angelo Acciaioli junior was an Italian Catholic cardinal.- Biography :Born in Florence, Angelo was elected bishop of Rapallo in 1375, but in 1383 he was transferred to the see of Florence where he had been preceded by a previous family member many years before, Angelo...

, Lorenzo, and Benedetto. He was succeeded in his titles and holdings by his son Angelo, who made his cousins vicars of his Greek estates. He was buried in the Certosa del Galluzzo which he himself had built in Florence.

The famous florentine writer and historian Matteo Palmieri

Matteo Palmieri

Matteo di Marco Palmieri was a Florentine humanist and historian who is best known for his work Della vita civile which advocated civic humanism, and his influence in refining the Tuscan vernacular to the same level as Latin. He was sent as Florentine ambassador to the court of Alfonso of Naples...

 wrote a biography of him, which was translated to Italian by Donato Acciaioli.

Sources