Alberico de Rosate

(Or ROSCIATE).

Jurist, date of birth unknown; died in 1354. He was bom in the village of Rosate (Rosciate) in the district of Bergamo, and was of humble parentage. He studied law at Padua where he gained the degree of Doctor, without, however, becoming a teacher. He passed his life at Bergamo where he was a lawyer and took part in various public affairs. He was employed in particular by Galeazzo Visconti of Milan, and after Galeazzo's death by Lucchino Visconti and Lucchino's brother John, Bishop of Novara. In 1340 he was commissioned by the bishop to go as his envoy in important matters to Pope Benedict XII at Avignon. In his later years Rosate devoted himself especially to scientific literary labours. The last certain report concerning his life belongs to the year 1350, when he went with his sons to Rome to attend the jubilee. His writings won him a high reputation, especially among practical jurists. Special mention should be made of his commentaries on the "Digests" and the "Codex", which were often printed later, as at Lyons (1517, 1545-48); the "Opus Statutorum" (Como 1477; Milan, 1511); and the "Dictionarium", a collection of maxims of law as well as a dictionary, which was often reprinted.

J.P. KIRSCH