PICCOLOMINI, James, whose proper name was Ammannati, took that of Piccolomini in honour of his patron Pius II. He was born in a village near Lucca, in 1422. He became Bishop of Massa, and afterwards of Frescati; was made a cardinal in 1461, under the name of Cardinal of Pavia; and died in 1479, at the age of fifty-seven, of an indigestion, occasioned by eating too freely of figs. His works, which consist of some Letters, and a history of his own time, were printed at Milan in 1521, in folio. His history, entitled Commentaries, commences with the 14th of June 1464, and ends with the 6th of December 1469. They may very properly be considered as a sequel to the Commentaries of Pope Pius II., which end with the year 1463.