The real progenitor of the house of Strozzi was however an Ubertino who lived early in the XIIth century. He had two sons, Strozza, and Geri who was killed in the battle of Montaperti. Amongst the descendants of the latter were Tito Vespasiano, and Lucia (the mother of Matteo Bojardo, author of _Orlando Innamorato_), they were born at Ferrara, where their father, an exile, had entered the service of the Duke. Tito was the favourite pupil of Guarino Veronese, and his name as an elegant Latin poet stood so high that Aldus Manutius collected and published his works. His son, Ercole, was also well known as a writer of Latin verse, and only became a convert to the use of the vulgar tongue owing to his friendship with Bembo. He was one of the wits and scholars who formed the brilliant court of Lucrezia Borgia after she became Duchess of Ferrara. But one June night the poet was found dead, pierced with twenty-two wounds, and as no judicial enquiry was made, rumour accused both the Duke and the Duchess of the deed. Alfonso, out of jealousy of his wife, whose praises Ercole sang in impassioned verses; Lucrezia, because her poet had recently married Barbara, widow of Ercole Bentivoglio. Ciriaco, one of Geri’s many descendants, travelled for some years in the East, and on his return to Florence took his degree as Doctor of Law and opened a school for the teaching of Greek and peripatetic philosophy. In 1535 he was invited to teach in the University of Bologna, and afterwards Cosimo I. summoned him to Pisa. His name, now forgotten, was once lauded to the skies for his attempt to complete the Politics of Aristotle by writing the two lost books. The work was published in Florence in 1563, and a translation appeared in Paris in 1600, as well as an introduction to Aristotle’s Ethics. The gentle fair-faced Maddalena Doni, painted by Raphael, was another descendant of Geri Strozzi, and Caterina, the nun who left the celebrated Strozzi library to the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo in 1786 was the last of this line.