Casoni erred, therefore, in stating that he was executed in 1582, as also Tuano who fixes it in 1560, in which he is followed by Konning and Bayle. Nor less inaccurate are Pagano Paganini, Cesare Caporale, Chevalier Marini, Scipione Ammirato and Crescimbeni who tell us that he died by fire, since his body was only burned after death. We know that the _Biblioteca Civica_ of Genoa contains some rhymes of an ascetic character which are usually attributed to Bonfadio, at the end of which a marginal note says that he died in prison July 20th, 1561. This raised doubts about the year of his death and some have argued that he was not beheaded at all but died a natural death. A little experience in reading ancient manuscripts will enable any one to see at a glance that this note belongs to a period much later than the sixteenth century. Nor can that record by an unknown amanuensis be compared for authenticity with the catalogue of the condemned kept by the _Compagnia della Misericordia_. We pass over the rhymes. Except a few sprightly lines, they show the devoted ardour of a monk rather than the philosophic penetration and chaste diction of Jacopo. The cause of his severe punishment was from the beginning involved in obscurity, and the lapse of centuries has seemed to increase rather than dissipate the darkness. He has been accused of dishonourable and illicit love and of having disclosed state secrets. Others tell us that powerful rivals in love caused his ruin, and still others that he had incurred the enmity of powerful families who instigated his arrest and condemnation. His biographers give us no light; rather they increase the confusion. But the opinion has prevailed that he was executed for illicit amours. The writers who maintained this opinion were of no great weight, and it is time to show the inconclusiveness of their judgment.