Brunetto Buonaccorso Latini (1212?-1294), Italian poet and encyclopedist, born in Florence, Italy. Latini was an active member of the political faction known as the Guelphs, a party that supported the papacy and opposed the rule of the Holy Roman Emperors. He was also a teacher of Italian poet Dante, and is immortalized by Dante in The Divine Comedy for teaching 'how man can win eternal fame' (Inferno XV, 85). With his training in traditional rhetoric and strong nationalist feelings, Latini desired to popularize knowledge which until then had been handed down in the Latin and French works of French clerics.

Latini chose exile in France when he received news of the defeat of the Guelphs at the battle of Montaperti in 1260. His exile, probably spent largely in Paris, lasted until 1266 when a Guelph victory made it possible for him to return to Florence, Italy. The rest of his life was spent there in a series of professional and public posts.

Latini’s best-known works were composed during his exile in France. The Tesoretto (Little Treasury), an allegory consisting of 22 books of rhymed couplets of seven-syllable verse, was written in Italian about 1262. It was based on the medieval French poem Le Roman de la Rose. Dante drew upon this work, as well as Latini's subsequent encyclopedia Li livres dou trésor (The Treasure Books, 1262?-1266), in The Divine Comedy.

Latini, for the sake of tradition and popular appeal, chose Oïl (a French dialect of northern France) as the language for his Li livres dou trésor. It is based on Latin and Old French models, including Speculum universalis by French scholar Vincent of Beauvais. The book is in three parts. After a definition of philosophy and its divisions, Latini devotes the first part to a survey of world history beginning with the creation. It also surveys the natural sciences, drawing on Roman philosopher Seneca and English Benedictine monk Saint Bede. The second part treats the vices and virtues, derived in part from Nicomachean Ethics by Greek philosopher Aristotle. Finally, the third part discusses rhetoric (based on De inventione by Cicero), politics, and the institution of the podestà (city manager).