Lawrence of Aquilegia

Lawrence of Aquilegia (Lorenzo di Aquileia) was a thirteenth-century Italian canon and teacher. He is best known for his treatises on the ars dictaminis—the medieval art of letter writing. Lawrence’s major works found inspiration in Ciceronian rhetoric but introduced a new phatic element to writing and include the Summa dictaminis edita iuxta doctrinam Tullii and the Practica sive usus dictaminis edita ad utilitatem rudium. The Practica is his most popular work and characterizes his pragmatic, phatic approach to letter writing through the use of tables.