Alberico Gentili (14 January 1552 – 19 June 1608) was an Italian jurist, a tutor of Queen Elizabeth I, and a standing advocate to the Spanish Embassy in London, who served as the Regius Professor of Civil Law at the University of Oxford for 21 years.

[note 5] He also authored numerous books, which are recognized to be among the most essential sources for international legal doctrines, yet that also include theological and literary subjects.

At their first halting place, Ljubljana, Matteo, doubtless through the influence of his brother-in-law, Nicolo Petrelli, a jurist high in favour with the court, was appointed chief physician for the duchy of Carniola.

Early in 1580, Alberico set out for England, preceded by a reputation that procured him offers of professorships at Heidelberg and at Tübingen, where Scipio was left to commence his university studies.

Alberico reached London in August, with introductions to Giovanni Battista Castiglione, the Italian tutor to Queen Elizabeth I. Gentili soon became acquainted with Dr Tobias Matthew, the Archbishop of York.

In 1584, he was consulted by the English government as to the proper course to be pursued with Bernardino de Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador, who had been detected in plotting against Elizabeth.

He chose the topic to which his attention had thus been directed as a subject for a disputation when the Earl of Leicester and Sir Philip Sidney visited the schools at Oxford in the same year; and this was six months later expanded into a book, the De legationibus libri tres.

While less studied than his earlier works, De armis Romanis has been the focus of recent scholarly attention by Christopher N. Warren, Diego Panizza and others.

All the books mentioned above are available in modern editions or reprints: Giovanni Minnucci (a cura di), De papatu Romano Antichristo Recognovit e codice autographo bodleiano D'Orville 607, Studi e Testi, nº 17, Milano, Archivio per la Storia del diritto medioevale e moderno, 2018, p. CLXII+352.

[citation needed] The statue of Alberico Gentili is a monument made by Giuseppe Guastalla in 1908 in view of the third centenary of his death.

[citation needed] The plaque added in 2009 briefly mentions the story: Alberico Gentili, who died in London in 1608, was the first to advocate humane treatment for Prisoners of War.