Niccolò Fortebraccio (1375–1435), also known asNiccolò della Stella, was an Italiancondottiero.
Born inSant'Angelo in Vado, he was the son of Stella, sister ofBraccio da Montone. His half-brother Oddo and his cousin Carlo were alsocondottieri.
In 1426 and 1429, he is mentioned at the service of theRepublic of Florence. On the latter occasion he was sent againstVolterra andLucca, but, together withGuidantonio da Montefeltro, he was defeated byNiccolò Piccinino in 1430. The following yearPope Eugene IV ordered him to recaptureCittà di Castello, but Fortebraccio was pushed back. Despite this setback, Eugene made himgonfaloniere of the Papal Army with the task to halt emperorSigismund's march inTuscany and to counter thePrefetti di Vico in theLatium. However, as Fortebraccio pursued mostly his personal interests, especially regarding the possession of Città di Castello, he was fired.
Having received acondotta by theVisconti of Milan, in 1434 he moved against Rome.Giovanni Vitelleschi was sent against him, but as he was called to quench a revolt inRomagna, Fortebraccio managed to captureTivoli. Eugene IV fled from Rome, a Republic, under theColonna aegis, being established in the city. Considering too great for him the lordship of Rome, Fortebraccio moved away. Escaped from a plot against him, he conqueredAssisi and married Ludovica da Battifolle.
After failing to adhere to the general truce which had momentarily ended the wars in Italy, a league was formed against Fortebraccio, under thecapitano generaleFrancesco Sforza. On 15 August 1435 Niccolò defeated and took as prisonerLeone Sforza, but on the following 23 AugustAlessandro Sforza routed him at the siege of Fiordimonte, nearCamerino. Wounded, blocked under his horse's corpse, Fortebraccio was abandoned to his agony by Sforza, until he died-killed byCristoforo da Tolentino.
