Braccio da Montone – condottiero

Soldier of fortune briefly ruled Perugia

Braccio da Montone is considered
one of the greatest of all condottieri

Military leader Braccio da Montone, who is considered one of the greatest of the Italian condottieri who fought in the 14th and 15th centuries, died on this day in 1424.

He had a lifelong rivalry with another condottiero, Muzio Attendolo Sforza, and during the first quarter of the 15th century all the major Italian cities either hired Braccio or Sforza to carry out their military action.

The rapid movements of Braccio’s troops became legendary and he founded a military school, which became known as ‘the Braccesca’. This had a major impact on Italian warfare. Braccio’s men employed tactics such as speed, shock and the rapid rotation of small units on the battlefield.

Braccio was born Andrea Fortebraccio into a wealthy family in Perugia in 1368. He began his military career as a page, but after his family were exiled from Perugia and they lost the castle of Montone, he entered the company of the condottiero Alberico da Barbiano, which was where he first encountered Muzio Attendolo Sforza.

He fought for the Malatesta and Montefeltro families in Romagna and was injured during the siege of the castle of Fossombrone in 1391. In 1394 he was taken prisoner and held briefly in the Rocca of Umbertide, but he was released after a ransom was paid.

In 1398, Braccio was hired by Pope Boniface IX to fight in the war against Perugia. In 1406 he was fighting against Perugia again, along with other exiles who had joined his army and helped him ravage the Umbrian countryside. In 1407 the citizens of Rocca Contrada gave him the seigniory of the town in exchange for his support against the marquess of Fermo.

Braccio da Montone's great rival, 
Muzio Attendolo Sforza

The Antipope John XXIII assigned Braccio the fiefdom of Montone and the governorship of Bologna. He invaded and conquered most of Umbria with his sights set on the town of his birth, Perugia. At the battle of Sant’Egidio in 1416, his troops were victorious and Perugia was finally forced to open its gates to Braccio da Montone. Other Umbrian states then named him as their lord.

His conquest was legitimised by Pope Martin V in 1420, who granted him the title of papal vicar. He was then finally able to rule Perugia, the city that had exiled him and his family years before.

Braccio married Elisabetta Ermanni with whom he had three daughters. After her death in 1419, he married Niccolina Varano, who bore his first son, Carlo, in 1421. He later had a son out of wedlock, Oddo, who also became a condottiero.

In the 1420s, Braccio and Sforza found themselves on opposite sides again. Queen Joan II of Naples and King Alfonso V of Aragon were fighting against the Pope’s chosen ruler, Louis III of Anjou. Braccio was fighting for Queen Joan, who gave him the fiefdoms of Capua and Foggia, while Sforza headed the Angevin army.

The rival condottieri died within a few weeks of each other in 1424 during a campaign in Abruzzo. First Sforza drowned and then Braccio died a few days later after being wounded in the neck in battle against Sforza’s son, Francesco, who was to go on to become a famous condottiero and Duke of Milan.

The Pope had Braccio buried in unconsecrated ground because he had died while excommunicated, having chosen to fight for Queen Joan. But In 1432, Braccio’s nephew, Niccolò Fortebraccio, had his body moved to the Church of San Francesco al Prato in Perugia. After Braccio’s death, the ownership of Umbria reverted to the papacy.

From its hilltop location, Montone offers some
spectacular views of the surrounding countryside

Travel tip:

The village of Montone in Umbria, from which Braccio da Montone derived his name, is on top of a hill, about 40km (25 miles) from Perugia. Montone was named ‘uno dei 100 borghi piu belli d’Italia’, one of the 100 most beautiful villages in Italy. The Rocca di Braccio, Braccio’s castle, was restored after its destruction in 1478 by Pope Sixtus IV. The village was at the height of its splendour in the early part of the 15th century, when Braccio made it his fiefdom.

The Church of San Francesco al Prato,
where Braccio da Montone is buried

Travel tip:

The Church of San Francesco al Prato, where Braccio da Montone was finally laid to rest, is in Piazza San Francesco at the end of Via dei Priori in Perugia. It was founded by Franciscans in the 13th century and was built in the shape of the upper Basilica of St Francis in Assisi. It became known as ‘the Pantheon of Perugia’ because it received the remains of the city’s most famous people, whose families commissioned works from such great artists as Perugino, Pinturicchio and Raffaello.

Also on this day:

1412: The birth of Ludovico III Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua

1830: The birth of soldier and brigand Carmine Crocco

1898: The birth of shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo

(Picture credit: Montone view by trolvag; Church of San Francesco al Prato by Demincob via Wikimedia Commons)

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