[5] He was appointed Archbishop of Bari on 12 April 1367 by Pope Urban V.[6] He became an intimate advisor of Queen Joanna I of Naples.

[7] He was transferred to the diocese of Cosenza on 13 January 1377 by Pope Gregory XI;[8] his successor as Archbishop of Bari was Bartolomeo Prignano, who became Urban VI.

In April 1377 Brancaccio, Archbishop of Cosenza, and Matteo da Gesualdo were sent by Queen Joanna of Naples on a mission to the Signoria in Florence, to attempt to mediate in the war between Pope Gregory XI and the Florentine Republic.

In a deposition on the Schism, the Archbishop of Cosenza remarks that the Queen had no personal reason to prefer Robert of Geneva.

At the time of his promotion he held the office of Regens Cancellarium, making him second-in-command to Cardinal Pierre de Monteruc, the Vice-Chancellor.

[15] On 1 September 1398 at Villeneuve eighteen cardinals, among them Niccolò Brancaccio, published the retraction of their obedience to Benedict XIII.

The Conclave to elect his successor took place in Bologna from 15 to 17 May 1410, and again Niccolò Brancaccio was one of the seventeen cardinals who participated.

[20] Cardinal Niccolò Brancaccio died in Florence on 29 June 1412, and was buried in the church of Santa Maria Novella.