His registers have been published in the Bibliothèque des écoles françaises d’Athènes et de Rome (Paris, 1901).
See A. Potthast, Regesta pontif. roman., vol. 2 (Berlin, 1875); K. J. von Hefele, Conciliengeschichte, Bd. 6, 2nd ed.; F. Gregorovius, Rome in the Middle Ages, vol. 5, trans. by Mrs G. W. Hamilton (London, 1900-1902); H. H. Milman, Latin Christianity, vol. 6 (London, 1899); W. Norden, Das Papsttum u. Byzanz (Berlin, 1903); E. Choullier, “Recherches sur la vie du pape Martin IV.,” in Revue de Champagne, vol. 4 (1878); Processo istorico dell’ insurrezione di Sicilia dell’ anno 1282, ed. by G. di Marzo (Palermo, 1882).
Martin V. (Otto Colonna) (1417-1431) was elected at Constance on St Martin’s Day, in a conclave composed of twenty-three cardinals and thirty delegates from the five different “nations” of the council. Son of Agapito Colonna, who had himself become a bishop and cardinal, the new pope belonged to one of the greatest Roman families; to Urban VI. had been due his entry, as referendarius, upon an ecclesiastical career. Having become a cardinal under Innocent VII., he had seceded from Gregory XII. in 1408, and together with the other cardinals at Pisa, had taken part in the election of Alexander V. and afterwards of John XXIII. At Constance, his rôle had been chiefly that of an arbiter; he was a good and gentle man, leading a simple life, free from intrigue. While refraining from making any pronouncement as to the validity of the decrees of the fourth and fifth sessions, which had seemed to proclaim the superiority of the council over the pope, Martin V. nevertheless soon revealed his personal feelings by having a constitution read in consistory which forbade any appeal from the judgment of the sovereign pontiff in matters of faith (May 10, 1418). As to the reform, of which everybody felt the necessity, the fathers in council had not succeeded in arriving at any agreement. Martin V. himself settled a great number of points, and then passed a series of special concordats with Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England. Though this was not the thorough reform of which need was felt, the council itself gave the pope a satisfecit. When the council was dissolved Martin V. made it his task to regain Italy. After staying for long periods at Mantua and Florence, where the deposed pope, Baldassare Cossa (John XXIII.), came and made submission to him, Martin V. was enabled to enter Rome (Sept. 30, 1420) and measure the extent of the ruins left there by the Great Schism of the West. He set to work to restore some of these ruins, to reconstitute and pacify the Papal State, to put an end to the Schism, which showed signs of continuing in Aragon and certain parts of southern France; to enter into negotiations, unfortunately unfruitful, with the Greek Church also with a view to a return to unity, to organize the struggle against heresy in Bohemia; to interpose his pacific mediation between France and England, as well as between the parties which were rending France; and, finally, to welcome and act as patron to saintly reformers like Bernardino of Siena and Francesca Romana, foundress of the nursing sisterhood of the Oblate di Tor de’ Specchi (1425).
In accordance with the decree Frequens, and the promises which he had made, Martin V., after an interval of five years, summoned a new council, which was almost immediately transferred from Pavia to Siena, in consequence of an epidemic (1423). But the small number of fathers who attended at the latter town, and above all, the disquieting tendencies which began to make themselves felt there, induced the pope to force on a dissolution of the synod. Pending the reunion of the new council which had been summoned at Basel for the end of a period of seven years, Martin V. himself endeavoured to effect a reformation in certain points, but he was carried off by apoplexy (Feb. 20, 1431), just as he had designated the young and brilliant Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to preside in his place over the council of Basel.
See L. Pastor, Geschichte der Päpste (1901), i. 205-279; J. Guiraud, L’État pontifical après le Grand Schisme (1896); Müntz, Les Arts à la cour des papes pendant le xve et le xvie siècle (1878); N. Valois, La Crise religieuse du xve siècle; le pape et le concile (1909), vol. i. p. i.-xxix., 1-93.
(N. V.)
MARTIN, BON LOUIS HENRI (1810-1883), French historian, was born on the 20th of February 1810 at St Quentin (Aisne), where his father was a judge. Trained as a notary, he followed this profession for some time but having achieved success with an historical romance, Wolfthurm (1830), he applied himself to historical research. Becoming associated with Paul Lacroix (“le Bibliophile Jacob”), he planned with him a history of France, to consist of excerpts from the chief chroniclers and historians, with original matter filling up gaps in the continuity. The first volume, which appeared in 1833, encouraged the author to make the work his own, and his Histoire de France, in fifteen volumes (1833-1836), was the result. This magnum opus, rewritten and further elaborated (4th ed., 16 vols. and index, 1861-1865) gained for the author in 1856 the first prize of the Academy, and in 1869 the grand biennial prize of 20,000 francs. A popular abridgment in seven volumes was published in 1867. This, together with the continuation, Histoire de France depuis 1789 jusqu’à nos jours (6 vols. 1878-1883), gives a complete history of France, and superseded Sismondi’s Histoire des Français.
This work is in parts defective; Martin’s descriptions of the Gauls are based rather on romance than on history, and in this respect he was too much under the influence of Jean Reynaud and his cosmogonic philosophy. However he gave a great impetus to Celtic and anthropological studies. His knowledge of the middle ages is inadequate, and his criticisms are not discriminating. As a free-thinking republican, his prejudices often biassed his judgment on the political and religious history of the ancien régime. The last six volumes, devoted to the 17th and 18th centuries, are superior to the earlier ones. Martin sat in the assemblée nationale as deputy for Aisne in 1871, and was elected life senator in 1878, but he left no mark as a politician. He died in Paris on the 14th of December 1883.
Among his minor works may be mentioned:—De la France, de son génie et de ses destinées (1847); Daniel Manin (1860), La Russie et l’Europe (1866); Études d’archéologie celtique (1872); Les Napoléon et les frontières de la France (1874). See his biography by Gabriel Hanotaux, Henri Martin; sa vie, ses œuvres, son temps (1885).