Martin IV

(Simon de la Brie), Pope, was probably a native of Touraine, France, and of humble origin. He was educated at Tours, and there entered the Franciscan order. St. Louis, king of France, favored him, and gave him a position at the church of St. Martin. In 1262 he was created cardinal by pope Urban IV, and by pope Gregory X was appointed apostolical legate to the French court. He continued in this office under the popes Hadrian V, John XXI, and Nicholas III; but upon the decease of the last named (Aug. 22, 1280) he was elected successor in the papal chair in 1281, through the influence of Charles of Anjou, king of Sicily and Naples. The "Sicilian Vespers" (q.v.), in 1282, having ejected Charles of Sicily, Martin came to the support of his royal friend with all his influence, and even by the spiritual censures he had at his command sought to maintain French domination in Sicily. He excommunicated Peter of Aragon, whom the Sicilians had elected king; but his excommunication was of no more avail than the arms of the Angevins, for the Sicilians stood firm against both. Martin also excommunicated the Byzantine emperor Michael, and by this measure widened the breach between the Greek and Latin churches. He died in 1285, and was succeeded by Honorius IV. It is to the use of the censures of the Church in the unpopular cause of Charles of Anjou that many Church historians ascribe the decline and ultimate extinction of the authority in temporals which the papacy had hitherto exercised. Not only did he lower the popular esteem of the papal authority, but he made himself a laughing-stock by his rashness and inability to make good his threats. Letters of this pope are found in D'Achery, Spicileg. 3:684. His biography (Vita) was written by Bernard, Grindon, and by Muratori. See Muratori, Annali d'ltaclia, 7:435-442; Artaud de Montor, Hist. des soueraains Pontifes Romains, 3:55-63; Bower, Hist. Popes, 6:324; Hefele, Conciliengesch. 6:188 sq.; Leo, Gesch. v. Italien, vol. 4. (J. H. W.)