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Pope Martin V
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Martin V (1368-1431) was pope from 1417 to 1431. He was elected by the Council of Constance, which thus terminated the Great Schism of the West.
The man who was to become Pope Martin V was born in Genazzano, Italy, on Feb. 20, 1368. His name was Oddone Colonna, and he was the only member of that illustrious Roman family ever to be elected to the throne of Peter. He was made a cardinal by Innocent VII in 1405 and three years later, at the height of the quarrel between the Avignonese and the Roman claimants to the papal chair, withdrew his obedience from Gregory XII. Thereupon, in 1409, he participated in the Council of Pisa, which had been convoked in a desperate effort to end the schism. He voted in the election of Alexander V in 1409 and of John XXIII in 1410, hoping in each case, as did all men of goodwill, that the choice of the council would prevail and that the two reigning popes, Benedict XIII and Gregory XII, would accept the conciliar decision that they be deposed. They did not, and another council was convoked, this time at Constance (1414-1418).
After a long debate on electoral procedure, 22 cardinals and 30 delegates from the five nations represented chose Oddone Colonna as Pope Martin V. The election took place on Nov. 11, 1417. With the temporary exception of Aragon, all Western Christendom now recognized Martin V as the true and only vicar of Christ.
Before leaving for Rome, Martin made known his hostile feeling toward the possibility of future supremacy of councils over popes, implied during several sessions at Constance. On May 10, 1418, he ordered read in consistory the constitution which prohibited all appeals from the judgment of the pope in matters of faith.
Six days later, on May 16, Martin left Constance. His ultimate destination was Rome, but he could not go there at once because the roads were under the control of Braccio da Montone, a mercenary general. He spent some time in Mantua and Florence and arrived at Rome only on Sept. 28, 1420. He found the city in a shocking condition of decay. Rome and the entire states of the Church had fallen under petty despots in the long absence of firm papal control.
Martin V was not the man to permit such conditions to persist. Though the papal treasury was almost empty, he set about the task of restoring the Vatican and Lateran basilicas and of widening the streets. He commissioned Masaccio and Pisanello to paint frescoes in S. Maria Maggiore. He codified the laws of Rome and reorganized the Curia, incorporating it with the now leaderless Curia of Avignon. Poggio Bracciolini, a leading humanist, was put to work as papal secretary. To finance all this and the papal army, with which he successfully restored the papal territories to order, Martin was constrained to continue the vicious practice of selling Church offices.
With these projects under way, the Pope summoned a council to Pavia in April 1423 in obedience to the decree Frequens promulgated at Constance. One of the principal tasks of the Council of Pavia was an undertaking dear to the heart of the Pope: reunion of the Roman and Greek Churches, for which hope had been quickened by some of the sessions of Constance. All efforts failed, however; and when the delegates moved to establish the principle of conciliar superiority to popes, Martin quickly dissolved the council. It is fair to say that without Martin V's unswerving support of papal supremacy at a time when either road could have been taken, the Roman Church might well have changed from an authoritarian to a democratic institution. In a bull of 1425, the Pope proposed changes in the financing of the Curia, but this effort at reform found little support and died quickly.
It has been said that Martin V was a gentle man, and this judgment seems to be borne out by his many attempts, through correspondence and emissaries, to bring about peace between England and France, engaged at that time in the Hundred Years War. Obedient to the letter if not always to the spirit of Constance, Martin summoned another council, to meet in 1431 at Basel. On Feb. 20, 1431, shortly before the council was to meet, he died.
Further Reading
A thorough treatment of Martin V's struggle to restore papal control over Rome is Peter Partner, The Papal State under Martin V (1958). Volume 1 of Ludwig von Pastor's classic work on the papacy, History of the Popes from the Close of the Middle Ages (40 vols., 1891-1953), discusses the period of Martin V. For an understanding of the schism see Walter Ullmann, The Origins of the Great Schism (1948).
| Columbia Encyclopedia: Martin V |
Martin V, 1368-1431, pope (1417-31), a Roman named Oddone Colonna; successor of Gregory XII. He was created cardinal by Innocent VII, and in the schism (see Schism, Great) he attended and supported the decisions of the Council of Pisa (see Pisa, Council of). His election (Nov. 11, 1417) by the conclave at the Council of Constance (see Constance, Council of) as pope ended the schism. The election was greeted with almost universal joy and relief. Declining invitations to settle elsewhere, Martin made his way slowly to Rome (1420) and set about rehabilitating the city and the Papal States. His chief concern was the consolidation of the restored Church unity and the papal prestige, and to this end he made concordats with various rulers. More significant was his denunciation of the conciliar theory (i.e., that councils are supreme in the Church) that had gained wide following at Pisa and Constance. Nevertheless he followed the wishes of the last council and summoned a new one; this met at Pavia (1423), moved to Siena, and accomplished nothing; Martin dissolved it (1424) and summoned a council for 1431 to meet at Basel. In Martin's reign an attempt to prolong the schism was made in Spain by the followers of Antipope Benedict XIII (see Luna, Pedro de), who chose (1425) a successor to him called Clement VIII (otherwise Gil Sánchez Múñoz). Alfonso V of Aragón patronized this antipope out of political motives, but, gaining nothing, he made Clement resign (1429) and recognized Martin. Eugene IV succeeded Martin.
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2007) |
| Martin V | |
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| Papacy began | November 11, 1417 |
| Papacy ended | February 20, 1431 |
| Predecessor | Gregory XII |
| Successor | Eugene IV |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Oddone Colonna |
| Born | c. 1368 Genazzano, near Rome, Papal States |
| Died | 20 February 1431 (aged 63) Rome, Papal States |
| Other Popes named Martin | |
| Papal styles of Pope Martin V |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | None |
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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) |
Pope Martin V (c. 1368 – February 20, 1431), born Odo (or Oddone) Colonna was Pope from 1417 to 1431. His election effectively ended the Western Schism (1378–1417).
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Life
The son of Agapito Colonna and Caterina Conti, he belonged to one of the oldest and most distinguished families of Rome. His brother Giordano became Prince of Salerno and Duke of Venosa, while his sister Paola was shortly lady of Piombino in 1441-1445.
He became apostolic protonotary under Pope Urban VI (1378–89), was created Cardinal Deacon by Pope Innocent VII (1404–06), and in 1410 was the delegate of antipope Alexander V (1409–10) to hear the appeal which had been taken in that year to the Papacy by Jan Hus. In 1390 he was elected bishop of Urbino, but resigned in 1409 before receiving episcopal consecration. He served also as archpriest of the Lateran Basilica from 1412.
He was elected pope on St. Martin's Day (November 11), 1417, at the Council of Constance by a conclave consisting of twenty-three cardinals and thirty delegates of the council, which after deposing antipope John XXIII (1410–15), had been for long divided by the conflicting discourses of Pope Gregory XII (1406–15) and antipope Benedict XIII (1394–1423).
Martin V was widely esteemed for moderation, learning, uprightness, and business ability, but he is not seen as a reforming Pope. His first act after his election was to publish a brief confirming all the regulations made by his predecessors with regard to the papal chancery, regulations which had long been the subject of complaint. When the "nations" of the council pressed their plans for reform, Martin V submitted a counter scheme, and ultimately entered into negotiations for separate concordats, for the most part vague and illusory, with the Holy Roman Empire, England, and France.
With issuing the Papal Bull to exterminate Hussites, Wycliffites, and other heretics in Bohemia on March 1[1], 1420, Martin V initiated the Hussite Wars.
He left Constance at the close of the council (May 1418), but travelled slowly through Italy, lingered at Florence, and did not venture to enter Rome until September 1420, when his first task was to seek to restore it to the prosperity and order to which it had become a stranger.
In that period, in 1418, a famous synod convoked by the Jews in Forlì, sent a deputation with costly gifts to the new pope, Martin V, praying him to abolish the oppressive laws promulgated by antipope Benedict XIII and to grant the Jews those privileges which had been accorded them under previous popes. The deputation succeeded in its mission.
In accordance with the decree of Constance, confirmed by himself, ordering that councils should be held every five years, in 1423 Martin V summoned the council which met at Pavia and afterwards at Siena (the Council of Siena) - it was rather poorly attended, and in this circumstance gave the pope a pretext for dissolving it as soon as it had come to the resolution that "internal church union by reform ought to take precedence over external union". It was prorogued for seven years, and then met at Basel (the Council of Basel); shortly after its opening Martin V died of apoplexy. He is buried in the confession of St. John Lateran's, the Pope's cathedral, in Rome. The introductory essay to Lumley's Treatise upon the Law of Annuities and Rent Charges, 1st ed, 1833, contains an interesting history of the use of annuities as a financing mechanism. The learned author points out that the general law prevailing throughout Europe, where canon law was in force, prohibited the taking of interest upon a loan of money as usury. Accordingly annuities were used extensively from the middle of the 15th century as a device to enable what was in substance interest to be charged. There was dispute as to the legality of annuity contracts, which dispute was ultimately carried before the Pope, Martinus V, in 1423 who held that purchased annuities, which were redeemable at the option of the seller, were lawful. This determination, which was affirmed by a succeeding Pope, Calixtus III, was preserved 25 ATR 388 in the Corp Jur Canon Extra III tit 5. Once the lawfulness of annuities was established it seems that city states raised compulsory loans from their citizens by means of annuities. In England Charles II prevailed upon his creditors to cancel their debts and to take bonds whereby he covenanted to pay annuities, pledging as security certain hereditary revenues of the Crown.
Note on numbering
When the second Pope to take the name Martin was elected, there was confusion over how many Popes had taken the name before. It was believed at the time that there were three, so the second Pope named Martin was called Martin IV. Therefore, the third Pope named Martin was called V. But, in reality, those believed to be Martin II and Martin III were actually called Marinus I and Marinus II, although they are sometimes still known as Martin II and Martin III. This has advanced the numbering of all subsequent Popes Martin by two. Popes Martin IV-V are really the second and third popes by that name.
Pope Martin V and slavery
Slavery was commonplace in this era and was accepted by "almost everyone" with few arguing against it.[2] During the course of the 15th century sentiment in Europe increasingly turned against the enslavement of Christians and the Church denounced such practices, but this did not extend to unbelievers. According to Burton (2007) Martin authorized a crusade against Africa in 1418 and this coupled with a later bull (1441) sanctioned the Portuguese trade in African slaves.[3] In March 1425 a bull was issued that threatened excommunication for any Christian slave dealers and ordered Jews to wear a "badge of infamy" to deter, in part, the buying of Christians.[4] In June 1425 Martin anathematized those who sold Christian slaves to Muslims.[5] Traffic in Christian slaves was not banned, purely the sale to non-Christian owners.[6]The papal bull of excommunication issued to the Genoese merchants of Caffa related to the buying and selling of Christians but has been considered ineffectual as prior injunctions against the Viennese, including the Laws of Gazaria, made allowances for the sale of both Christian and Muslim slaves.[7] Ten black African slaves were presented to Martin in 1441 by Prince Henry of Portugal.[8] Martin supported colonial expansion.[9] Davidson (1961) argues that Martin's injunction against slavery was not a condemnation of slavery itself but rather it was driven through fear of "infidel power".[10]
References
- "The Papacy and the Levant", Kenneth M. Setton, DIANE Publishing, 1978, ISBN 0871691272[1]
- "The blessing of Africa", Keith Augustus Burton, InterVarsity Press, 2007, ISBN 0830827625
- "The problem of slavery in Western culture", David Brion Davis, Oxford University Press US, 1988, ISBN 0195056396
- "The African Slave Trade", Basil Davidson, James Currey Publishers, 1961, ISBN 0852557981
- "Racism, health, and post-industrialism", Clovis E. Semmes, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1996, ISBN 0275954285[2]
Notes
- Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th edition
- ^ Catholic Encyclopedia
- ^ "The Papacy and the Levant", p. 46
- ^ Burton, p. 197
- ^ "The problem of slavery in Western culture, P. 100"
- ^ "The Papacy and the Levant", p. 46
- ^ "Slavery and the Catholic Church", John Francis Maxwell, p. 49, Barry Rose Publishers, 1975
- ^ "The African Slave Trade", p. 41, Basil Davidson, James Currey Publishers, 1961, ISBN 0852557981
- ^ C. E. Semmes citing V.B Thompson 1987
- ^ "A history of Christianity in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, 1450-1990", p. 144
- ^ Davidson 1961, P. 100 fn 8
| Popes of the Western Schism |
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| Preceded by Gregory XII |
Pope November 11,1417–February 20,1431 |
Succeeded by Eugene IV |
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