Martin of Opava, O.P. (died 1278) also known as Martin of Poland, was a 13th-century Dominican

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

and

chronicler A chronicle ( la, chronica, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and lo ...

Life

Known in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

as ''Frater Martinus Ordinis Praedicatorum'' (Brother Martin of the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

), he is believed to have been born, at an unknown date, in the

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

n town of

Opava Opava (; german: Troppau, pl, Opawa) is a city in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 55,000 inhabitants. It lies on the river Opava. Opava is one of the historical centres of Silesia. It was a historical capital of ...

, at that time part of the

Margraviate of Moravia The Margraviate of Moravia ( cs, Markrabství moravské; german: Markgrafschaft Mähren) was one of the Lands of the Bohemian Crown within the Holy Roman Empire existing from 1182 to 1918. It was officially administrated by a margrave in cooper ...

. From the middle of the 13th century, Martin was active in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

confessor Confessor is a title used within Christianity in several ways. Confessor of the Faith Its oldest use is to indicate a saint who has suffered persecution and torture for the faith but not to the point of death.chaplain for

Pope Alexander IV Pope Alexander IV (1199 or 1185 – 25 May 1261) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death in 1261. Early career He was born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne (now in the Province of Rome), he ...

and his successors, Urban IV, Clement IV, Gregory X,

Innocent V Pope Innocent V ( la, Innocentius V; c. 1225 – 22 June 1276), born Pierre de Tarentaise, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 21 January to 22 June 1276. A member of the Order of Preachers, he acquired a reputatio ...

, Adrian V and John XXI (d. 1277), the last pope to appear in his chronicles. On 22 June 1278,

Pope Nicholas III Pope Nicholas III ( la, Nicolaus III; c. 1225 – 22 August 1280), born Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 November 1277 to his death on 22 August 1280. He was a Roman nobleman who ...

, while in

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history ...

, appointed him archbishop of Gniezno. While travelling to his new episcopal see, Martin died in

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

, where he was buried at the Basilica of San Domenico, near the tomb of the founder of his Order.

Works

Martin's Latin chronicle, the ''Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum'', was intended for the school-room. It is mostly derivative in content and is therefore of limited value to modern historians. However, its importance is in the way the material is presented, which is a quantum leap forward in didactic method. The genius lies in its layout; each double page covers fifty years with fifty lines per page. The left-hand pages give the history of the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, with one line per year, and the right-hand pages give the history of

emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

s, the two accounts being kept strictly parallel. This was a revolutionary approach in graphic design, which was not appreciated by all his contemporaries: many manuscripts simply copy the text without retaining the page layout, which results in a rather chaotic chronology. The chronicle was enormously influential; over 400 manuscripts are known, and the influence on many dozens of later chroniclers is palpable. Translations were made into many medieval vernaculars, including Middle English, as well as an Old French translation by

Sébastien Mamerot Sébastien Mamerot (between and 1440 – 1490) was a French clergyman, scholar, novelist, and translator. Biography Originally from Soissons, Mamerot served as clergyman and secretary to Louis de Laval, governor of Dauphiné (1448–1458), Champ ...

in the late 15th century. Martin's ''Chronicon'' is the most influential source for the legend of "

Pope Joan Pope Joan (''Ioannes Anglicus'', 855–857) was, according to legend, a woman who reigned as pope for two years during the Middle Ages. Her story first appeared in chronicles in the 13th century and subsequently spread throughout Europe. The s ...

". Other of his works include the ''Promptuarium Exemplorum''.

References

External links

* ttp://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/MartinusPolonus1858 Edition of this translation, 1858*
Information about a French dissertation on the ''Promptuarium Exemplorum''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin of Opava 13th-century births 1278 deaths People from Opava 13th-century Polish historians Czech Dominicans Dominican scholars Dominican bishops 13th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Poland Archbishops of Gniezno 13th-century Latin writers Burials at the Basilica of San Domenico

Life

Works

References

Further reading

External links