Odo Colonna (Martin V) elected Pope
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).
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, 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.
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. 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. 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. In June 1425 Martin anathematized those who sold Christian slaves to Muslims. Traffic in Christian slaves was not banned, purely the sale to non-Christian owners. 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. Ten black African slaves were presented to Martin in 1441 by Prince Henry of Portugal. Martin supported colonial expansion. 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".
Born at Genazzano in the Campagna di Roma, 1368; died at Rome, 20 Feb., 1431. He studied at the University of Perugia, became prothonotary Apostolic under Urban VI, papal auditor and nuncio at various Italian courts under Boniface IX, and was administrator of the Diocese of Palestrina from 15 December 1401, to 1405, and from 18 to 23 September, 1412. On 12 June, 1402 he was made Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro. He deserted the lawful pope, Gregory XII, was present at the council of Pisa, and took part in the election of the antipopes Alexander V and John XXIII. At the Council of Constance he was, after a conclave of three days, unanimously elected pope on on 11 November, 1417 by the representatives of the five nations (Germany, France, Italy, Spain and England) and took the name Martin V in honor of the saint of Tours whose feast fell on the day of his election. Being then only subdeacon, he was ordained deacon on 12, and priest on 13, and was consecrated bishop on 14 November. On 21 November he was crowned pope in the great court of the episcopal palace of Constance. (Concerning his further activity at the council see COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE.)
The influential family of the Colonnas had already given twenty-seven cardinals to the church, but Martin V was the first to ascend the papal throne. He was in the full vigor of life being only forty-one years of age. Of simple and unassuming manners and stainless character, he possessed a great knowledge of canon law, was pledged to no party, and had numerous other good qualities. He seemed the right man to rule the Church which had passed through the most critical period in its history — the so called Western Schism. The antipopes, John XXIII and Benedict XIII were still recalcitrant. The former, however, submitted to Martin at Florence on 23 June, 1419, and was made Dean of the Sacred College and Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati. The latter remained stubborn to the end, but had little following. His successor Clement VIII submitted to Martin V in 1429, while another successor to Benedict XIII, who had been elected by only one cardinal and styled himself Benedict XIV, was excommunicated by Martin V, and thereafter had only a few supporters (see WESTERN SCHISM). On 22 April, 1418 Martin V dissolved the council but remained in Constance, concluding separate concordats with Germany (Mansi, "Sacrorun Conc. Nova et ampl. Coll" XXVII, 1189-93), France (ibid., 1184-9) England (ibid., 1193-5), Spain (Colección completa de concordatos españoles", Madrid, 1862, 9 sq.). A separate concordat was probably made also with Italy, though some believe it identical with the concordat with Spain. King Sigismund of Germany used every effort to induce Martin V to reside in a German city while France begged him to come to Avignon, but, rejecting all offers he set out for Rome on 16 May, 1418.
The sad state of Rome, however, made it impossible at that time to re-establish the papal throne there. The city was wellnigh in ruins, famine and sickness had decimated its inhabitants, and the few people that still lived there were on the verge of starvation. Martin V therefore, proceeded slowly on his way thither, stopping for some time at Berne, Geneva, Mantua and Florence. While sojourning in the two last-named cities, he gained the support of Queen Joanna of Naples, who was in possession of Rome and Naples, by consenting to recognize her as Queen of Naples, and to permit her coronation by Cardinal Legate Morosini on 28 October, 1419. She ordered her general Sforza Attendolo, to evacuate Rome on 6 March, 1419 and granted important fiefs in her kingdom to the pope's two brothers, Giordano and Lorenzo. With the help of the Florentines, Martin also came to an understanding with the famous condottiere Bracco di Montone, who had gained mastery over half of central Italy. The pope allowed him to retain Perugia, Assisi, Todi and Jesi as vicar of the church, whereupon Bracci restored all his other conquests, and in July 1420, compelled Bologna to submit to the pope.
Martin was now able to continue on his journey to Rome, where he arrived on 28 September, 1420. He at once set to work, establishing order and restoring the dilapidated churches, palaces, bridges, and other public structures. For this reconstruction he engaged some famous masters of the Tuscan school, and thus laid the foundation for the Roman Renaissance. When practically a new Rome had risen from the ruins of the old, the pope turned his attention to the rest of the Papal States, which during the schism had become an incoherent mass of independent cities and provinces. After the death of Braccio di Montone in June 1424, Perugia, Assisi, Todi and Jesi freely submitted to the papal territory. Bologna again revolted in 1428, but returned to the papal allegiance in the following year. In these activities, Martin V was greatly assisted by his kindred, the Colonna family, whom he overwhelmed with important civil and ecclesiastical offices. In his case, however, the charge of nepotism loses some of its odiousness, for, when, he came to Rome, he was a landless ruler and could look for support to no one except his relatives.
The tendency which some of the cardinals had manifested at the Council of Constance to substitute constitutional for monarchial government in the Church and to make the pope subject to a General Council, was firmly and successfully opposed by Martin V. The council had decided that a new council should be convened every five years. Accordingly, Martin convened a council, which opened at Pavia in April 1423, but had to be transferred to Siena in June in consequence of the plague. He used the small attendance and the disagreement of the cardinals as a pretext to dissolve it again on 26 February, 1424, but agreed to summon a new council in Basel within seven years. He died, however, before this convened, though he had previously appointed Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini as president of the council with powers to transfer and, if necessary suspend it. Though Martin V allowed adjustment of the temporal affairs of the Church to draw his attention from the more important duty of reforming the papal court and the clergy, still the sorry condition of Rome and of the Papal States at his accession palliate this neglect. He did not entirely overlook the inner reform of the Church; especially during the early part of his pontificate, he made some attempts at reforming the clergy at St. Peter's and abolishing the most crying abuses of the Curia. In a Bull issued on 16, March 1425, he made some excellent provisions for a thorough reform but the Bull apparently remained a dead letter. (This Bull is printed in Döllinger, "Beiträge sur politischen kirchlichen and Kulturgeschichte der sechs lletxten Jahrhunderte",II, Raisbon,1863, pp335-44.) He also opposed the secular encroachments upon the rights of the Church in France by issuing a Constitution (13 April 142), which greatly limited the Gallican liberties in that part of France which was subject to King Henry VI of England, and by entering a new concordat with King Charles VII of France in August, 1426 (see Valois,"Concordats antérieurs a celui de François I, Pontificat de Martin V" in "Revue des questions historiques", LXXVII, Paris, 1905, pp.376-427). Against the Hussites in Bohemia he ordered a crusade, and negotiated with Constantinople in behalf of a reunion of the Greek with the Latin Church. His bulls, diplomas, letters, etc. are printed in Mansai, "Sacrorum Conc. Et amp., Coll., " XXVII-XXVIII.
Martin V (ODDONE COLONNA), POPE; b. at Genazzano in the Campagna di Roma, 1368; d. at Rome, February 20, 1431. He studied at the University of Perugia, became prothonotary Apostolic under Urban VI, papal auditor and nuncio at various Italian courts under Boniface IX, and was administrator of the Diocese of Palestrina from December 15, 1401, to 1405, and from 18 to September 23, 1412. On June 12, 1405, he was made Cardinal Deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro. He deserted the lawful pope, Gregory XII, was present at the Council of Pisa, and took part in the election of the antipopes Alexander V and John XXIII. At the Council of Constance he was, after a conclave of three days, unanimously elected pope on November 11, 1417, by the representatives of the five nations (Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and England) and took the name of Martin V in honor of the saint of Tours whose feast fell on the day of his election. Being then only subdeacon, he was ordained deacon on 12, and priest on 13, and was consecrated bishop on November 14. On November 21 he was crowned pope in the great court of the episcopal palace at Constance. (Concerning his further activity at the council, see Council of Constance.)
The influential family of the Colonnas had already given twenty-seven cardinals to the Church, but Martin V was the first to ascend the papal throne. He was in the full vigor of life, being only forty-one years of age. Of simple and unassuming manners and stainless character, he possessed a great knowledge of canon law, was pledged to no party, and had numerous other good qualities. He seemed the right man to rule the Church, which had just passed through the most critical period of its history—the so-called Western Schism. The antipopes, John XXIII and Benedict XIII, were still recalcitrant. The former, however, submitted to Martin at Florence on June 23 1419, and was made Dean of the Sacred College and Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati. The latter remained stubborn to the end, but had little following. His successor Clement VIII submitted to Martin V in 1429 while another successor of Benedict XIII, who had been elected by only one cardinal and styled himself Benedict XIV, was excommunicated by Martin V, and thereafter had only a few supporters (see Western Schism). On April 22, 1418, Martin V dissolved the council, but remained in Constance, concluding separate concordats with Germany (Mansi, "Sacrorum Conc. nova et ampl. Coll.", XXVII, 1189-93), France (ibid., 1184-9) England (ibid., 1193-5), Spain ("Coleccion completa de concordatos espailoles", Madrid, 1862, 9 sq.). A separate concordat was probably made also with Italy, though some believe it identical with the concordat of Spain. King Sigismund of Germany used every effort to induce Martin V to reside in a German city, while France begged him to come to Avignon, but, rejecting all offers, he set out for Rome on May 16, 1418.
