Pope Martin V (c. 1368-1431)

The Pope Who Ended the Western Schism

No pontificate of the 15th century weighs more heavily in the history of the unity of the Church. Since 1378, the West had experienced the unimaginable: two lines of popes - one in Rome, the other in Avignon - each claiming to be the only legitimate one, each excommunicating the other, and behind them entire kingdoms divided into rival obediences.^[8] The Council of Pisa (1409) had aggravated the confusion by adding a third pretender. The election of Oddone Colonna, on 11 November 1417, closed the tear: for the first time in a generation, a single man was recognized as pope by the whole of Latin Christendom.^[9][10]

The restorer of Rome and the Papal States

The Pope returns to an unrecognizable Rome. The prolonged absence of the popes - first in Avignon, then during the schism - had left the city to abandonment, famine and factions. “The city was wellnigh in ruins, famine and sickness had decimated its inhabitants”, writes the Catholic Encyclopedia.^[11] Martin V undertook to rebuild everything: churches, palaces, bridges, fortifications. By calling the masters of the Tuscan school to Rome, he laid, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the foundation of the Roman Renaissance — “thus laid the foundation for the Roman Renaissance”.^[12][13]

The Pope Who Contained Conciliarism

Constance had saved the Church, but at the cost of a dangerous idea: that the general council was superior to the pope and could judge him. Martin V loyally accepted the council's legitimate legacy, but firmly and successfully opposed the attempt to replace the Church's monarchical government with a "constitutional" one.^[14] Without brutality, he defused the conciliarist crisis before it erupted at Basel.

A great Roman family: the Colonnas

Oddone Colonna was born in Genazzano, in the Roman Campagna — in 1368 according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), between 25 January 1369 and 25 January 1370 according to Concetta Bianca (Dizionario Biografico, based on a deed of Boniface IX dated 25 January 1391 giving him in his 22nd year) —, the son of Agapito Colonna, lord of Genazzano, and Caterina Conti.^[15][16] He belonged to one of Rome's two great houses—the Colonna and their rivals, the Orsini—whose centuries-old feuds shaped the city's political life. The family had already given twenty-seven cardinals to the Church, but Oddone would be the first to ascend the throne of Peter.^[17][18] Family power would be both a strength—providing loyal support in a hostile Italy—and a temptation toward nepotism.

Law studies and career at the curia

Destined for the Church from an early age, Oddone studied law—at Perugia according to the Catholic Encyclopedia (1910), at Pavia according to the current English-language notice—before entering the curia.^[19][20] He rose through the usual ranks of a prominent Roman cleric: apostolic protonotary under Urban VI, then holder of missions under Boniface IX.^[21] The apostolic protonotary was a senior clerk of the pope's chancery—in plain terms, one of the notaries charged with drafting and authenticating his most solemn acts. His training as a canon lawyer—and the "great knowledge of canon law" noted by the Catholic Encyclopedia—prepared him for the formidable legal questions raised by the end of the schism.^[22]

Cardinal-deacon of San Giorgio in Velabro (1405)

On 12 June 1405, the Roman pope Innocent VII created Oddone Colonna cardinal-deacon in consistory; he received the title of San Giorgio in Velabro on 12 July 1405—a date given only by the relay directory of cardinals created by Innocent VII: Eubel (Hierarchia, XXIX) and Miranda record only the creation in the consistory of 12 June.^[23][24][25] The consistory was the solemn meeting at which the pope, surrounded by the cardinals, proclaimed the creation of new cardinals; to be a cardinal-deacon was to enter the Sacred College in the rank of deacons, attached to a church of Rome—here San Giorgio in Velabro, an ancient church in the Velabrum quarter, near the Tiber. Promoting a Colonna to the Sacred College amid the schism anchored a powerful Roman lineage in the Roman obedience. For a man destined to become pope, this cardinalatial title formed the basis of everything that followed.

In the turmoil of schism: Pisa and John XXIII

The journey of the future Martin V bears the mark of the compromises of his time. Like a large part of the cardinals, Oddone Colonna abandoned the Roman Pope Gregory XII, considered incapable of putting an end to the schism, to join the Council of Pisa (1409), which claimed to depose the two existing pretenders and elect a third, Alexander V.^[26][27] Oddone then rallied to his successor, the antipope John XXIII (Baldassarre Cossa), which led to his being excommunicated by Gregory XII in 1411.^[28]

Far from being a hidden stain, this itinerary sheds light on the gravity of the crisis: the best minds of the Church, in good faith, no longer knew where the legitimate pope was. It is precisely this general uncertainty that the Council of Constance was going to resolve - and that the election of a man like Oddone Colonna, who had known all the obediences from the inside, could appease.

The schism to be resolved

The Council of Constance (1414-1418) had one primary goal: to restore unity. This required removing the three claimants: securing the resignation of the Roman pope Gregory XII, deposing the Pisan antipope John XXIII and the Avignon antipope Benedict XIII, then holding a new and uncontested election.^[29] The underlying process belongs to the article on the Council of Constance; what concerns Martin V here is the outcome: the man whom this delicate mechanism placed on the throne.

The table below summarizes how the council defused, one by one, the three rival lines before being able to elect a single pope:^[30]

Once the three seats were thus vacant or neutralized, the way was clear for a new election - that of Oddone Colonna.

The unprecedented conclave of the five nations

The election of 1417 was unique in history. To ensure that the new pope would be accepted by all, the vote was not restricted to cardinals. The college of twenty-three cardinals was joined by thirty delegates, six from each of the council's five nations—Italy, Germany, France, Spain and England.^[31][32][33] No pope had ever been elected in this way, and none would be again: it was an exceptional procedure, born of the need to reconcile all Latin Christendom.

11 November 1417: Oddone Colonna elected

After a three-day conclave, on 11 November 1417 — the day of Saint Martin of Tours — Cardinal Oddone Colonna was elected pope unanimously by the representatives of the five nations.^[34][35]

“At the Council of Constance, after a three-day conclave, he was unanimously elected pope on 11 November 1417 by the representatives of the five nations. » — Catholic Encyclopedia, article Pope Martin V^[36]

The choice of a Roman was not indifferent. After decades where the popes had been French and resided in Avignon, electing a Colonna was sending the papacy back to Rome, to its own seat and to the bishop that tradition links to the Eternal City.

From a subdeacon to a pope in four days

Revealing detail of the time: the chosen one was still only sub-deacon—that is, not yet a priest: the subdiaconate was then only the first of the major orders. It was necessary, in four days, to confer on him all the degrees he still lacked. He was ordained deacon on November 12, priest on the 13th, consecrated bishop on the 14th, then crowned pope on November 21, 1417, in the large courtyard of the episcopal palace of Constance.^[37][38] This meteoric rise recalls that in the late Middle Ages the cardinalate was often a dignity more administrative than priestly.

Why the name Martin

Oddone Colonna took the name Martin in honor of Saint Martin of Tours, whose feast day fell precisely on the day of his election, November 11.^[39] He thus became Martin V - the number taking into account, as for his predecessor Martin IV, the ancient confusion between popes Marin and Martin of the 9th and 10th centuries.

Constance's long journey to Rome (1418-1420)

The pope did not hurry towards Rome. He left Constance on May 16, 1418, but Italy was in the middle of war, and Rome itself was held by adventurers.^[40] Martin V stayed for a long time in Florence, negotiating with the powers and condottieri who occupied the patrimony of Saint Peter. It was not until 28 September 1420 that he was finally able to enter Rome.^[41]

A city in ruins

The spectacle that awaited him was distressing. More than a century after the departure of the popes for Avignon, and after the tears of the schism, Rome was nothing more than a decrepit town among ancient ruins.

“The city was wellnigh in ruins, famine and sickness had decimated its inhabitants.” — Catholic Encyclopedia, article Pope Martin V^[42]

The pope "immediately set to work, establishing order and restoring the churches, palaces, bridges and other dilapidated public buildings".^[43] The task was immense: it was a question of remaking a capital at the same time as a state.

The founder of the Roman Renaissance

Here Martin V enters the history of art as much as the history of the Church. By bringing the great masters of the Tuscan school to Rome, he launched a movement of reconstruction and artistic patronage: the Catholic Encyclopedia sees in it the laid foundation of the Roman Renaissance — “thus laid the foundation for the Roman Renaissance” — and Pastor describes this same recovery in Book II of his History of the Popes (“Martin V, 1417-1431”: entry into Rome, restoration of St Peter's and the Lateran, painters called, encouragement of the arts).^[44][45] With the papacy once again Roman and stable, it could resume its role as a patron of the arts. From the ground restored by Martin V would arise, over the course of the century, the Rome of the great builder-popes.

The condottieri and the submission of Bologna

The rediscovered spiritual unity had not returned his lands to the Pope. The Papal States, abandoned during the schism, were in the hands of warlords — the famous condottieri. The most formidable was Braccio da Montone, master of a large part of Umbria. By skillful diplomacy, Martin V first obtained that in July 1420 Braccio forced Bologna to submit to the pope.^[46] The pope played forces against each other to reestablish, piece by piece, Roman authority.

The Battle of L'Aquila (June 1424)

The decisive confrontation took place in the kingdom of Naples, where Braccio da Montone besieged the city of L'Aquila. The forces loyal to the Pope and the Queen of Naples gave battle there on 2 June 1424—a date to the exact day taken from the biographical notices (Martin V, Braccio da Montone, war of L'Aquila), the Catholic Encyclopedia recording only June 1424: Braccio was defeated and died of his wounds a few days later.^[47] The death of the great condottiere delivered the Papal States from their most dangerous adversary.

The return of the cities

The victory produced its fruits. After the death of Braccio, in June 1424, entire cities — Perugia, Assisi, Todi, Jesi — "submitted freely to the papal territory".^[48] Bologna revolted again in 1428, but returned to obedience the following year.^[49] At the end of the reign, the patrimony of Saint Peter was, essentially, reconstituted — temporal foundation essential to the independence of the pope.

The reproach of nepotism Colonna

This reconquest had a discussed price: Martin V filled his Colonna parents with civil and ecclesiastical responsibilities.^[50] The Catholic Encyclopedia notes the grievance but qualifies it with finesse:

“This practice loses a little of its odiousness: because, when he came to Rome, he was a landless sovereign and could only seek support from those close to him. » — Catholic Encyclopedia, article Pope Martin V^[51]

The nepotism of Martin V was therefore not pure greed: in a hostile Rome, relying on one's own was first and foremost a necessity of government. The judgment remains reserved, however, because this family dependence announces the nepotistic excesses of the popes of the Renaissance.

Frequens and the obligation of councils

Before electing the pope, the Council of Constance had voted, on October 9, 1417, the decree Frequens, which imposed the holding of regular general councils: the first five years after Constance, the next seven years later, then one every ten years.^[52][53] The intention was to make the council a permanent institution, a safeguard against heresies and schisms. Martin V, elected under this regime, had to come to terms with him without letting himself be chained to it.

The Council of Pavia-Siena (1423-1424)

Faithful to Frequens, the pope summoned a council at Pavia in April 1423. The plague forced him to transfer it to Sienna in June.^[54] The assembly, poorly attended and worked by conciliarist theses, achieved nothing. Martin V ended it on February 26, 1424, but had to commit, to respect Frequens, to convene a new council in Basel within seven years.^[55] He had gained time without giving in on the merits.

The primacy of the Apostolic See reaffirmed

In principle, Martin V was intractable. He “firmly and successfully opposed” the claim of certain cardinals to submit the pope to the council and to transform the papal monarchy into a “constitutional” regime.^[56] Where Constantius had flirted with the superiority of the council, Martin V reaffirmed the primacy of the See apostolic — without condemning the council itself, from which it derived its own legitimacy.

The convocation of Basel (1431)

Bound by his promise, Martin V convened the Council of Basel at the beginning of 1431. Prudently, he appointed Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to preside, with authority to transfer and, if necessary, suspend the council.^[57] The pope died only days after the convocation; it fell to his successor, Eugene IV, to face the conciliarist crisis at Basel, which nearly reopened the schism.

The Hussite Wars and the Bohemian Crusades

The Council of Constance had condemned the doctrines of Jan Hus, delivered to the secular arm—that is, handed over to the civil power, in accordance with the procedure of the time—and burned in 1415: this tragedy, and the man he was, belong to the Jan Hus (v. 1372-1415) file. His death set Bohemia ablaze, where his supporters, the Hussites, took up arms. As early as March 1, 1420, Martin V published a bull calling on all Christians to unite in a crusade against "the Wyclifites, the Hussites and other heretics"—it was read to the imperial diet assembled at Breslau on 17 March.^[58][59] Several expeditions were launched against Bohemia throughout the reign; militarily, they failed in the face of Hussite resistance.^[60]

Faced with this painful matter, two things are true together: the Church of the time, convinced she kept the deposit of the faith, believed she had to answer by arms a revolt she judged heretical—and these wars between Christians shed blood on both sides without restoring unity, for force does not convert hearts. The path that would eventually bear fruit was that of negotiation: under Eugène IV, the Council of Basel reopened dialogue with the moderate Hussites, down to the compacts of Basel (1433), accepted at the diet of Iglau on 5 July 1436.^[61]

Negotiations with the Greeks

Martin V also renewed the pursuit of unity with the East. He "negotiated with Constantinople with a view to a reunion of the Greek Church with the Latin Church".^[62] These talks did not succeed during his lifetime, but they prepared the great attempt that would take place under Eugene IV at the Council of Florence (1439), where the union of the Churches would—briefly—be proclaimed.

Bubbles in favor of the Jews

A lesser known aspect of his pontificate deserves to be noted: his policy of protection of the Jews. Amid the unrest caused by the Hussite movement, the anxious Jews obtained—through Emperor Sigismund—several bulls (1418 and 1422) confirming their former privileges and urging the friars to use moderate language toward them.^[63] The bull of 1422, taking up the formula of the bull Sicut Judaeis, reminded Christians that Christianity came from Judaism and warned the brothers not to incite violence.^[64] These acts continued a pontifical tradition of legal protection, which forbade coercing Jews into the faith while maintaining the canonical restrictions of the time. In the last years of his pontificate, however, Martin V repealed several of these provisions, on the grounds that they had been obtained under false pretenses.^[65]

A sudden death

Martin V died in Rome on 20 February 1431—the 1911 Britannica notes he was carried off by apoplexy ("carried off by apoplexy")—, at about sixty-three years of age after thirteen years as pope.^[66][67] He left a reunified Church, a Rome being rebuilt and Papal States largely recovered—but also a council opening at Basel that would put everything he had defended to the test.

The Lateran Tomb and “Temporum suorum felicitas”

The pope wished to rest in the Lateran Archbasilica, the cathedral of Rome, beneath a simple bronze plaque.^[68] His relatives commissioned something more: sculptor Simone Ghini, working from a design associated with the circle of Donatello, made a remarkable bronze slab, set into the floor of the confessio.^[69] Its epitaph sums up the judgment of his contemporaries in a few words:

“Martin Pope V, the happiness of his time. » — epitaph from the tomb of Martin V in the Lateran: “Martinus Papa V, temporum suorum felicitas”^[70]

After forty years of schism, the fact that a single pope once again governed the Church from Rome was enough to make his reign, in the eyes of his century, a felicity.

The judgment of history

Historians have a nuanced but favorable judgment on Martin V. The Catholic Encyclopedia praises his “simple and unpretentious manners”, his “unblemished character”, his “great knowledge of canon law”, the fact that he was “linked to no party”: he “seemed the man needed to govern the Church, which had just passed through the most critical period in its history — the Western Schism”.^[71]

“Of simple and unpretentious morals, of an unblemished character, endowed with a great knowledge of canon law, linked to no party, he seemed the man needed to govern the Church. » — Catholic Encyclopedia, article Pope Martin V^[72]

The main criticism is the one the Catholic Encyclopedia itself makes: Martin V allowed the adjustment of the temporal affairs of the Church to distract his attention from the more important duty of reforming the papal court and clergy—a "neglect" which, the same Encyclopedia immediately adds, the sorry condition of Rome and the Papal States at his accession palliates.^[73] Pope politician and builder more than reformer, Martin V will have, at the very least, given back to the Church what was most necessary to it: unity and a Roman center.

Reference sources

• Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent), “Pope Martin V” (1910) — the classic factual framework: Colonna family, career, unanimous election of the five nations, return to Rome in ruins, reconquest of the Papal States, nepotism, conciliarism, and the overall judgment on the character.^[74]
• Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th ed. (1911), “Martin V” — classic notice: end of the schism, Roman restoration, crusade against the Hussites, death by apoplexy on 20 February 1431.^[75]
• Enciclopedia dei Papi (Treccani), “Martino V” — Italian scholarly synthesis of reference on the biography and the pontificate, recommended for in-depth study.^[76]
• Ludwig von Pastor, History of the popes since the end of the Middle Ages, volume I, Book II (“Martin V, 1417-1431”): return to Rome, recovery of the City, patronage and encouragement of the arts.^[77]
• Mandell Creighton, A History of the Papacy from the Great Schism to the Sack of Rome, vol. II (“The Council of Constance, 1414-1418”) — detailed account of the council and the chapter “The Council of Constance and the Election of Martin V”.^[78]

On particular points

• The Council of Constance (1414-1418) — the council that elected Martin V and ended the Western Schism.
• The Western Schism — the forty years of division that Martin V's pontificate brought to an end.
• The Avignon Papacy — the Avignon exile that prepared the schism and Rome's abandonment.
• Pope Gregory XI — the last Avignon pope, whose return to Rome preceded the outbreak of the schism.
• The Council of Florence (1431-1449) — the union with the Greeks that Martin V prepared and Eugene IV proclaimed.
• Pope Martin IV (1281-1285) — the other French pope named Martin.
• The Papal States — Saint Peter's patrimony, reconquered by Martin V.
• The Christian Renaissance — the artistic movement for which Martin V's restored Rome became a starting point.