[March 28] Martin IV, pope of Rome

True Name: Simon de Brion

Parents: Jean, sieur de Brion

Date of Birth: circa 1210

Predecessor: Nicholas III

Reign: 1281 – 1285

Summary: A Frenchman by birth and upbringing, Simon de Brion was born on the Île-de-France to the Brion family, which controlled land near Joigny. Simon studied at the University of Paris then studied law at Padua and Bologna. With such a background, it was only a matter of time until he received notice from the Papacy. He was made canon at Saint-Quentin in 1238 and a decade later was canon in Rouen serving as an archdeacon. Simultaneously, Simon served as treasurer of Saint-Martin in Tours, a political position he retained until 1281. Simon had a high standing in the French court and was made chancellor of France and keeper of the great seal in 1259. His rise continued when Pope Urban IV made him a cardinal in 1261 and granted him a residence in Rome. Until his nomination to the Papacy in 1281, he served as a papal legate for three popes and was chief negotiator over the claims of Charles of Anjou to the Kingdom of Sicily. Simon was finally elected to the Papacy in 1281 after Charles of Anjou imprisoned two leading Italian cardinals.

As Pope Martin IV, Simon received much antagonism from the Italians and was crowned at Orvieto rather than Rome due to protests. Simon was absolutely dependent on Charles much as Charles had been dependent on Simon. As a vassal of the Sicilian king, Simon excommunicated the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII, thereby ending a tenuous alliance made many years earlier between the two monarchs. The breach was never resolved and the Catholic and Orthodox Churches remain to this day at odds. Charles, meanwhile, was deposed in 1282 in a violent revolution known as the Sicilian Vespers. The new king, Peter III of Aragon, sought papal confirmation but was denied despite reasserting the Papacy's dominance over Sicily. Simon, on his part, excommunicated the new king, withdrew papal support for Aragon, and ordered a crusade against the king. Yet for all his trying, Simon did not have the power to force the issue. He was pushed out of Rome and died at Perugia in 1285, a little-respected pope who never wielded much actual power.

Date of Death: 28 March 1285

Successor: Honorius IV

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Pertinax, emperor of Rome (193)
• Ordulf, duke of Saxony (1072)
• Go-Toba, emperor of Japan (1239)