A chronicler, date of birth unknown; died 1278. His family name was Strebski, and, being by birth a native of Troppau (Oppavia), he is also known as Martinus Oppaviensis. In his youth he entered the Dominican Order at Prague, and, as the Bohemian monasteries of the Dominicans belonged to the Polish province of the order, he was usually known as Martinus Polonus. After the middle of the thirteenth century he went to Rome, was appointed papal chaplain and penitentiary by Clement IV (1265-8), and retained this position under the succeeding popes. On 22 June, 1278, Nicholas III appointed him Archbishop of Gnesen, and performed in person the episcopal consecration. Shortly afterwards Martin set out on his journey to Poland, but fell so seriously ill on the way that he was compelled to stop at Bologna. He died at this city in the same year, and found interment there.

Martin is remembered chiefly for his epitome of the history of the world (Chronica Pontificum et Imperatorum), which was the favourite handbook of the later Middle Ages. The first edition appeared during the pontificate of Clement IV (1265-8); a second recension extends to the death of this pontiff, and a third to 1277. The "Chronicle" was arranged in such a manner that the popes were treated on one side of the codex, and the emperors on the opposite page. As each page contains fifty lines, and each line the historical matter of one year, each page covers a period of fifty years. Alike in matter and in arrangement he followed the old models. The work is entirely uncritical; his sources were to a great extent legendary, and this material is again employed by him in uncritical fashion. The "Chronicle" thus contains little true history, but chiefly a mass of fables and popular legends. He admits, for example, into his third edition the fable of Popess Joan, which indeed owes to him its wide dissemination (Chronicle ed. in Mon. Germ., Script., XXII, 397-475). The "Chronicle" was continued by many imitators of Martin. The work printed at Turin in 1477 under the title "Martini Poloni Chronicon summorum Pontificum et Imperatorum" is, however, by a later author, and has no connexion with Martin of Troppau. Besides the "Chronicle", Martin is said to have also written sermons (Sermones de tempore et de Sanctis, Argentorati, 1484), a lexicon of canon law, and a work on the Greek Schism.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online