POPE MARTIN V, THE FIRST RENAISSANCE POPE

Oddone Colonna, son of Agapito Colonna and Caterina Conti was born sometime between 26 January and 20 February 1369. He studied law at the University of Pavia. At a young age, he became a protonotary of the Curia, conferred by Poe Urban VI (1378-1389). In 1405, he became a cardinal deacon of San Georgio in Velabro, named by Innocent VII.

The Council of Pisa occurred in 1409. Cardinal Colonna supported the antipope Alexander V. When Alexander died ten months later, Colonna turned his support over to antipope John XXIII. For this, the Colonna family received privileges. The cardinal himself received vicarates in Todi, Orvieto, Perugia and Umbria. For supporting the antipope, Pope Gregory XII excommunicated Colonna in 1411.

Four years later, Colonna joined John XXIII and his supporters at the Council of Constance, then joined John as he escaped to Schaffhausen in March 1415. He then returned to Constance with John and joined in his deposition of the antipope soon after.

With John deposed, Pope Gregory abdicated and antipope Benedict unsupported, two years passed before another conclave took place, during which time the Council controlled the Church. Colonna was elected on 11 November 1417. He was ordained a priest, consecrated a bishop, and crowned a pope all in three days, taking the name Martin V. The Council closed May 1418.  It called for a major council every five years, making Martin very cautious of having a council-led Church.

Martin stopped in Florence on his way to Rome. Meanwhile, his brother Giordano served as his authority in Rome. Giordano was a warrior under Muzio Attendolo, who had fought the contract warrior, Braccio da Montone. This man served as a thorn in the side of Martin for a long time. Braccio held Umbria, a central land-locked region of the peninsula. Bologna, just north of Umbria, was an independent commune. Most of the rest of central Italy was held by petty rulers. Martin confirmed new rulers in Forli, Imola, Rimini and Spoleto.

When King Ladislaus of Naples died in 1414, his sister, Joan, inherited the throne. In exchange for his recognition of her, Martin got back some of the Papal States, including Benevento, several fiefs in Naples for his relatives and an agreement that Muzio Attendolo, who had been hired by Naples, would leave Rome. Only then could Martin enter Rome in 1420.

He soon began a campaign of restoring dilapidated public structures. He hired masters of the Tuscan school of art. This instigated the Roman Renaissance.

Based on edicts from the Council directing civil and ecclesiastical authorities to deal with the Hussite heresy, King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia resisted interference in his kingdom. Armed resistance ensued. Hundreds of Hussite supporters were killed. Germans had to flee from the country. The king died within three years of the Council and his brother, King Sigismund of Hungary succeeded. Martin wrote a bull early the next year inviting all Christians to unite against heretics.

Following the Hussite rebellion, many Jews were concerned that they could be next. They were able to obtain papal bulls confirming their previous privileges. Later in his papacy, Martin repeal several. The Jews in Forli asked him to abolish anti-Jewish edicts by the antipope Benedict XIII. He did.

Meanwhile, before Pope Martin even arrived in Rome, the pressure from the Ottoman Turks was increasing and Martin had contact with the Byzantine emperor, Manuel II. Manuel was invoking a council in Constantinople. Martin sought to help by attaching an indulgence to the previously mentioned bull for anyone who would contribute to a crusade to be lead by Sigismund. He was also concerned about the increase in slave trade in Africa and authorized a crusade against that continent.

Martin was weak and vascillating in his stance against slavery. He wrote a bull threatening excommunication for dealers of Christian slaves. He ordered Jews to wear a “badge of infamy” to deter the buying of Christians. In June, 1425, he anathematized those who sold Christian slaves to Muslims. He did not ban traffic in Christian slaves, just the sale to not-Christian owners.  This indicates a political weakness, giving in or not challenging those in power.

1423 saw the renewal of the war against Braccio’s acquisition of territory. Braccio died after losing a battle in 1424. The same year, Martin took the first step in reducing Bologna’s autonomy by giving the city a papal treasurer.

Martin’s old friend, antipope John XXIII, was given a reprieve and named Cardinal of Tusculum in 1424. The next year, Martin founded the University of Louvain. On February 20, 1431, he died of a stroke and was buried in St. John Lateran.