Martin of Opava
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Martin of Opava, also known as Martin of Poland, was an important Dominican chronicler of the 13th century. He is believed to have been born in the Silesian Czech town of Opava (date unknown) and to have died after June 1278 in Bologna, while returning from Rome. He studied in Prague and was then active in Poland. Hence he is known in Latin sometimes as Martinus Oppaviensis and sometimes as Martinus Polonus. In German he appears as Martin von Troppau and in Czech as Martin z Opavy.
Martin's Latin chronicle, the Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum, is especially interesting for its layout; each double page covers fifty years, with fifty lines per page. The left-hand pages give the history of the papacy, with one line per year, and the right-hand pages give the history of emperors, the two accounts being kept strictly parallel. This was a revolutionary new approach in graphic design, which was not appreciated by all his contemporaries: many manuscripts simply copy the text without retaining the page layout, which results in a rather chaotic chronology. The chronicle was enormously influential; over 400 manuscripts are known, and the influence on many dozens of later chroniclers is palpable. Translations were made into many medieval vernaculars, including Middle English. Martin's Chronicum is the most influential source for the legend of "Pope Joan".
Anna-Dorothee von den Brincken has done interesting work on the manuscript tradition; Wolfgang-Valentin Ikas's several pieces have highlighted the reception in England.
Other works include the Promptuarium Exemplorum.
[edit] Literature
- Ludwig Weiland (Hg.): Martini Oppaviensis chronicon pontificum et imperatorum. MGH SS 22 (1872), S. 377–475 Faksimile bei Gallica
- H. Daniel Embree (Hg.): The Chronicles of Rome. An Edition of the Middle English 'The Chronicle of Popes and Emperors' and 'The Lollard Chronicle'. Woodbridge 1999.
- Anna-Dorothee von den Brincken: Studien zur Überlieferung der Chronik des Martin von Troppau (Erfahrungen mit einem massenhaft überlieferten historischen Text). In. DA 41 (1985), S. 460–531.
- Wolfgang-Valentin Ikas: Martinus Polonus' Chronicle of the Popes and Emperors. A Medieval Best-seller and its Neglected Influence on English Medieval Chroniclers. In: The English Historical Review 116 (2001), S. 327-341
- Wolfgang-Valentin Ikas: Neue Handschriftenfunde zum Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum des Martin von Troppau. In: Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 58 (2002), S. 521-537
- Wolfgang-Valentin Ikas: Martin von Troppau (Martinus Polonus), O.P. (gest. 1278) in England. Überlieferungs- und wirkungsgeschichtliche Studien zu dessen Papst- und Kaiserchronik. (Wissensliteratur im Mittelalter 40) Wiesbaden: Verlag Dr. Ludwig Reichert 2002. ISBN 3-89500-313-1 Review article
