MARTIN OF TROPPAU (Oppavian). — Dominican chronicler, also improperly called M. the Pole, perhaps because he belonged to the Polish religious province; he died in Bologna in 1278.
He entered the Dominican Order in Prague, where he was also ordained a priest. He was a master in theology and an inquisitor. He was probably also in France. It is unknown when he entered the papal Curia, but certainly by the time of Clement IV (1260) he had held the offices of penitentiary and chaplain, which he continued to exercise under the subsequent popes until Nicholas III, who in 1278 appointed him archbishop of Gniezno in Poland. He did not, however, reach his see, as he died on the journey and was buried in Bologna. He wrote several works: *Tabula decreti*, a brief compendium judged to be of Martinian authorship; *Sermones de tempore et de sanctis*; *De diversis miraculis*; but his name is chiefly associated with the *Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum*, which was widely circulated even during his lifetime and of which he himself prepared several editions, perhaps written at the order of Clement IV. Its value is quite low, as it often lacks critical judgment in evaluating sources and readily accepts fables and legends.
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