From The Lives of the Popes from the Time of our Saviour Jesus Christ to the Accession of Gregory VII. Written Originally in Latin by B. Platina, Native of Cremona, and translated into English (from an anonymous translation, first printed in 1685 by Sir Paul Rycaut), Edited by William Benham, Volume I, London: Griffith, Farran, Okeden & Welsh, [1888, undated in text]; pp. 233-234.
The Lives of the Popes,
BY
B. Platina
Volume I.
MARTIN II.
A.D. 882-884.
MARTIN the Second, a Frenchman, son of Palumbus, succeeded John. Some, perhaps deceived by the likeness of the names, called him Marinus. This Martin (the story of whose life is so short because of the small time he held the chair) was Pope at the time when the sons of Basilius, Leo, and Alexander were Emperors in the East, and Charles III. in the West, who, we told you, was crowned by John VIII., and who broke the forces of the Normans infesting France in so many battles, that he forced them to submit to him and receive the Christian faith. Some write that it was this Martin that, with his tricks (of which somewhat will be said in the life of Formosus), did so plague Pope John with seditions as to get him thrown into prison and force him to fly. But having by ill means gotten the Popedom, he soon died, 234 having sat but one year and five days, and in that time doing nothing remarkable, either because his time was short, or because no occasion offered itself from whence he could acquire repute, except we may suppose it to be the will of God that those who attain to power by indirect means should lose that true glory which is the chief aim of every good prince.
Previous Pope: 110. John VII. 111. Martin II. Next Pope: 112. Hadrian III.