MARTIN OF TROPPAU, or MARTIN THE POLE (d. 1278), chronicler, was born at Troppau, and entered the order of St Dominic at Prague. Afterwards he went to Rome and became papal chaplain under Clement IV. and other popes. In 1278 Pope Nicholas III. appointed him archbishop of Gnesen, but he died at Bologna whilst proceeding to Poland to take up his new duties. Martin wrote some sermons and some commentaries on the canon law; but more important is his _Chronicon pontificum et imperatorum_, a history of the popes and emperors to 1277. Written at the request of Clement IV. the _Chronicon_ is jejune and untrustworthy, and was mainly responsible for the currency of the legend of Pope Joan, and the one about the institution of seven electors by the pope. Nevertheless it enjoyed an extraordinary popularity and found many continuators; but its value to students arises solely from the fact that it was used by numerous chroniclers during the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. In the 15th century it was translated into French, and as part of the _Chronique martiniane_ was often quoted by controversialists. It has also been translated into German, Italian and Bohemian.
The Latin text is printed, with introduction by L. Weiland, in Band XXII. of the _Monumenta Germaniae historica_ (Hanover and Berlin, 1826 seq.). See G. Waitz, H. Brosien and others in the _Neues Archiv der Geseltschaft für ältere deutsche Geschichtskunde_ (Hanover, 1876 seq.); W. Wattenbach, _Deutschlands Geschichtsquellen_, Band II. (Berlin, 1894); and A. Molinier, _Les Sources de l'histoire de France_, Tome III. (Paris, 1903).
MARTIN[1] (Fr. _Martinet_), the _Hirundo urbica_ of Linnaeus and _Chelidon urbica_ of modern ornithologists, a bird well known throughout Europe, including even Lapland, where it is abundant, retiring in winter to the south of Africa. It also inhabits the western part of Asia, and appears from time to time in large flocks in India. The martin (or house-martin, as it is often called, to distinguish it from the sand-martin) commonly reaches its summer quarters a few days later than the Swallow (q.v.), with which it is often confused in spite of the differences between them, the martin's white rump and lower parts being conspicuous as it flies or clings to its nest attached to houses. This nest, made of the same material as the swallow's, is, however, a more difficult structure to rear, and a week or more is often occupied in laying its foundations--the builders clinging to the wall while depositing the mud of which it is composed. The base once fixed, the superstructure is often quickly added, till the whole takes the shape of the half or quarter of a hemisphere, and is finished with a lining of feathers mixed with a few bents or straws. The martin builds soon after its return, and a nest that has outlasted the winter is almost at once reoccupied. The bird usually in the course of the summer raises a second, or rarely a third, brood of offspring--though the latest broods often die in the nest, apparently through failure of food. What seem to be adults are observed in England every year so late as November, and sometimes within a few days of the winter solstice, but these late birds are almost certainly strangers.