Through papal favour he received a canonry at Saint-Quentin in 1238 and spent the period 1248–1259 as a canon of the cathedral chapter in Rouen, finally as archdeacon.

[6] At the same time he was appointed treasurer of the church of St. Martin in Tours by King Louis IX of France,[7] an office he held until he was elected pope in 1281.

[10] On 17 December 1261,[11] the new French Pope, Urban IV (Jacques Pantaléon), made Chancellor de Brion cardinal-priest, with the titulus of the church of St. Cecilia.

This would have entailed Simon de Brion's residence in Rome, but the affairs of Pope Urban required that he send a representative of the highest level to France to deal personally with King Louis IX and his brother Charles of Anjou and Provence.

[14] He immediately became deeply involved in the negotiations for papal support for the assumption of the crown of Sicily by Charles of Anjou.

As Legate he presided over several synods on reform, and on the raising of funds for Pope Gregory's crusade.

Cardinal Simon's injury must not have been severe, since, on 3 April 1268, the Pope wrote to him with the request (not an order) that he undertake a legation to Germany (Teutonia), if he wished and if it were possible.

The Pope needed a prudent and faithful man, who had clean hands and eyes wide open, who could stay centered on the business and let himself stray neither right nor left, who could preserve the Empire, keep the Apostolic See free from scandal, and the neighboring kingdoms free from danger.

Cardinal Simon de Brion came from France to attend the Conclave, which took place in the Episcopal Palace, next to the Cathedral of S. Lorenzo in Viterbo.

Simon de Brion's appointment as Legate in France, made by Pope Gregory on 1 August 1274[21] continued throughout 1276.

[31] To ensure that his victory against the Angevins would stand, Nicholas III decided to go forward with a much needed addition to the Sacred College of Cardinals.

Five cardinal bishops were named: Latino Frangipani Malabranca, OP, of Rome (Nicholas III's nephew by his sister Mabilia); Erhard de Lessines (Lesigny), of Langres, son of Guillaume, Marshal of Champagne; Bentivenga de Bentivengis, O.Min., of Aquasparta; Robert Kilwardby, OP, Archbishop of Canterbury; and Ordoño (Ordeonio) Álvarez, Bishop of Braga.

[32] The effect of these creations was to seriously dilute the Angevin influence in the Sacred College, and to considerably increase the monastic element, especially the Franciscan one.

[33] Pope Nicholas III (Giovanni Caetano Orsini) died at Castro Soriano in the diocese of Viterbo on 22 August 1280 of an apoplectic stroke which had left him without speech.

Annibaldi led a coup in Viterbo, which drove out the governor of the city, Orso Orsini, the dead pope's nephew.

[37] Without their opposition, Simon de Brion was unanimously elected to the papacy on 22 February 1281, taking the name Martin IV,[38] For the third time in fifteen years Viterbo had hosted a papal conclave.

But they did hold a public meeting, and elected Giovanni Caetani Orsini in his purely personal capacity as their Senator, and authorized him to appoint anyone he chose as his substitute.

He thus broke the tenuous union which had been reached between the Greek and the Latin Churches at the Second Council of Lyons in 1274 and further compromise was rendered impossible.

[43] The Sicilians had elected Peter III of Aragon as their king and sought papal confirmation, in vain, though they were willing to reconfirm Sicily as a vassal state of the papacy.

Martin IV used all the spiritual and material resources at his command against the Aragonese in order to preserve Sicily for the House of Anjou.

Following the example of Nicholas III, Pope Martin IV created new cardinals at his first opportunity, on the Quattuor Tempora of Lent, 12 April 1281.

His new cardinals included: Bernardus de Languissello of Nîmes, the Archbishop of Arles since 1273; Hugh of Evesham, Canon of York and Archdeacon of Worcester; Gervasius de Glincamp of Mans, Archdeacon of Paris; Comes Giusianus, Conte de Casate, of Milan, Auditor of the Rota; Gaufridus (Geoffroy) de Barro or Barbeau, of Burgundy, Dean of the Cathedral of Paris; Johannes Chauleti (Cholet), of the village of Nointre in the diocese of Beauvais, a personal friend of Philip III, Philip IV, and Pope Martin IV; and Benedetto Gaetano of Anagni, who was elected Pope Boniface VIII on 24 December 1295.

[citation needed] Pope Martin IV celebrated a solemn Mass in the Cathedral of Perugia on Easter Sunday, 25 March 1285, which was also the Feast of the Annunciation.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante sees Martin IV in Purgatory, where the reader is reminded of the former pontiff's fondness for Lake Bolsena eels and Vernaccia wine.