Pope Martin IV (; c. 1210/1220 – 28 March 1285), born Simon de Brion, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 22 February 1281 to his death on 28 March 1285. He was the last French pope to have held court in Rome; all subsequent French popes held court in Avignon (the Avignon Papacy). Early life Simon de Brion, son of Jean, sieur de Brion, was born at the château of Meinpincien, Île-de-France, France, in the decade following 1210. He had a brother named Gilo, who was a knight in the Diocese of Sens. The seigneurial family of Brion, who took their name from Brion near Joigny, flourished in the Brie français. He spent time at the University of Paris, and is said to have then studied law at Padua and Bologna. 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. At the same time he was appointed treasurer of the church of St. Martin in Tours by King Louis IX of France, an office he held until he was elected pope in 1281. In 1255–1259, King Louis IX founded the French royal convent at Longchamps for the Poor Clares (Minoresses); the King's sister Isabelle was the patroness (though she never entered the cloister herself), and Simon de Brion was the Guardian. In 1259, he was appointed to the council of the king, who made him keeper of the great seal, chancellor of France, one of the great officers in the household of the king. He became Chancellor of Louis IX of France (1260–1261). Cardinal Simon de Brion On 17 December 1261, 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. Simon's previous experience at the French Court made him the perfect choice as Legate. Cardinal Simon therefore returned to France as Papal Legate for Urban IV and also for his successor Pope Clement IV in 1264–1268. In 1264, on the eve of S. Bartholomew, he held a