Editing Pope Martin IV (section)

==Early life==
Simon de Brion, son of Jean, sieur de Brion, was born at the château of Meinpincien,<ref>Nikolaus Backes, ''Kardinal Simon de Brion'' (Breslau) 1910, used by H.K. Mann and J. Hollnsteiner, ''The Lives of the Popes in the Middle Ages'' XVI (London) 1932: 171–205., both quoted by {{cite journal |first=Richard |last=Kay |title=Martin IV and the Fugitive Bishop of Bayeux |journal=Speculum |volume=40 |issue=3 |year=1965 |pages=460–483 [p. 461f.] |jstor=2850920 |doi=10.2307/2850920|s2cid=163723072 }}</ref> [[Île-de-France]], [[France]], in the decade following 1210. He had a brother named Gilo, who was a knight in the [[Diocese of Sens]].<ref>F. Duchesne, ''Preuves de l' histoire de tous les cardinaux françois'' (Paris 1660) p. 220.</ref> The [[Manorialism|seigneurial]] family of Brion, who took their name from Brion near [[Joigny]], flourished in the ''[[Brie (region)|Brie français]]''.<ref>The ''Brie champenoise'', by contrast, consisted of that part of the [[pays]] of Brie that lay within territories of the [[counts of Champagne]]. As a measure of the fractionalisations caused by feudalism, the sieur de Brion nevertheless held his seigneurie of Meinpincien from the count of Champagne.</ref> He spent time at the [[University of Paris]],<ref>César du Boulay, ''Historia Universitatis Parisiensis'' Tomus III (Paris 1655), p. 710. He studied the Liberal Arts as a youth.</ref> and is said to have then studied law at [[Padua]] and [[Bologna]]. Through papal favour he received a canonry at [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]] in 1238 and spent the period 1248–1259 as a [[canon (priest)|canon]] of the cathedral chapter in [[Rouen]], finally as archdeacon.<ref>As ''Magister Simon de Meinpiciaco'' he signed a document at Louviers, 2 March 1248. (Kay 1965:463).</ref> At the same time he was appointed treasurer of the church of St. Martin in [[Tours]] by King [[Louis IX of France]],<ref>F. Duchesne, ''Preuves de l' histoire de tous les cardinaux françois'' (Paris 1660) pp. 218–219.</ref> 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 of France (saint)|Isabelle]] was the patroness (though she never entered the cloister herself),<ref>Gábor Klaniczay, ''Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe'' (Cambridge: CUP 2002), p. 237.</ref> and Simon de Brion was the Guardian.<ref>Robert Brentano, ''Rome before Avignon: A Social History of Thirteenth Century Rome'' (Berkeley-Los Angeles: University of California Press 1990), p. 230. ''Acta Sanctorum Augusti'' Vol. 6, p. 789.</ref> 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).<ref>F. Duchesne, ''Histoire des chanceliers et gardes des sceaux de France'' (Paris 1680), 234–236.</ref>