Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Martyn, Richard
MARTYN or MARTIN, RICHARD (d. 1483), bishop of St. Davids, was LL.D. of Cambridge University, where he was probably educated. In April 1469 he was archdeacon of London, and before 1471 became a member of the king's council. In that year he was collated to the prebend of Ealdland in St. Paul's Cathedral (28 July), acted as one of the commissioners to treat for a perpetual peace with Scotland (Rymer, Fœdera, v. iii. 6), and was appointed chancellor of the marches for life (Cat. Motul. Pat. 316 b). In 1472 he was commissioned to treat with the Burgundian ambassadors concerning the surrender of Henry of Richmond (Rymer, v. iii. 14; cf. Henry VII), and became a master in chancery, an office which he retained until 1477 (Foss, Judges, iv. 388). On 28 Nov. he was collated to the prebend of Pratum Minus in Hereford Cathedral. It is scarcely probable, though just possible, that he is identical with the Richard Martin, the Franciscan and professor of divinity, who was made bishop of Waterford and Lismore ; by a papal bull, dated 9 March 1472 (cf. Wadding, Annales Minorum, xv 46 Gams, Series Episcoporum ; Cotton, Fasti, i. 121 ; Ware, i. 536; Lascelles, Liber Munerum, v. 63). On 10 March 1473-4 Martyn was collated to the prebend of Putston Minor in Hereford Cathedral, and in 1475 a successor was appointed to the see of Waterford and Lismore (ib.) In 1476 Martyn was archdeacon of Hereford, king's chaplain, and apparently prebendary of Hoxton, London. On 17 June a royal warrant was addressed to him to provide for the carriage to Fotheringay of the shrine of the king's father, Richard, duke of York, and to impress workmen and materials. In 1477 he was appointed chancellor of Ireland for life (Cal. Rotul. Pat. p. 323; Lascelles, iii. 52), but appears never to have performed the duties of that office (cf. O'Flanagan, Chancellors of Ireland, i. 128-135), and was succeeded by William Sherwood, bishop of Meath, in 1480 or 1482 (Cal. Hot. Pat. p. 326 b; O'Flanagan, Lascelles, and Ware, Antiquities). Martyn was also appointed in 1477 ambassador 'along with Thomas Langton [q. v.] to Castile to treat concerning the proposed marriage between Prince Edward and Isabella, eldest daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella (Rymer, v. iii. 75; Leland, Itinerary, iv. i. 86), and on 26 Feb. 1477-8 he was collated to the prebend of Huntingdon in Hereford Cathedral. He was one of the triers of petitions in the parliament which met on 16 Jan. 1478 (Mot. Parl. vi. 167; Stubbs, iii. 215).
In 1480 Martyn was collated to the prebend of Moreton Magna in Hereford Cathedral, and in February 1481-2, through the favour of Edward IV, and as a reward for his political services, he was granted custody of the temporalities of the see of St. Davids. He received papal provision on 26 April, made profession of obedience on the 8th, and was consecrated on 28 July. On 9 April 1483 Edward IV died, and Martyn, who had been chancellor to Edward V when Prince of Wales, was one of the young king's council, but he died before 11 May in the same year, and was succeeded by Thomas Langton. He was buried under a large marble slab in St. Paul's Cathedral, where he had endowed the choristers with an exhibition (Dugdale, St. Paul's, pp. 15, 246, 255). He procured for the town of Presteign in Radnorshire the grant of a market and other privileges.
The identity of name has caused Martyn's confusion with another Richard Martin who was rector of Ickham, vicar of Lydd, both in Kent, guardian of the Greyfriars at Canterbury, suffragan of the archbishop, and fellow of Eton College; he died in 1502, leaving by his will, dated 9 Nov. 1498, and proved on 9 March 1502-3, his library to the convent of Greyfriars at Canterbury (cf. Cooper, Athenæ Cantabr. ii. 621); having no see, he styled himself, as was usual in such cases, simply 'Episcopus ecclesiæ Catholicæ' (cf. Strype, Cranmer, i. 52). A third Richard Martyn was vicar of Hendon from 29 June 1478 till his death in 1480, and was doubtless the Richard Martyn who became archdeacon of Berkshire on 30 Dec. 1478.