(30) 1. ZALBA, Martín de (ca. 1337-1403)

Birth. Ca. 1337, Pamplona, kingdom of Navarra. Some sources consider him a Frenchman. Of the nobles of Montagnes de Pampelune. His last name is also listed as Salva and as Salegiis. Uncle of Pseudocardinal Miguel de Zalba (1404). He was called the Cardinal of Pamplona.

Education. Obtained a doctorate in utroque iure, both canon and civil law at the University of Avignon.

Early life. He became a very prestigious professor of law at that university. Vicar general of the diocese of Dax in 1363. Provost of Elna in 1367. Dean of Santa María of Tudela in 1375. Advisor and referendary of Pope Gregory XI toward 1377. Received the diaconate.

Episcopate. Elected bishop of Pamplona, December 16, 1377. Consecrated, January or February 1378, in Rome (no further information found). He was sent to Lucca to negotiate the peace with Florence; returned to Rome after the election of Pope Urban VI on April 9, 1378. The cardinals that had gathered in Anagni sent him to Tivoli to see the pope to ask him to abdicate; he was incarcerated; when he was released, he went to Pamplona; he celebrated a synod in 1388; and in 1394, he initiated the reconstruction of the cathedral. Chancellor of King Carlos II, el Malo, of Navarra. On February 6, 1390, he brought the adhesion of King Carlos III of Navarra to the obedience of Avigon; until then, the kingdom had remained neutral between the pope and the antipope. Consecrated and crowned King Carlos III of Navarra in Pamplona on February 13, 1390. At the king's request, he was promoted to the cardinalate by Antipope Clement VII.

Cardinalate. Created pseudocardinal priest of S. Lorenzo in Lucina in the consistory of July 21, 1390; named administrator of his see; occupied the post until his death. He entered the curia in Avignon on June 3, 1393. He was present at the death of Antipope Clement VII on September 16, 1394. Participated in the conclave of 1394, which elected Antipope Benedict XIII. Testamentary executor of Cardinal Guillaume d'Aigrefeuille. Named legate in Paris before King Charles VI of France in 1398; the king did not receive him. He remained loyal to the antipope in August and September 1398; during the siege of Avignon, his home was ransacked; detained for treason, he was imprisoned in a lugubrious cell in Boulbon on October 24, 1398 by order of Geoffroy Bonecicaut; six months later, in March or April 1399, he was freed after paying a heavy ransom; he was expelled from Avignon in 1401. Camerlengo of the Sacred College of Cardinals, 1401 until his death. He received the custody of the memoir of twenty one cardinals about the affairs of France under Antipope Benedict XIII. He organized the escape of Antipope Benedict XIII the night of March 11 to 12, 1403.

Death. October 27 (or 28), 1403, Salon-de-Provence, near Narbonne. Buried in the Carthusian church of Sainte-Marie de Bon Pas in Avignon (1).

Bibliography. Chacón, Alfonso. Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm ab initio nascentis Ecclesiæ vsque ad Vrbanvm VIII. Pont. Max. 2 volumes. Romae : Typis Vaticanis, 1630, II, col. 687; "Essai de liste générale des cardinaux. VI. Les cardinaux du Grand Schisme (1378-1417)". Annuaire Pontifical Catholique 1931. Paris : Maison de la Bonne Presse, 1931, p. 152; Eubel, Conradus and Gulik, Guglielmus van. Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi. Volumen I (1198-1431). Münich : Sumptibus et Typis Librariae Regensbergianae, 1913; reprint, Padua : Il Messagero di S. Antonio, 1960, pp. 28, 43 and 387; Goñi Gaztambide, José. "Zalba, Martín de." Diccionario de historia eclesiástica de España. 4 vols and Supplement. Dirigido por Quintín Aldea Vaquero, Tomás Marín Martínez, José Vives Gatell. Madrid : Instituto Enrique Flórez, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1972-1975; Suplemento (1987), IV, 2791-2792; Leroy, Béatrice. "Les prélats de Pampelune proches des rois Charles II et Charles III de Navarre (vers 1360/1420)", in Les Prélats, l'Église et la société : XIe-XVe siècles : hommage à Bernard Guillemain. By Bériac, Françoise. Guillemain, Bernard ; and Dom, Anne-Marie. Talence : CROCEMS : Université Michel de Montaigne, Bordeaux III, 1994, pp. 297-303.

Webgraphy. Biography by Julia Pavón Benito, in Spanish, DB~e, Diccionario Biográfico Español; his engraving and biography, Histoire de tous les cardinaux françois de naissance, ou qui ont esté promeus au cardinalat. Volume 1, par François Duchesne (1616-1693), F. Duchesne (Paris), 1660; biography by Alberto Xabier Martínez Artola, in Spanish, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopledia.

(1) This is the text of his epitaph, taken from Chacón, Vitæ, et res gestæ Pontificvm Romanorum et S. R. E. Cardinalivm, II, col. 687:

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