Martyrius was elected Archbishop of Esztergom in 1151, presumably succeeding
Kökényes. According to an undated charter of Géza II, the
Pannonhalma Archabbey was confirmed as the owner of certain lands in the same year, when Martyrius became archbishop and Géza met
Henry Jasomirgott, Margrave of Austria, which contributed to the normalization of their strained relations, which took place in 1151. Even Martyrius wrote in a letter in 1156, he had filled the office for six years by then. As one of his first measures, he consecrated the Óbuda Cathedral in the same year, dedicated to Virgin Mary, and appointed a certain Mikó as its first provost. In contemporary records, Martyrius is first mentioned as archbishop in 1152, when he appears as a witness on the occasion of the last will and testament of lady Margaret in
Pannonhalma (an important source of 12th-century Hungarian economic history). When the engagement between Géza's sister
Sophia and
Henry Berengar, son of
Conrad III of Germany was broken, she remained in
Germany, becoming a nun at the convent of
Admont (today in
Austria). After that Géza sent a letter to Admont to bring her back to Hungary. However, Sophia did not want to leave, insisting instead that she wished to remain in the monastery as a nun. Then Géza decided to send a diplomatic mission around 1152 to negotiate her return. The Hungarian delegation was led by Archbishop Martyrius. The abbot of Admont gave Sophia the choice of staying or leaving. Once more, she affirmed her desire to become a nun, and Géza II finally permitted her to stay at Admont. His political influence is reflected by a letter from king's envoy Adalbert around 1153, who wrote he is sent to
Roger II of Sicily to forward a message "at the command of King Géza II and Archbishop Martyrius". Martyrius established and consecrated an altar, dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary, within the
St. Adalbert Cathedral in
Esztergom in 1156. Meanwhile, with the permission of Géza, he provided the
tithe of 70 villages in the surrounding
Nyitra,
Bars,
Hont and
Esztergom counties to the Chapter to finance its operation and the weekly ceremonies, in addition to the local St. Nicholas chapel as the place of convent. Still in 1156, he consecrated the church of Barátka (built by a certain
Eusidinus) in Bars County, dedicated to
Martin of Tours. In the establishing charter, Martyrius donated the villages of Barátka,
Léva and
Visk (today Levice and Vyškovce nad Ipľom in Slovakia) to the church, establishing its parish district. This is the only preserved document, when Martyrius used his own seal. Some historians, for instance, László Erdélyi and
Richard Marsina considered Martyrius' charter (called as "
Diploma of Eusidinus" in Hungarian historiography) as a 14th-century forgery, citing anachronistic elements in the text (e.g. the words
parochia or
missale). After a philological examination, Erzsébet Ladányi accepted the document as authentic. Martyrius appears as a witness in a royal charter (it was possibly also issued in 1156), when Géza II donated large-scale landholdings two foreign knights Gottfried and Albert. Sometimes during the last years of his episcopate, Martyrius established a church dedicated to
Saint Stephen of Hungary near
Székesfehérvár, according to the charter of King
Béla III, when the church already belonged to the
Knights Hospitaller. The construction of the cathedral was finished by Géza's spouse Queen
Euphrosyne of Kiev after the death of Martyrius. In 1157, Martyrius appears as a witness, when the Barátka church was granted the salt custom of
Nána and
Párkány (Štúrovo, Slovakia) by Géza. In the same year, Martyrius countersigned the last will and testament of
comes Wolfer (co-founder of the
gens Héder and ancestor of the
Kőszegi family). According to a non-authentic charter, which contains royal donations to the
Diocese of Nyitra, Archbishop Martyrius was still alive on 13 February 1158. He and other bishops also appear in a forgery which claimed that Géza transliterated Saint Stephen's privilege donations to the
Pécsvárad Abbey (as the original document have been destroyed during a fire in 1105). According to the 18th-century historian and clergyman Miklós Schmitth, Martyrius died on 26 April 1158. He was buried under the altar of the Esztergom Cathedral, consecrated by himself two years ago. ==References==