martin

Martin, 1356–1410, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona

Martin, 1356–1410, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (c.1395–1410) and, as Martin II, king of Sicily (1409–10). He succeeded his brother, John I, in Aragón and became king of Sicily on the death of his son, Martin I of Sicily, who had married Maria, last of the Sicilian branch of the house of Aragón. Martin of Aragón and Sicily died without a male heir and thus was the last ruler from the Catalan dynasty of Aragón. After a two-year interregnum, his nephew, Prince Ferdinand of Castile, was chosen (1412) king of Aragón and Sicily as Ferdinand I.

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martin, in zoology

martin: see swallow.

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martin

Any of several species of songbirds in the family Hirundinidae. In the U.S., the name refers to the purple martin (Progne subis), at 8 in. (20 cm) long, the largest U.S. swallow. The sand martin, or bank swallow (Riparia riparia), a 5-in. (12-cm) brown-and-white bird, breeds throughout the Northern Hemisphere, nesting in sandbank burrows. The house martin (Delichon urbica), blue-black above and white-rumped, is common in Europe. The African river martin (Pseudochelidon eurystomina) of the Congo is black, with red eyes and bill.