Matthias Corvinus of Hungary

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Matthias Corvinus (Hungarian: Corvinus Mátyás and Hunyadi Mátyás, Romanian: Matei Corvin) (February 23 1443 (?) – April 6 1490) was one of the greatest Kings of Hungary, ruling between 1458 and 1490. He was also crowned the King of Bohemia in 1469 and ruled as the anti-king in Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia.

Matthias was born in Kolozsvár (now Cluj) in Transylvania in 1443, the second son of John Hunyadi, a successful warlord who rose through the ranks of the nobility to become regent of Hungary. The later epithet Corvinus was coined by Matthias' biographer Antonio Bonfini, who claimed that the Hunyadi family (whose coat of arms depicts a raven—corvus in Latin) descended from the ancient Roman gens of the Corvini.

After the death of Matthias's father, there was a two-year struggle between Hungary's various barons and its Habsburg king (Ladislaus Posthumus, also king of Bohemia) with treachery from all sides; Matthias's older brother László Hunyadi was one party attempting to gain control. In 1457, László was captured with a trick and beheaded, while the king died (possibly of poisoning) in November that year. The lower aristocrats and the people of Pest came out in support of electing Matthias as king, while most barons, thinking the young scholar would be a weak ruler, also agreed to support his election. Thus on January 20, 1458, Matthias was elected king by the diet. At this time Matthias was a hostage of the new king of Bohemia, George of Podebrady, who released him under the condition of marrying his daughter. The opposing party initially fought some battles against Matthias, but these came to a close in 1463, when the other contender, Emperor Frederick III, officially accepted Matthias as the rightful king of Hungary.

Matthias was 15 when he was crowned King of Hungary and he soon learned the finesses of power from his mentor, the Italian Antonio Bonfini, regent of Hungary until his adulthood. Matthias was educated in Italian and his fascination with the achievements of the Renaissance led to the promotion of Mediterranean cultural influences in Hungary. Buda, Esztergom, Székesfehérvár and Visegrád were amongst the towns in Hungary that benefited from the establishment of public health and education and a new legal system under Matthias' rule. He proved a most generous patron as artists from Italy (e.g., Galeotto Marzio) and Western Europe flocked to his courts. His library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was Europe's greatest collection of historical chronicles and philosophic and scientific works in the 15th century, and second only in size to the Vatican Library. He spoke Hungarian, Croatian, Latin, and later also German, Czech, Slovak, and other Slavic languages.

Matthias gained independence of and power over the barons by dividing them, and by raising a large royal army (fekete sereg or "Black Army") of mercenaries, whose main force included the remnants of the Hussites. At this time Hungary reached its greatest territorial extent of the epoch (present-day southeastern Germany in the west, Dalmatia in the south, Bulgaria in the east, and Poland in the north).

He was victorious against the Ottoman Empire, both in beating back attacks and starting smaller campaigns of retaliation: 1463-64 in Bosnia, 1475 in Southern Hungary, 1479-83 in Transylvania, Wallachia, Serbia, and Bosnia; and in 1481 he send a contingent to help in the retaking of the Italian port Otranto. Like his father, Matthias desired to build up an empire strong enough to push back the Ottoman Turks; toward that end he deemed necessary the conquering of large parts of the Holy Roman Empire. Until his death in 1490, Matthias Corvinus gained control of Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia (these in 1468/1469/1479-1490), and half of Austria (1477/1483-1491); he even ruled from Vienna after 1485.

At times Matthias had Vlad III Dracula, the Prince of Wallachia, as his vassal. Although Vlad had much success against the Ottoman armies, the two Christian rulers disagreed in 1462, leading to Matthias invading Wallachia and imprisoning Vlad in Buda.

Matthias's empire collapsed after his death, since he had no children except for an illegitimate son, John Corvin, whom the noblemen of the country did not accept as their king. The then king of Bohemia, the weak king Ladislaus_II_of_Bohemia_and_Hungary of the Polish/Lithuanian Jagiellon line, followed him – Ladislaus nominally ruled the areas Matthias conquered except Austria – but real power was in the hand of the nobles. In 1514, two years before Ladislaus's death, the nobility crushed with ruthless methods the peasant rebellion of György Dózsa. As central rule degenerated, the stage was set for a defeat at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1521, Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) fell, and in 1526, the Hungarian army was destroyed in the Battle at Mohács.

High taxes to sustain his lavish lifestyle and the Black Army (and also that the latter went on marauding across the Kingdom after being disbanded upon Matthias's death) could imply that he wasn't very popular with his contemporaries. But the fact that he was elected king in a small anti-Habsburg popular revolution, that he kept the barons in check, persistent rumours about him sounding public opinion by mingling among commoners incognito, and of course the misfortune that befell Hungary later ensured that Matthias' reign is considered one of the most glorious chapters of Hungarian history. Songs and tales converted him into Matthias the Just (Mátyás az igazságos in Hungarian), a ruler of justice and great wisdom, the most popular hero of Hungarian folklore.

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Preceded by:
Ladislaus Posthumus 		King of Hungary
Succeeded by:
Ulászló II
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