Matthias Corvinus (1458–1490): Hungary at Its Prime
Hungary in the 15th century was a vast kingdom. It included areas containing parts of modern-day Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia, southern Slovakia, northern Serbia, Austria, Ukraine and Romania. It used to be one of the wealthiest and most powerful realms in Europe at the time, having enormous quantities of gold, silver and salt at its disposal. Salt mines were highly treasured in the empire, and came under state administration.
The Black Army of Hungary stood out as one of the few standing, professional European armies in the late Middle Ages, comprised of highly trained, well-paid mercenaries. Every fourth soldier had a rifle with a flintlock mechanism, making it one of the most mechanized army units of the time as well.
Unknown to most people, Hungary was also the first country outside Italy to embrace the wonders of the Renaissance. For instance, the royal palace at Visegrad (Hungary) was renovated in Renaissance style, while the one at Buda was adored with a hanging garden and two new wings. The Hungarian Kingdom appointed everyone from artists, architects and intellectuals to book-binders, writers and librarians to serve the king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus.
Matthias I was born in 1443, the second son of János Hunyadi and Elizabeth Szilágyi, both of high-ranking noble families. He came to be known as Corvinus (which derives from the Latin word for raven, corvus), because his family’s coat of arms resembled a pair of ravens with a ring in their beaks. Matthias’ father was the commander of the armed Hungarian forces, a seasoned general, warlord of Transylvania and Regent of Hungary (basically prime minister). He remained the most skillful Hungarian general of his time, defending the southern frontiers from successive Ottoman attacks and incursions. Hence he secured the support of the Pope and the ecclesiastical elites of Europe. This would prove invaluable for Matthias’ ascent later on. János reached his apogee with the victory over the Ottomans at the Siege of Belgrade (1456), halting serious Ottoman advances into Europe for half a century, apart from smaller raids.
Not long after, in August 1456, less than a month after the termination of the siege, János died. His eldest son and big brother of Matthias, Ladislaus Hunyadi, was chosen to become the new head of the family.
Matthias had some years in beforehand, in 1451, been chosen to marry Elizabeth Celje, the daughter of Ulrich of Celje, a powerful aristocrat in what’s now Slovenia. The engagement was due to the fact that Ulrich’s father, Dorde Brankovic, Despot of Serbia, and Janos Hunyadi had signed a treaty which ended a longstanding feud between them. Now, curious thing, Ulrich hated the guts out of Janos, and envied his career success.
Things hadn’t worked out as planned for them, and the conflict between the families of Celje and Hunyadi was still well ongoing. In the meantime, Elizabeth had died back in 1455, so there were no honourable or familial repercussions to be had. Ladislaus Hunyadi made sure Janos got assassinated in November of 1456, but this would prove to be the catalyst for a hellhole spiraling out of control for the Hunyadi family.
Although a private affair, it happened within the context of it being a wrestling fight between two influential noble families. Usually, in Hungary, this sort of business would go on without any central administration getting involved to settle a fair outcome. Hungarian kings throughout most of the Medieval Period had easily come under the sway of influential noblemen, leading to a weak regality and a realm of aristocratic strife.
Originally, Ladislaus had reached an understanding with the Hungarian king Ladislaus V, through coercion. The king had promised to not interfere with this particular incident. However, certain noblemen, fearing the imminent rise of the Hunyadis, convinced him of otherwise, that the Hunyadis were traitors and had to be put before trial.
Hence, in March of 1457, both brothers were arrested. Within a few days, Ladislaus Hunyadi was no more. Matthias, on the other hand, was spared temporarily, probably due to his young age and perceived harmlessness at the time; he was 15. They could use him for hostage purposes to pressure the Hunyadis later on.
Contrary to their plans, the imprisonment managed to sow discontent, and large parts of the kingdom east of the river Tisza (the easternmost parts of Hungary) got under the dominion of rebels lead by Elizabeth and Michael Szilagyi, his mother and uncle. The revolt was so tumultuous and wide-reaching that Ladislaus V had to flee his capital at Buda for Vienna, and then for Prague. There, Matthias continued to be in custody, but this time in the hands of George Podebrady, King of Bohemia.
This civil war continued to drag on and ravage the empire, between barons loyal to the royalty and Hunyadi rebel forces, until the unexpected death of Ladislaus V on 23 november.
Suddenly, the Hungarian throne was up for the bidding, due to the heirlessness of the former king. Due to the pressing internal situation Hungary found itself in, destabilizing the unity of the empire, and simultaneously surrounded by external enemies eager to exploit the opportunity of expansive warfare, a quick solution was in everyone’s interest.
Matthias was shortly after freed from captivity on the condition that he’d marry the daughter of George Podebrady, Catherine. Later, he was elected king by a body of nobles, surely encouraged by the convincing 15 000 Hunyadi forces under Michael Szilagyi stationed nearby.
Over the next few years, Matthias would wage wars against several fiends: Austria/the Holy Roman Empire, Bohemia, Poland, various internal enemies and the Ottoman Empire.
Austria, because the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick V had claimed the title of Hungarian king himself, add to which his possession of Hungarian regalia. Not much resulted from the many wars they waged, apart from perhaps a few land concessions. A compromise was met, where Frederick was allowed to use the title of Hungarian king. In return, he had to pay Matthias Corvinus handsomely, and hand him over the regalia, so that he finally could be crowned in 1464. At the apogee of their recurring enmity, Matthias occupied Vienna in June 1485, which he would control until his death. Matthias also had ambitions of being elected to the imperial throne, which never came to be.
Bohemia and Poland, because Matthias expanded into the Bohemian crownland from the late 1460s until 1471, when George Podebrady passed away. Although he asserted the title of Bohemian king, Matthias never controlled more territory than corresponding to modern day Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia (a Slavic cultural region split between modern-day Germany and Poland). Poland got dragged into the conflict, when Wladyslaw, the elder son of the Polish king Casimir IV, was elected by the Estates to become the new king of Bohemia. George Podebrady had offered him the title of heir in 1468, in hopes of attracting Polish military assistance in the ongoing conflict with Hungary, supported by Catholic, Bohemian noblemen. Matthias V kept his gains, but never managed to conquer Bohemia proper.
As when it pertains to the Ottoman Empire, Matthias viewed himself as the primary defender of Christian Europe against Muslim incursions (and Hussite audacities, as a sidenote). Indeed, so was his father, a seasoned commander, who both lost the battle of Varna and later settled the protracted siege of Belgrade. It was this pro-Christian link that drove papal support for Matthias’ reign, as his father had made friends with influential cardinals in Rome. The clergy loved them both. Hungary was the last kingdom to make a stand against Ottoman aggression after the latter had seized Wallachia and Bosnia, and tried to conquer Transylvania and Serbia. Their wars raged on for years; forts and towns continually switched hands. The verdict was a sort of stalemate, as the Ottomans continued to maraud in the Hungarian hinterland, but on a positive note, it definitely held back serious expansion into Europe for a century or so.
Internal enemies, such as Czech mercenaries in Northern Hungary and southern Slovakia lead by Janos Jiskra, were periodically quelled, but at last they were incorporated to be a part of the 25,000 man strong Black Army. Other rebellions, such as the peasant revolt in Transylvania, was brutally suppressed and the leaders killed. These were caused by the tax reforms and extra taxation often levied on the populace to draft and maintain the army and state finances in times of war.
Other crowning achievements of Matthias Corvinus included judicial reforms, the first printing press at Buda in 1473, patronage of Renaissance endowments and in particular of Italian scholarship, intellectualism, art, architecture and the like, cultivation of traditional Hungarian art, the construction of churches and monasteries and the founding of Bibliotheca Corviniana, which accrued one of the greatest collections of books at the time, of which more than 90% is lost for posterity, as the Ottomans destroyed most of it after their victorious battle of the Hungarians at Mohacs in 1526. Only 216 out of a total of 3000 codices have survived to the present. It was said to be second only to the Vatican library, the largest library in Europe North of the Alps and owning the finest collection of science writings during the Renaissance, according to contemporaneous accounts.
Matthias identified strongly with Plato’s conception of the philosopher king as uniting wisdom and strength within himself. As a youngster, he had received a classical education by his tutors, and at the time of his enthronement, he could speak in six languages in addition to his native Hungarian: Latin, Ancient Greek, Czech, Polish, Italian and German. He hired predominantly Italian artists, artisans, sculptors, military engineers, book-binders, writers, librarians and other professionals pertaining to the sciences, understood as fields of study, both social and natural. Matthias Corvinus had numerous lively discussions with Renaissance humanists, enticed by his renowned generosity. They brought with them Neoplatonism and other schools of thought to Hungary.
Matthias was the living embodiment of the Renaissance man, reading widely, deeply and regularly. This can be attributed to his preference of secular over spiritual works. For instance, he read Xenophon’s account of Cyrus the Great and Silicus Italicus’ book concerning the Second Punic War.
Matthias Corvinus ended his days at court from an unfortunate malaise, thought to be a stroke, or possibly even poisoning. We know that he couldn’t even participate in the lengthy Palm Sunday ceremony in Vienna in 1490, being so ill that he refrained from eating breakfast. He lost the ability to speak, and died two days later, having suffered terribly.
He had a son born out of wedlock, Janos Corvinus, who was supposed to succeed him, but he fell victim to sly court tactics and intrigues and was quickly overrun. Not only did he lack the necessary legitimacy, he wasn’t raised for the kind of court life he would have had to deal with, being shielded from court affairs, more or less. Instead, his successor would be his enemy, Vladislaus II of Bohemia. This was due to the fact that Vladislaus’ mother had been the sister of Ladislaus V, Matthias’ predecessor. His supporters got rid off Janos, who ended up as a baron, and the Diet of Hungary enthroned Vladislaus soon after.
Matthias Corvinus’ conquests in Austria and the Bohemian crownlands went back to their original owners almost immediately, the Black Army was dissolved (even though Ottoman raids were recurring), and none of his successors managed to recreate the grandeur of the Corvinian Golden Age as the Ottomans were hanging by, but in his posthumous glimmer we can truly see the apex of an actualized Renaissance monarch.
Further reading:
The Realm of St Stephen: The History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526 by Pál Engel
