MATHIAS CORVINUS, King of Hungary, was the second son of John Hunyady (q.v.), and was b. in 1443. Having been released from the hands of the treacherous Frederick III. of Germany by Podiebrad, king of Bohemia, he returned to Hungary, and was elected king in 1458. His accession was hailed with the utmost enthusiasm over the whole country. But the Hungarian crown at this time was no chaplet of roses; two sovereigns, alike formidable, the one, 3.1ohammed II., from his military talents and immense resources, the other, Frederick III., from his intriguing policy, were busily con spiring against the boy-king. To meet these dangers, Mathias rapidly carried out his measures of defense, the most important of which was the formation of a regular force of cavalry, to form which one man was enrolled out of every 20 families. This was the origin of the term " hussar," which means in Hungarian " the price or due of twenty." Mathias fell on the Turks, who had ravaged the country a.s far as Temesvar, inflicted upon them a bloody defeat, pursued them as far as Bosnia, took the stronghold Jaieza, where he liberated 10,000 Christian prisoners, and thence returned to Weisenberg, where .be was crowned with the sacred crown of St. Stephen in 1464. He next suppressed the .disorders of Wallachia and Moldavia; but feeling that his plans were counteracted by ihe intrigues of Frederick III. to gain possession of Hungary, Mathias besought the .assistance of pope Pius II., but to no purpose. After a second successful campaign ag,ainst the Turks, he turned his attention to the encouragement of arts and letters, and .adorned his capital with the works of renowned sculptors, in addition to a library of 50,000 volumes. He sent a large staff of literary men to Italy for the purpose of obtain ing copies of valuable manuscripts,* and adorned his court by the presence of the most eminent men of Italy and Germany. He was himself an author of no mean ability, and
he possessed a delicate appreciation of the fine arts. At the same time the affairs of ,rovemment were not neglected. The finances were brought into a flourishing con ts.
dition, industry and commerce were promoted by wise legislation, and justice was strictly administered to peasant and noble alike. But the promptiugs of his ambition, and the pressure exercised by the Catholic party, cast an indelible blot on Mathias's otherwise spotless escutcheon; he wantonly attacked Podiebrad, his father-in-law, the Hussite king of Bohemia, and after a bloody contest of seven years' duration between these kings, the greatest generals of the age, the Hungarian power prevailed, and Moravia, Silesia, aud Lusatia were wrested from Bohemia. Immediately after the con clusion of this war Mathias went to meet his old enemies, the Turks, and inflicted upon them, at Kenyermezo (1479), such a defeat as kept them quiet for the next 46 years. After defeating an invading army of Poles, lie had at length a fair opportunity for settling his differences with Frederick, and taking revenge on the insidious plotter who had inabittered his whole life. The Austrian fortresses fell before hiin in rapid succes, sion. After an obstivate defense, Vienna shared the same _fate (1485), and the emperor was reduced to beg his bread from village to village. Mathias now took up his residence in Vienna, but while on the pinnacle of glory he was struck down by- a fit of apoplexy, and died at Vienna in 1400. To the patriotism and bravery of his father, Mathias added a taste for letters, and the highest abilities as an administmtor and politician; even his secret enemy, Castelli, testifies that for subtlety and daring lie had no equal among the princes of the age.