Friday 8 June 2018

30) Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary and Croatia

Matthias Corvinus (1443-1490). King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490.

Matthias established one of the earliest professional standing armies of medieval Europe (the Black Army of Hungary), reformed the administration of justice, reduced the power of the barons, and promoted the careers of talented individuals chosen for their abilities rather than their social statuses. Matthias patronized art and science; his royal library, the Bibliotheca Corviniana, was one of the largest collections of books in Europe. With his patronage, Hungary became the first country to embrace the Renaissance from Italy. As Matthias the Just, the monarch who wandered among his subjects in disguise, he remains a popular hero of Hungarian and Slovak folk tales.

The name corvinus was given to him by Italian biographer Antonio Bonfini, who claimed the Hunyadi family (on whose coat of are was a crow) descended from the ancient Roman family of Corvini.

Father of John Corvinus.





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