he had conquered, but came down with
dysentery and died in Seville before his
ship set sail.
SEEALSO: Columbus, Christopher; explora-
tion
Corvinus, Matthias ...........................
(1440–1490)
King of Hungary, crusader against the
Muslim Turks, and celebrated Hungarian
patron of the arts and humanities. The
son of Janos Hunyadi, himself a widely re-
nowned military leader, Matthias Corvinus
was born in Cluj, Transylvania. The nick-
name “Corvinus,” comes from the Latin
corvusa,orcrow,abirddepictedonthe
Hunyadi coat of arms. Matthias was given
a thorough education by an Italian scholar
who fired him with enthusiasm for the
classics of Latin literature.
He was betrothed to the daughter of
Count Ulrich Czilley, a rival of Janos Hu-
nyadi, but this girl died before the mar-
riage. On the death of Hunyadi, a bitter
struggle over the crown of Hungary broke
out, with Czilley denouncing Matthias and
his brother Laszlo as plotting the downfall
of King Ladislas V. In 1457 Laszlo and
Matthias were captured; Laszlo was ex-
ecuted. A few months later Ladislas V died,
while Matthias became a prisoner of the
king of Bohemia, George Podebrady. In
1458 a faction of Hungarian nobles elected
Matthias as the next king, believing as a
young and educated man he would be easy
to control.
Opponents of Matthias proclaimed as
king the Habsburg emperor Frederick III,
who accepted his election and seized the
crownjewelsofHungaryassymbolofhis
authority. Matthias proved an able leader,
however, and crushed opposition, taking
as prisoners many of his rivals as well as
Vlad Dracula, the prince of Wallachia. In
1463, Frederick gave up his claim, accepted
Matthias as the king of Hungary, and re-
turned the crown. Matthias raised a pow-
erful army of mercenaries to expand the
borders of Hungary to Moravia and Silesia
in the north and Austria in the west. He
campaigned against the Turks in the Bal-
kan Peninsula, defeating them in several
battles in Serbia and Transylvania.
At home he established a new judicial
system, improved education, and patron-
ized several Italian artists, whom he in-
vited to work at his court. He also built a
prestigious library of books and manu-
scripts, the second largest in Europe after
the papal library in Rome.Council of Basele ...............................
A church council held in 1431 in the town
of Basele, Switzerland. Its members, in-
cluding monks, bishops, and scholars,
sought to discuss pressing church matters
such as the challenge of the Hussites, the
Czech reformers who defied the authority
of the church. The council was officially
convened by Pope Martin V, who died
soon after it began meeting. Its members
asserted their authority in matters of doc-
trine, even presuming to give direction to
the pope himself in such concerns. They
also guided the church in the matter of
taxation, in the celebration of the Mass,
and in the pope’s authority over local
church institutions. As the nations of Eu-
rope gradually emerged from medieval
feudalism, the Council of Basele and oth-
ers served to express their growing sense
of independence from the authority of the
Vatican, the papal headquarters in Rome.
Greatly weakened by the Great Schism that
divided the church among several factions,
Pope Eugene IV agreed to recognize the
council as legitimate. By a papal decree ofCouncil of Basele