Mátyás Hunyadi

(Matthias I Corvinus). Born Feb. 23, 1443, in Kolozsvár; died Apr. 6, 1490, in Vienna. Hungarian king from 1458 to 1490.

Hunyadi was the son of Janos Hunyadi. He carried out a policy of centralizing the country and created a standing army, which he used successfully against the Ottoman Empire, then a threat to the independence of Hungary. In 1468 he began a war against the Czech lands and won Moravia and Silesia (transferred to his rule in 1478). In 1485 he occupied Vienna.