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13. Matthias’ Succession Plans
None of Matthias’ marriages gave rise to a lawful heir. His only child, John Corvin, was born out of wedlock to the Austrian Barbara Edelpöck on 2 April 1473. By 1479, the King had already, through grants of titles and domains, raised his natural son to an appropriate rank in the social order. He created for him the Duchy of Liptó, which existed neither before nor since, and in 1482 granted him the Hunyadvár domain.
Matthias devoted his entire domestic and foreign policy in the last five or six years of his reign to founding a dynasty. Lands reverting to the crown were assigned – often arbitrarily – to his son. By 1490, the Prince was the wealthiest and most powerful landowner in Hungary, above any aristocrat. According to Bonfini, the King involved him in the everyday affairs of government and ceremonial events, so that all might recognise his son as the future sovereign. He planned a wealthy and prestigious marriage for him to the younger sister of the Prince of Milan, Bianca Maria Sforza. The Prince joined in the conquest of Lower Austria, and his triumphal entry to Vienna and Wiener Neustadt at his father’s side displayed his candidacy to Emperor Frederick III. Matthias also promoted his son’s succession to the Bohemian throne by granting him the powerful Silesian duchies of Troppau (Opava) and Glogau (G³ogów). In Hungary, the prelates, barons, towns and captains of the royal castles swore an oath to elect the Prince king after Matthias’ death. In the event, the opposition of Beatrice and the prelates, as well as several barons, prevented his election. Not even possession of Buda, Visegrád, other royal castles, the Holy Crown, the treasury, and the Corvina Library, presented by the already-ill King during his last residence in Buda, were sufficient to offset his illegitimate birth.
King Matthias died in Vienna on 6 April 1490 without having secured his son’s future, and without settling the future of his kingdom.
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