3. brandishing

198

RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA. [CHAP. IV. to the offers of one of their body when Torquemada, the High Inquisitor, burst into the room, and banishing aloft a crucifix, flung it upon the table, bidding them sell their master like Judas Iscariot. This insolent act excited nothing but superstitious awe in the minds of Ferdinand and Isabella, who, regardless of the impolicy as well as of the injustice of the measure, issued an order for the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, March 30th, 1492. Nearly the whole race departed rather than sacrifice their religion to their worldly interest.

It was not till near the end of May, 1492, that Ferdinand and Isabella quitted Granada. In the spring of 1493, while they were residing in Barcelona, Columbus arrived there after his return from the discovery of America, and was received by Ferdinand and Isabella with honours which that ceremonious Court had never before condescended to bestow on a subject of his rank. Columbus narrated his adventures before the Sovereigns; and the success of his voyage was attested not only by various products of those newly discovered countries, as gold dust, tropical plants, birds, and beasts, but also by some of the native islanders whom he had brought with him. Thus within a short period Spain was suddenly raised to a very high degree of power, not only by the amalgamation of its several Kingdoms, but also by the acquisition of a rich and almost boundless Empire on the other side of the Atlantic. A few more years and these vast dominions were to be still further increased by the addition of the Empire, of whose history, with that of its connected lands, we shall here take a brief retrospect.

The elevation of the heterodox Utraquist, George Podiebrad, to the Bohemian throne' gave great offence to Pope Pius II., who endeavoured to abolish the Compactata, or religious privileges of the Hussite party; but the Papal Legate, Fantino della Valle, having made an insolent harangue in the Diet, Podiebrad caused him to be imprisoned and kept on bread and water. Paul II., the successor of Pius, carried his anger still further. In June, 1465, he issued a bull, deposing the Bohemian King as a heretic, and intrusted the Emperor with the execution of the sentence. As neither Frederick III. nor the German States seemed inclined to enter the lists against Podiebrad, the Pope next applied to Matthias Corvinus, who, dazzled with the prospect of the Bohemian Crown, accepted the authority of the Apostolic Chair as sufficient warrant for attacking his unoffending father-in-law.

1 See above, p. 92.

CHAP. IV.]

AFFAIRS OF BOHEMIA.

199

For some time hostilities were covertly conducted on both sides; but early in 1467 Matthias made large preparations for open war, giving out that they were intended against the Turk. As Frederick had helped Matthias by allowing the Pope's missionaries to preach a Bohemian crusade in Germany, Podiebrad declared war against him and invaded Austria (January, 1468); an act which brought on an alliance between Frederick and Matthias; and as the latter was now unmolested by the Turks, with whom he was even suspected of having concluded a treaty, and as the Pope had supplied him with 50,000 ducats towards the expenses of the enterprise, he resolved to invade Bohemia. He obtained the co-operation of his subjects by a trick unworthy of a great Prince. He caused two captured Turks, who had been carefully instructed in the part they were to play, to be introduced before his Council, where, in the name of their master the Sultan, they sued for a truce. Matthias acted his part to admiration. He declared that, as a Christian Prince, he could enter into no written treaty with Infidels; but he bade the pseudo-ambassadors take back his verbal promise of peace; and he closed the sitting with a hypocritical speech, in which he declared that, however repugnant to his private feelings, his duty as a good Catholic superseded his obligations towards George Podiebrad as a father-in-law, and justified the step he was about to take. The Council acquiesced in his views, and war was declared against Bohemia, April 8th, 1468.' Podiebrad secured the neutrality, and at length the aid, of Casimir IV. of Poland, by promising the Bohemian succession to the Polish Prince Wladislaus: a choice agreeable to the Bohemians, as Wladislaus was descended from their favourite monarch, Charles IV., and spoke their language; nor was he esteemed so unfriendly to the Calixtine doctrines as Matthias and Frederick.

In 1468 Matthias entered Bohemia and invested Spielberg. Near that town an interview took place between him and Podiebrad, which ended in the latter challenging his son-in-law to single combat; but as Matthias insisted on fighting on horseback the duel went off. Spielberg held out till February, 1469. After its fall Matthias marched on Kuttenberg; but in the defiles near Semtisch, his army, consisting principally of cavalry, got entangled in some abattis, and being unable either to advance or retreat, he was compelled to propose a truce, which was concluded at Sternberg, April 7th. Matthias, however, almost immediately broke it. He resumed hostilities, overran Moravia and Silesia, Engel, Gesch. des ungar. Reichs, B. iii. S. 285 f.

1

200

FREDERICK III. AT ROME.

[CHAP. IV.

and being elected King by a mock Diet of the Catholic party at Olmütz, was crowned by the Papal Legate (May 3rd).

Meanwhile Frederick being released by this war from all apprehension on the side of Bohemia, that weak and superstitious Emperor, who had neglected to provide Matthias with the succour he had promised, seized the opportunity to discharge a vow of a pilgrimage to Rome; and he arrived in the City about Christmas, 1468, with an escort of five hundred horse. Here he gave convincing proofs of his devotion to the Holy See. He fell twice on his knees as he approached the Pope, enthroned in St. Peter's, and a third time when near enough to kiss Paul's hands and feet; he occupied a throne which had been prepared for him, but which was so low that his head just reached to the Pope's feet; in the habit of a deacon, he exercised the Imperial privilege of intoning the Gospel; and when Paul mounted his palfrey he hastened to hold the Holy Father's stirrup. All these petty humiliations have been carefully recorded in the annals of the Roman Church by sacerdotal pride. Frederick obtained on this occasion the Pope's permission to erect the bishoprics of Vienna and Neustadt, and to bestow at his own pleasure the 300 prebends which he founded.

The election of Matthias just recorded drew Podiebrad and Casimir closer together. It was agreed that Podiebrad should give his daughter, Ludmilla, to Casimir's son, Wladislaus, and cause him to be chosen King of Bohemia; in return for which Casimir was to support Podiebrad with arms, and to employ for him his influence with the Pope. On the other hand, Matthias sought the aid of Frederick III.; and in February, 1470, he paid the Emperor, who had now returned from Italy, a visit at Vienna. Here the magnificence of the Hungarian King formed a strange contrast with the Emperor's narrow way of living; and Frederick was also outshone by the voluntary homage which Matthias, as the foremost champion of Christendom, received from various Italian States. The Florentines sent him a present of lions, the Ligurians of arms, the Venetians of silk stuffs, the Neapolitans of horses, the Pope subsidies from the Sacred College. The demands of Matthias rose with his good fortune. He required that Frederick should give him his daughter Cunigund in marriage, that he should renounce the Hungarian title and succession, and should return the 60,000 ducats he had received for the crown of St. Stephen: but

1 See Raynaldus, Ann. Eccl. 1468, t. x. p. 464; Diario di Stefano Infessura, ap. Sismondi, Rép. Ital. ch. lxxxi. 2 Engel, B. iii. S. 305.

CHAP. IV.]

DEATH OF PODIEBRAD.

201

the Emperor's anger was roused by these demands; an altercation ensued, in which he reproached Matthias with his low birth, and the latter soon after stole away without taking leave.

The Bohemian war dragged on without much vigour, and on March 22nd, 1471, George Podiebrad died. In the following May the Bohemians confirmed the election of Wladislaus, who with a small army penetrated to Prague, where he received the Crown, August 22nd. In September, Casimir, second son of the Polish King, after publishing at Cracow a manifesto in which he claimed the Crown of Hungary in virtue of his descent from Elizabeth, second daughter of the Emperor Albert II. and sister of King Ladislaus Postumus, and denounced Matthias Corvinus as a tyrant and usurper, invaded Hungary with a considerable force; but instead of meeting with the assistance which he expected from the malcontents, he found a large force arrayed against him, and was compelled to make a precipitate retreat. Meanwhile Frederick, though pretending to favour Matthias, secretly helped his rival Wladislaus; but his weakness obliged him to have recourse to the basest duplicity. He had promised to hold a Diet at Augsburg in 1473, in which he would invest Matthias with the Crown of Bohemia and recognize him as an Elector of the Empire; yet, so far from fulfilling his engagement, the affairs of Bohemia were not even mentioned in that assembly, and in the following year he concluded a formal alliance with Casimir of Poland. The King of Hungary, however, was able to make head against all his opponents. His troops made devastating incursions both into Bohemia and Austria, and penetrated as far as Augsburg, where the Emperor was residing; while Matthias himself with his Black Band advanced to Breslau, and established there a fortified camp, on which Casimir and Wladislaus could make no impression. He also despatched his generals Zapolya and Kinis into Poland, who pushed on to the gates of Cracow, committing such devastations that Casimir sued for peace; and on December 8th, 1474, a truce of three years and a half was accordingly concluded.1

In 1476 Matthias celebrated his marriage with Beatrix, daughter of King Ferdinand of Naples, to which we have already referred. Meanwhile covert hostilities were still carried on between the Hungarian King and the Emperor, which in 1477 again broke out into open war. Frederick now invested Wladislaus with the Bohemian Electorate; but his arms were no match for those of 1 Engel, B. iii. S. 334 ff.

202

TREATY OF KORNEUBURG.-VIENNA TAKEN. [CHAP. IV.

Matthias, who invaded Austria, laid siege to Vienna, and compelled Frederick to fly into Styria. Frederick, who was now anxiously engaged about the marriage of his son Maximilian with Mary of Burgundy, proposed a peace, and, by way of inducement, held out to Matthias the hope that he would aid his brother-inlaw, one of the sons of Ferdinand of Naples, to wrest Milan from the Sforzas. By the treaty of Korneuburg, concluded December 1st, 1477, the Emperor, in spite of his former investiture of Wladislaus, engaged to invest Matthias with Bohemia; who, however, was to make good his own claim, and also to support the Emperor against any attacks which he might incur in consequence of his act. Frederick was also to pay 100,000 ducats for the expenses of the war; one half at Martinmas, 1478, and the remainder in a twelvemonth. Matthias now published the Emperor's investiture in his favour, and the revocation of that of Wladislaus, and he attempted to reduce Bohemia; but the inhabitants made a strenuous resistance. This circumstance, as well as a formidable inroad of the Turks (August, 1478), turned his thoughts towards peace; especially as he was desirous of punishing the Emperor, who had neither kept his word with regard to Italian affairs nor made the stipulated payments. He therefore concluded what was called a "perpetual peace" with the Kings of Bohemia and Poland at Olmütz (July, 1479), reserving to himself the eventual right of succession in Bohemia, while Wladislaus ceded to him the Bohemian principalities of Lusatia, Moravia, and Silesia. His hands being thus at liberty, the Hungarian King declared war against Frederick. It was protracted several years, and was often interrupted by truces, but was devoid of important events, till in June, 1485, Vienna, from the effects of famine, was obliged to capitulate; and that capital was entered by Matthias and his Queen. Frederick fled to Linz; but not feeling in safety there, began a wandering life in Germany, proceeding with a suite of eighty persons from convent to convent, and from one Imperial city to another, living at their expense and vainly entreating the aid of the States against Matthias. At length he obtained a small supply of troops, and prevailed on Duke Albert of Saxony, a captain of renown, to take command of them; but these succours arrived too late. Neustadt, the favourite residence of Frederick, had agreed to capitulate on the 16th of August, 1487, if not relieved before that day; and Duke Albert had not got further than Linz on the 14th, where he found neither money nor provisions to enable him to proceed. Matthias now completed the reduction of Lower Austria; while