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MATTHIAS CORVINUS MATTISOIST 283 Ms suing for peace in 1615. He was equally unfortunate in his attempts to arrest the reli- gious strife to which he had not a little contrib- uted by countenancing his brother's support of the Jesuits. After failing to transfer the Catholic league (formed in 1609) from Bava- rian to Austrian control, he issued a decree (April, 1617) against this as well as the rival Protestant association established in 1608 un- der the lead of the count palatine Frederick IV. Both disregarded his decree, and his fail- ing health offered a convenient pretext for sub- stituting the archduke Ferdinand as king of Bohemia (1617) and Hungary (1618). But the bigotry of this prince (the future emperor Fer- dinand II.) resulted in the outbreak in Prague (May 23, 1618), which kindled the flames of the thirty years' war. His death took place at a time when the revolted Bohemians had gained considerable advantages. MATTHIAS L, the Great, surnamed COKVINUB, king of Hungary, born in 1443, died in Vien- na in 1490. He was a son of John Hunyady (Hunniades), the governor of Hungary during the minority of King Ladislas the Posthumous. His elder brother Ladislas perished on the scaf- fold by order of that king, but he succeeded the latter on the throne by election in 1458, after having been previously detained as a prisoner in Bohemia by the adversaries of his house. He met with bitter opposition on the part of many powerful nobles, who in 1459 elected the em- peror Frederick III. as rival king. Matthias, however, prevailed upon Frederick to surren- der to him the crown of St. Stephen; and he next expelled the Turks, who had availed themselves of the intestine troubles to invade the country. He restored order in the king- dom with a firm hand, curbing the license of the nobles with rigor. He had married a daugh- ter of George Podiebrad, king of Bohemia, but was induced by ambition and the entreaties of the court of Rome to fight his own father-in- law, who had been excommunicated as a Hus- site in 1463, and afterward declared deposed by the new pope Paul II., a crusade being preached against him throughout the German empire. Podiebrad repulsed the invasion of Bohemia by Matthias, and concluded an armis- tice with him in April, 1469 ; but the latter, be- ing chosen king of Bohemia by a mock diet at Olmutz, without effect, renewed hostilities, which did not terminate till July, 1470. In the mean time Matthias had wrested from Podie- brad Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia (1468-'70) ; he also vanquished the Poles, and in 1485-'6 wrested Vienna and a large part of Lower Austria from the emperor Frederick. The enormous expenses of these wars entailed heavy burdens upon his subjects ; but his rule, though arbitrary, was so eminently judicious and pop- ular that after his death the adage gained cur- rency: "King Matthias gone, justice gone." Hungary enjoyed under his influence an era of unprecedented prosperity and prestige in Eu- rope as the great bulwark against the Turks. At the same time he promoted letters and sci- ence more thoroughly than any other potentate of his day. He gathered round him learned Italians, founded the university of Buda, ac- quired Greek manuscripts, and employed nu- merous copyists at Florence and Buda to add valuable materials to the royal library. Its partial destruction by the Turks in 1527 was a great calamity, especially as only a small por- tion of it found its way to Vienna. John Cor- vinus, a natural son of Matthias, attempted to succeed to the throne, which was occupied after the latter's death by Uladislas II. . MATTHIAS, John. See ANABAPTISTS. MATTHISSON, Friedrieh yon, a German lyric poet, born near Magdeburg, Jan. 23, 1761, died near Dessau, March 12, 1831. Having devel- oped considerable talents as a poet, and gained great popularity, he was patronized by various German princes, but retired from court life in 1824. His "Elegy in the Ruins of an Old Castle " is one of his finest lyrics. He edited selections from the lyric poets of Germany under the title of LyriscJie Anthologie (20 vols., Zurich, 1803-'7). His Erinnerungen and Schriften were published at Zurich (5 vols., 1810-'16, and 8 vols., 1825-'31), and his post- humous works at Berlin (4 vols., 1832). MATTISON, Hiram, an American clergyman, born in Norway, N. Y., Feb. 11, 1811, died in Jersey City, N. J., Nov. 24, 1868. He entered the Methodist ministry in 1835, and in 1836 joined the Black River conference. In 1841 he was appointed agent of the American Bible society for the state of New Jersey. Resu- ming the pastorate in 1842, he was successively stationed at Watertown and Rome, N. Y. From 1846 to 1860 he was chiefly employed in the preparation of works on astronomy, in lectu- ring, and in supplying the John street church, New York; but in 1856-'7 he was pastor at Adams and Syracuse, and took a leading part in the anti-slavery movement. In 1859, by correspondence with the Methodists of Great Britain, he obtained the names of about 85,000 petitioners to the general conference of 1860, praying that body to extirpate slavery from the Methodist Episcopal church ; and a like paper from 45,000 petitioners in central New York was largely due to his efforts. In No- vember, 1861, he withdrew from the Methodist Episcopal church, because, as he affirmed, of its toleration of slaveholding ; and soon after he became pastor of St. John's Independent Methodist church, New York. In 1865 he re- turned to the former church, and was stationed at Jersey City, where he was prominent in his opposition to the claims of the Roman Catho- lic church. This led to his appointment in 1868 as one of the district secretaries of the American and foreign Christian union. Among his works are : " The Trinity and Modern Ari- anism," and "Tracts for the Times" (1843); " Elementary Astronomy, accompanied by Maps" (1846); "Burritt's Geography of the Heavens," edited and revised (1850); "High