illegitimate sons, and Matthias endeavoured to do so on behalf of his son John Corvinus.
Matthias was of his age even in its smallest feature. With the literature and philosophy of the classical period, much of its superstition also had been revived. Astrology and chiromancy were practised in every court in Europe. Matthias, too, liked to hear and to talk about the "ars magica," and before taking any important step invariably sought the advice of his astrologer.
To sum up, Matthias expressed the spirit of the Renaissance to perfection in his character and talents, as in his faults. He represents that age as faithfully as a statue by Verocchio, or a picture of Mantegna, or a cathedral or campanile by Brunelleschi, or the miniature-adorned manuscripts of Attavantes. If his learning was less wide than that of Lorenzo de' Medici or Federigo da Urbino, his natural talents and inventiveness were greater. He thoroughly realised the importance of the Renaissance, and wrote on one occasion to Galeotto Marcio: "We may pride ourselves on having raised the glorious past, eternal in its influence, from the dead."
The poetry of the Middle Ages was chiefly religious, but the era of Matthias produced some secular poetry, and its light falls upon the figure of the King. The most important works were written in Latin, for the admiration of the classics was too enthusiastic and exclusive to allow of much favour being shown to poetry written in the vernacular. Janus Pannonius, in Hungary, used Latin for his epics, just as Petrarch did in Italy.
The same era also saw a late flowering of legend. The first long epic poem written in Hungarian is the story of St. Catherine of Alexandria. Her history inspired many of the great Renaissance painters: the most
