In confinibus Turcorum: The Men of Matthias Corvinus’s Regime in the Late Fifteenth-Century Hungarian-Ottoman Borderlands

Abstract

The paper discusses the backgrounds and careers of several lesser-known officials who occupied various positions along the Hungarian-Ottoman frontier during the reign of King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary (r. 1458 – 1490). By looking into their biographies and their place within the ruling elite of Corvinus’s Hungary, the study moreover elucidates how the changes in King Matthias’s authority in the borderlands reflected in the changes in his personnel policies, showing that the king gradually gained more control over his southern lands through the rising network of loyal retainers. The latter, moreover, successfully replaced the vestiges of older regimes - whose representatives often stood in opposition to royal politics - and thus allowed for the introduction of firmer royal control.