| Austrian–Hungarian War (1477–1488) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Matthias marching into Vienna | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Holy Roman Empire | Kingdom of Hungary | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Frederick III | Matthias Corvinus | ||||||
| Units involved | |||||||
| Imperial Army | Black Army | ||||||
TheAustrian–Hungarian War was a military conflict between theKingdom of Hungary underMatthias Corvinus and theHabsburgArchduchy of Austria underFrederick V (alsoHoly Roman Emperor as Frederick III). The war lasted from 1477 to 1488 and resulted in significant gains for Matthias, which humiliated Frederick, but which were reversed upon Matthias' sudden death in 1490.
Matthias and Frederick III/V had been rivals stretching back to Matthias' succession asKing of Hungary in 1458 after the early death of Frederick's Habsburg cousin KingLadislaus the Posthumous. At this time, Frederick held theHoly Crown of Hungary and was a candidate for becoming Hungarian king himself.[1] Matthias, backed by theBohemian kingGeorge of Poděbrady whose daughterCatherine (1449–1464) he married in 1461, finally prevailed: the two rivals settled their disagreements in 1463 with theTreaty of Wiener Neustadt, in which Frederick recognized thede facto King of Hungary and returned the Holy Crown to Matthias for a heavy ransom.
With the consent ofPope Paul II, Matthias invadedMoravia in 1468, instigating theBohemian War with his former ally George of Poděbrad, on the pretext of protectingCatholicism against theHussite movement - in fact to depose his father-in-law King George. Welcomed by the German nobility inSilesia and theLusatias, as well as by the Catholic Czechs in Moravia,[2] Matthias acquired these territories for himself and in 1469 pronounced himself Bohemian king inOlomouc. Never able to seize the capitalPrague however, Matthias' war would drag on with Poděbrad's successor, thePolish princeVladislaus Jagiellon, until the latter recognized Matthias' gains in the 1478Treaty of Brno.
Emperor Frederick, at the same time stuck in theFrance–Habsburg rivalry over theBurgundian succession with KingLouis XI of France, had initially assisted Matthias against the Hussites in the Bohemian War. Contributing very little however, Frederick soon came to reverse his role and forged an alliance with Poděbrad's successor Vladislaus whom he enfeoffed with the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1477. Angered by this action and recalling previous insults, Matthias proceeded to press for a peace with Vladislaus and invaded Frederick'sAustrian lands.
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Having concluded a peace agreement with King Vladislaus in 1478, Matthias could concentrate on his Austrian campaign against Frederick. Some of the most notable battles of the Austrian-Hungarian War include:
Emperor Frederick failed to procure help from thePrince-electors and theImperial States. In 1483 he had to leave hisHofburg residence inVienna and fled toWiener Neustadt, where he also was besieged by Matthias' troops for 18 months until the fortress was captured in 1487. Humiliated, Frederick fled toGraz, and later toLinz inUpper Austria.
The Habsburgs - although a powerful force concerning marriage politics - were relatively weak when it came to martial affairs. They had few resources that could contend with theBlack Army of Hungary, an early standingmercenary force under capable commanders likeStephen V Báthory orLawrence of Ilok, which conquered most of theLower Austrian territories.
After the imperial war against Hungary had been decided at the Nuremberg Diet in 1487,Albert III of Saxony was appointed as the supreme commander of the entire imperial army. He was supposed to oppose Matthias' Black Army. After the Hungarian occupation of Vienna, Albrecht's task was to reconquer the lost Austrian territories. However, this failed due to the poor equipment of his army, so he had to wage a difficult defensive war under adverse circumstances.
Duke Albrecht knew that no decisive help was to be expected from the Reich in the near future, but that the situation in the hereditary lands would deteriorate visibly.
On 17 November 1487, Duke Albrecht informed Emperor Frederick that, given the present circumstances in his hereditary lands, a compromise with the King of Hungary would be the only rational solution.
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The war came to an end with an armistice in 1488, although the Habsburgs rankled with the peace.[3]
At the beginning of December, Matthias Corvinus met with Albrecht of Saxony in Markersdorf an der Pielach , a little later an armistice was reached in St. Pölten on 6 December, which was extended several times until the death of the Hungarian king.[4]
Matthias Corvinus offered Emperor Frederick and his son prince Maximilian, the return of Austrian provinces and Vienna, if they would renounce the treaty of 1463 and accept Matthias as Frederic's designated political heir and probable the inheritor of the title of Holy Roman Emperor. Before this was settled though, Matthias died in Vienna in 1490.[5]
After Matthias Corvinus died from a stroke on 6 April 1490, Frederick was able to regain the Austrian lands without serious fight. In 1490, Matthias' unexpected death led to a reversal of his gains, with Matthias' illegitimate sonJohn Corvinus being too young to succeed and theHungarian nobles too selfish to protect the monarchy.[6] However, he could not enforce the Habsburg succession to the Hungarian throne and in 1491 his son KingMaximilian I signed thePeace of Pressburg with Vladislaus Jagiellon, who was elected Matthias' successor in Hungary. The treaty arranged for the return of Matthias' conquests, and the agreement that Maximilian would succeed Vladislaus should he produce no heir. This did not happen as Vladislaus' sonLouis II was born in 1506, but the Habsburgs did exert significant pressure on the Jagiellonians with the 1515First Congress of Vienna in which they arranged two royal weddings of Vladislaus' daughterAnne with Maximilian's grandsonFerdinand and of Maximilian's granddaughterMary with Louis II. The double wedding celebrated atSt. Stephen's Cathedral decisively advanced the Habsburg succession agenda.
During his reign in Hungary, the new Polish king would go on to undo many of Matthias' efforts, unmaking the reformed system of taxation, the standing army, and the centralized authority of the monarch.Hungarian nobles would act in complicity with this, contributing to the weakening of the country until 1526, when Hungary was defeated by theOttoman Empire in theBattle of Mohács, whereby King Louis II was killed. The Habsburg archduke Ferdinand of Austria by his marriage with Anne of Bohemia and Hungary claimed the succession, he was enfeoffed with the Bohemian kingdom by his elder brother EmperorCharles V and also reached the consent of the Hungarianmagnates. He was crowned king inPressburg (Pozsony) on 24 February 1527, laying the grounds for the transnationalHabsburg monarchy.