Martin Bylica at the Court of Matthias Corvinus: Astrology and Politics in Renaissance Hungary

Abstract

Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary from 1458–1490, recognized an intimate connection between astrol-ogy and politics. His rich library contained numerous astrological texts, and he decorated his palaces at Buda and Visegrád with horoscopes. He also provided generous patronage for foreign astrologers. One of the most famous astrologers to spend his career at Corvinus’s court was Martin Bylica. Bylica had been trained in astrology at the University of Krakow before moving, eventually, to Hungary. By 1468, Bylica had attracted Corvinus’s attention and began to benefit from the king’s generous patronage. Bylica provided Corvinus with important political and military advice throughout the king’s reign. Equally im-portant, Bylica’s career in Buda helped to construct the image of Corvinus as a Renaissance monarch who drew on the most sophisticated sciences available in the fifteenth century. Late in the spring 1468, Matthias Corvinus convened the Hungarian diet in the city of Pozsony. Holding the diet in Pozsony enabled him to impress the Hungarian nobles with the local intellectual community that had begun to form at his fledgling Academia Istropolitana, which he had founded the previous year. Pozsony was also conveniently located close to Moravia, where Corvinus had recently initiated hostilities against the governor. The diet had a number important domestic and foreign political issues to re-