Yale University Press
Raven King: Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of His Lost Library
Key Metrics
- Marcus Tanner
- Yale University Press
- Paperback
- 9780300158281
- 7.6 X 5 X 1 inches
- 0.75 pounds
- Biography & Autobiography > Royalty
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
A gripping account of an extraordinary Renaissance monarch and the quest for his treasured library
Seizing the Hungarian throne at the age of fifteen, Matthias Corvinus, the Raven King, was an effervescent presence on the fifteenth-century stage. A successful warrior and munificent art patron, he sought to leave as symbols of his strategic and humanist ambitions a strong, unified country, splendid palaces, and the most magnificent library in Christendom. But Hungary, invaded by Turkey after Matthias's death in 1490, yielded its treasures, and the Raven King's exquisite library of two thousand volumes, witness to a golden cultural age, was dispersed first across Europe and then the world.
The quest to recover this collection of sumptuously illuminated scripts provoked and tantalized generations of princes, cardinals, collectors, and scholars and imbued Hungarians with the mythical conviction that the restoration of the lost library would seal their country's rebirth. In this thrilling and absorbing account, drawing on a wealth of original sources in several languages, Marcus Tanner tracks the destiny of the Raven King and his magnificent bequest, uncovering the remarkable story of a life and library almost lost to history.
Author Bio
Marcus studied theology at Cambridge before becoming the Balkans correspondent for The Independent from 1988 to 1994.
He returned to London to become the Assistant Foreign Editor of The Independent from 1996 to 2000 before leaving to write books on Ireland and on the Celts and to work briefly in Kyrgyzstan.
He has worked full time for Balkan Insight since 2006, while continuing to write leader-page articles twice a month for The Independent.
His published books are: “Ticket to Latvia”, Dent & Weidenfeld, “Croatia, a Nation Forged in War”, “Ireland’s Holy Wars”, “The Last of the Celts” and “The Raven King, Matthias Corvinus and the Fate of His Lost Library”, all published by Yale University Press.
He edited Marija Mestrovic’s “Ivan Mestrovic, The making of a Master”, published by Stacey International.
He lives in London, U.K.
Source: Balkan Investigative Reporting Network
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