controversy about the election, the widow of the White Knight, and mother of Matthias, entered the town with a very splendid equipage; for she was very rich, especially in ready money, which her husband had left her, by means of which she was able to raise men immediately; and, besides, it is not improbable that she had partisans in the town, and among the electors, upon account of the influence and authority her husband had had in that kingdom. As soon as she came into the city, she marched directly to the prison, and released her son; upon which some of the barons and prelates who were assembled fled in terror out of the town, and those that remained chose Matthias for their king; and he reigned among them in great prosperity, with as much applause and esteem as any of his predecessors, and in some things with even more. He was a man of as much courage as any of that age, and obtained many signal victories over the Turks, without any loss to his kingdom, which he much enlarged, as well towards Turkey as towards Bohemia (most of which was in his possession), and also in Wallachia (where he was born) and Sclavonia; and on the side towards Germany he took the greatest part of Austria from the Emperor Frederic, and kept it till his death, which happened in Vienna, the chief city of Austria, in the year 1491. He was a prince who managed his affairs discreetly, both in peace and in war. Towards the latter end of his days, finding he was become formidable, he began to affect a pompous and splendid way of living, and provided great store of rich hangings, jewels, and plate, for the adornment of his palace. All his business was dispatched by himself, or by his direction: he had also an inclination to make himself terrible to his own subjects, and became a very tyrant towards his latter end; after which he fell into a grievous and incurable distemper, as it were in his youth (for he was but eight-and-twenty[183] years of age), and died: his life having been one continued scene of labour and sorrow, without any great pleasure or ease.