Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/666

Rh 634 M A T M A T remained at the monastery for a whole week. During this time he not only admitted Matthew to his table and to conversations in his private chamber, but also communi cated to him facts and details of an historical character derived from his own pe/rsonal knowledge and experience. Among other information, Matthew tells us that Henry repeated to him from memory the titles of the English baronies to the number of two hundred and fifty. The last incident recorded by the historian himself with respect to his own career is the fadt that he exerted his influence with Henry on behalf of the university of Oxford, when that body found its privileges endangered by the encroach ments of the bishop of Lincoln. In his latter years, Matthew s growing infirmities compelled him to have recourse to the aid of a fellow-monk in order to complete his works ; this assistance is to be traced in the Historia Anylorum from 1252 to the end of the work (1253); in the Abbreviatio Chronicorum for the years 1253, 1254, and 1255 ; and in the Chronica Mjora for the years 1258 and 1259. Matthew died after the month of May 1259, and his portrait, as he lay on his couch when dead, was drawn by his fellow-monk. Works. Matthew Paris s chief work, the Historia Major, often styled the Chronica Majora, is a narrative professing to record the outlines of human history from the creation, and terminating with the year 1259. It was long supposed that Roger of Wendover was the author of a much larger proportion of the work than was really the case ; but the question may be regarded as finally set at rest by the decisive investigations and conclusions of l)r Luard, as stated at length in his prefaces to the volumes of his edition of the work in the Rolls Series. He concludes that the Historia Major down to the year 1189 was the work of John tie Cella, abbot of St Alban s from the year 1195 to 1214 ; that it was then continued by Roger of Weudover on the same plan and from the same sources to the year 1235, the whole work down to this date passing for a long time as the production of the latter writer exclusively, and being known as the Flores Historiarum ; that it was then transcribed by Matthew Paris, who, however, made numerous corrections and additions, but, in the opinion of Professor Stubbs, &quot; interpreted rather than &quot;interpolated&quot;; that it was then continued by the same writer, and is, from 1235 to the year 1259, exclusively his work. In style, in vividness of narration, and in descriptive power Matthew far excels his two predecessors. He is also entitled to the praise of having been a warm advocate of English rights and liber ties, and a sturdy opponent alike of regal and papal tyranny ; in fact, the national sentiment may be said first to receive adequate expression in his pages. The work, moreover, is not only the best source of information with respect to events in England during the reign of Henry III. down to the commencement of the Barons Wars, but is also an authority with respect to Continental affairs, especially those of France and the empire. The Historia, Anglorum of Matthew is mainly an abridgment of his larger work, the chief feature of difference being the omission of almost everything relating to foreign events. Sometimes, how ever, details and more particularly personal anecdotes are introduced, with many minute facts and circumstances which would be sought for in vain elsewhere, and largely illustrate contemporary usages and the general condition of society. Besides the above, &quot;Matthew wrote an Abbreviatio Chronicorum, extending from the year 1100 to 1255. Of this only one manuscript exists, that in the author s own handwriting, preserved in the Cottoniati collection in the British Museum, and printed in the third volume of the Historia Anylorum, edited by Sir Francis Madden. Matthew also compiled a Liber Additamentorum or Supplementorum, containing documents illustrative of the Greater Chronicle. This is contained in the folio edition of Matthew s writings edited by Wats, and published in 1640. The VitM viginti triurn Albatum S. Albani, or Lives of the Abbots of St Alban s, does not bear Matthew s name, but is unques tionably the production of his pen. The biographies which belong to the period preceding the Norman Conquest contain valuable and interesting notices, but also include much of what is evidently fabulous. The Vitas duorum Off arum, or Lives of the two Off as, the one a mythical character, the other the historic monarch of Mercia, is a composition of little value, and some doubt attaches to the authorship. Both the foregoing, however, are included in the edition by Wats. Editions. The best edition of the Historia Major is that by Dr Luard, published in five volumes in the Rolls Series, 1872-80. Of the Historia Minor an edition in three volumes in the same series was edited by Sir Frederic Madden, 1866-69. (J. B. M.) MATTHIAS (1557-1619), holy Roman emperor, the fourth son of the emperor Maximilian II., was born on the 24th of February 1557. He was educated in Germany by the diplomatist Busbecq, while his brother, afterwards the emperor Rudolph II., was trained at the court of Philip II. of Spain. In 1577 Matthias went secretly to the Nether lands, the sovereignty of which he unlawfully assumed ; but in 1580 he was compelled to withdraw into private life. He was vain, restless, and ambitious, and intrigued incessantly against the emperor Rudolph, a man of weak character, with a constitutional tendency to insanity, Rudolph passed wholly under the dominion of the Jesuits, and this rendered it easy for Matthias to stir up his Protestant subjects against him. In 1595 Matthias was made regent in Austria, and in 1606 the archdukes recog nized him as head of the house of Hapsburg. Rudolph had to relax his hold over one country after another, and in 1611 Matthias was ruler of Hungary, Moravia, Silesia, Lusatia, and even Bohemia, whose loyalty the emperor had tried to secure by many concessions, especially by the letter of majesty granting religious freedom to Protestant sects. In 1612, after the death of Rudolph, Matthias was elected emperor ; and his reign was not less disturbed than that of his predecessor. The intervention of Turkey in Transylvania led to war, and in 1615 Matthias, being unsupported by the empire and by his own estates, found that he had no alternative but to conclude peace for twenty years on humiliating terms. Protestants and Catholics, bitterly hating each other, formed respectively the Union and the League; and the rising power of the archduke Ferdinand, afterwards emperor, a bigoted prince who became king of Bohemia in 1617 and king of Hungary in 1618, indicated that even more serious troubles were approaching than those with which Rudolph had contended. In the last two years of the reign of Matthias, the Bohemians having rebelled, the first blows in the Thirty Years War were struck. He died on the 20th of March 1619. MATTHIAS CORVINUS (1443-1490), king of Hun gary, was born at Klausenburg in Transylvania on March 27, 1443, and died at Vienna on April 6, 1490. He was the younger son of John Hunyady (Corvinus) who died in 1456 after having been &quot; governor of Hungary &quot; from 1446 to 1453. On the death of John, the elder of his two sons (Ladislaus) was executed by command of Ladislaus Post- humus, while Matthias was imprisoned at Prague ; but shortly after the king s own death without issue in 1457, Matthias Hunyady (Corvinus) was elected by the Hungarian magnates to the vacant throne (January 24, 1458). The leading events of his reign are summarized in the article HUNGARY (vol. xii. p. 368, 369). MATTING. Under this name are embraced many coarse woven or plaited fibrous materials used for covering floors or furniture, for hanging as screens, for wrapping up heavy merchandise, and for other miscellaneous purposes. In the United Kingdom, under the name of &quot;coir&quot; matting a large amount of a coarse kind of carpet is made from cocoa-nut fibre ; and the same material, as well as strips of cane, Manila hemp, various grasses and rushes, is largely employed in various forms for making door mats. Per forated and otherwise prepared india-rubber is also largely utilized for door and floor mats. Matting of various kinds is very extensively employed throughout India for floor coverings, the bottoms of bedsteads, fans and fly -flaps, tfec.; and a considerable export trade in such manufactures is carried on. The materials used are numerous ; but the principal substances are straw, the bulrushes Typlia elephan- tina and T. angmtifolia, leaves of the date palm (Phoenix sylvestris of the dwarf palm (Chamxrops Ritchiana), of the Palmyra palm (BorassusflabeUiformis),^ the cocoa-