King Matjaž/Mátyás/Matijaš ( sl, Kralj Matjaž, hu, Mátyás király, hr, Kralj Matijaš) is a legendary king in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and in some other countries, based on pre-Christian traditions of

Carantania Carantania, also known as Carentania ( sl, Karantanija, german: Karantanien, in Old Slavic '), was a Slavic principality that emerged in the second half of the 7th century, in the territory of present-day southern Austria and north-eastern ...

and in course of centuries gradually linked to a real-life king,

Matthias Corvinus of Hungary Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

, who lived in the second half of the 15th century. He has also been linked to the leader of the peasant's army that fought against the Turks in the Battle of Kokovo in July 1478. A number of

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

poems and stories about King Matjaž are known, the earliest ones originating in the western Slovene area of

Tolmin Tolmin (; it, Tolmino,trilingual name ''Tolmein, Tolmino, Tolmin'' inGemeindelexikon, der im Reichsrate Vertretenen Königreiche und Länder. Bearbeit auf Grund der Ergebnisse der Volkszählung vom 31. Dezember 1900. Herausgegeben von der K.K. ...

from the 16th century. He is mainly represented as the king who is just and a defender of his people, and the bringer of the

golden age of prosperity The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages, Gold being the first and the one during which the Gol ...

. It has been assumed that the legend was the basis for the name of the 1573 peasants' revolt leader

Matija Gubec Matija Gubec (, hu, Gubecz Máté) ( 1548 – 15 February 1573), with his real name Ambroz Gubec (or ''Gobec''), was a Croatian / Slovenian (nationality still disputed) revolutionary, best known as the leader of the Croatian–Slovene Peasant Re ...

, actually named Ambrož Gubec.

Content of the poems and stories

The folk poems tell about King Matjaž's fights with the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic o ...

, about the kidnapping of his wife Alenčica, or his rescue from the Turkish jail. The stories about King Matjaž are arrangements of the poems or may have a different content. In this case, they tell about the King's rebellion against

God In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...

and about his army, buried under a mountain.

Traditions and memorials

The traditions related to the King Matjaž have a significant role in the

Slovenian Carinthia Carinthia ( sl, Koroška ; german: Kärnten), also Slovene Carinthia or Slovenian Carinthia (''Slovenska Koroška''), is a traditional region in northern Slovenia. The term refers to the small southeasternmost area of the former Duchy of Carinthi ...

, particularly the Črna Valley, where a competition in building snow castles as well as visual art and literary writing related to King Matjaž takes place every January since 1993. This is related to a story, according to which King Matjaž sleeps in the Peca Mountain above the valley. In the vicinity of the Peca hut, there is a bronze sculpture of King Matjaž in the beginning of an abandoned pit. It was designed by the sculptor and mountaineer

Marjan Keršič Marjan Keršič aka Belač ( sl, Marjan Keršič - Belač) (18 May 1920 – 3 June 2003) was a Slovenian sculptor and mountaineer. Sculpture Keršič was a student of Boris Kalin. He graduated in 1949 at the Ljubljana Academy of Arts. From 1962 ...

in 1958, put to bronze by the sculptor France Rotar, and placed in the cave in 1962. In the mid-1990s, King Matjaž has been depicted on the

King of Diamonds The king of diamonds is a playing card in the standard 52-card deck. King of Diamonds may also refer to: * ''King of Diamonds'' (film), a 1936 Italian comedy film directed by Enrico Guazzoni * ''King of Diamonds'' (TV series), a 1961–62 Ameri ...

card of the Slovene Tarock. The depiction was based on a study led by the ethnologist Janez Bogataj, and the card was drawn by the academy-trained painter and illustrator

Matjaž Schmidt Matjaž Schmidt (7 February 1948 – 29 September 2010) was a Slovene artist and illustrator, best known for his children's books illustrations and comic strips. Schmidt was born in Ljubljana. After high school, he attended the Faculty of Ar ...

. In the year 2006 Slovenian country musician Milan Pečovnik - Pidži spotted the image of King Matjaž carved into the rocks of mount Peca. Turkish poet M. Bahadirhan Dincaslan's narrative poem ''"Kuzgunların Kralı"'' (The King of Ravens) depicts Matthias Corvinus as a Sleeping King whose sculpture is animated every night and wanders an unknown town.

References

External links

*
Gradovi Kralja Matjaža 2010. Pod Peco v Črni na Koroškem
ing Matjaž's Castles, 2010. Under Peca in Črna na Koroškem(February 2010). A video. Jeromelj, Metka. Todorovič, Bojan. Horvat, Jana. Studio K-2. 10:29 min. Retrieved 12 March 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:King Matjaz Slovene mythology Hungarian mythology Mythological kings King asleep in mountain hu:Mátyás király