Matthias is captured at Chrudim while spying out the enemy camp in disguise in February 1469.

He is released because he makes his captors believe he is a local Czech groom.

The Czech Catholics, who are led by Zdeněk of Šternberk, join forces with Matthias in February 1469.

Their united troops are encircled at Vilémov by George of Poděbrady's army.

In fear of being captured, Matthias opens negotiations with his former father-in-law.

They meet in a nearby hovel, where Matthias persuades George of Poděbrady to sign an armistice promising that he will mediate a reconciliation between the moderate Hussites and the Holy See.

The next meeting between George of Poděbrady and Matthias takes place in the metropolitan see of Olomouc in April.

Here the papal legates come forward with demands including the appointment of a Catholic Archbishop to the See of Prague, which cannot be accepted by George.

The Czech Catholic Estates elect Matthias King of Bohemia in Olomouc on May 3 but he will never be crowned.

Moravia, Silesia and Lusatia soon accept his rule but Bohemia proper remains faithful to George of Poděbrady.

The Estates of Bohemia even acknowledge the right of Vladislaus Jagiello, the eldest son of Casimir IV of Poland, to succeed king George of Poděbrady.

Regiomontanus goes from Esztergom to Buda and the court of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, for whom he builds an astrolabe, and where he collates Greek manuscripts for a handsome salary.

Timurid prince Abu Sa'id Mirza, ruler of Samarkand, is captured on February 11, 1469, by Uzun Hasan with a small force at the calamitous Battle of Qarabagh during a campaign against the Ak Koyunlu Turkmens.

He is handed over to Yadgar Muhammad Mirza, who executes him on February 17, ostensibly in retribution for Abū Sa'id's execution of the former’s grandmother, Queen Gawhar Shad, who had been intriguing against him.

This ends Timurid governance of western and southern Persia.

Jahan Shah had been succeeded by his incompetent son Hasan Ali.

After the deaths of both Hasan Ali and Timurid ruler Abu Sa’id, Uzun Hasan’s White Sheep Turkmens are able to seize Baghdad from the Black Seep Turkmens along with territories around the Persian Gulf.

Uzun Hassan has occupied all of Iran by 1469.

Matthias's relations with Frederick III have in the meantime deteriorated because the Emperor has accused Matthias of allowing the Ottomans to march through Slavonia when raiding the Emperor's realms.

The Frangepan family, whose domains in Croatia are exposed to Ottoman raids, enter into negotiations with the Emperor and the Republic of Venice.

Matthias in 1469 sends an army to Croatia to prevent the Venetians from seizing the Adriatic coastal town Senj.

Pierro de’Medici, Cosimo’s son and successor, dies in 1469; his twenty-year-old son Lorenzo succeeds him as the virtual despot of Florence.

Educated by the Platonic philosopher Marsilio Ficino, Lorenzo will create a brilliant court culture of painters, poets, and philosophers.

A poet of some note, Lorenzo’s literary circle includes, in addition to Ficino, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Poliziano, and Luigi Pulci.

Also a patron of Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Filippo Lippi, Michelangelo, and Andrea del Verrocchio, among other artists, he gains the nickname Lorenzo the Magnificent.

An autocratic but popular ruler, Lorenzo will use state money to recoup losses incurred through neglect of Medici business interests.

Paola Uccello completes his last major commission in 1469, the predella for the altar of the Confraternity of the Holy Sacrament at Urbino, for which Joos van Ghent provides the main panel.

Uccello also executes many careful drawings of objects rendered in perspective.

Despite his genius, however, he will die poor and neglected on December 10, 1475.