Vlads place of birth
Battle of Nicolopolis
Iancu de Hunedoara
The Crusades at Varna
Copyright © 1992, Ray Porter (Romanian spellings added by The Vampir Metrou March 13, 2008)
III. The Life of Vlad III Dracula, called the Impaler (1431-1476)
Dracula was born in 1431 in the Transilvanian city of Sighisoara. At that time Dracula's father, Vlad II Dracul, was living in exile in Transilvania. Vlad Dracul was in Transilvania attempting to gather support for his planned effort to seize the Valachian throne from the Danesti Prince, Alexandru I. The house where Dracula was born is still standing. In 1431 it was located in a prosperous neighborhood (of the fortress town Sighisoara, ed.) surrounded by the homes of Saxon and Magiar merchants and the townhouses of the nobility.
Little is known about the early years of Dracula's life. It is known he had an elder brother, Mircea, and a younger brother named Radu. His early education was left in the hands of his mother, a Transilvanian noblewoman, and her family. His real education began in 1436 after his father succeeded in claiming the Valachian throne and killing his Danesti rival. His training was typical to that common to the sons of the nobility throughout Europe. His first tutor in his apprenticeship to knighthood was an elderly boiar whom had fought under the banner of Enguerrand de Courcy at the battle of Nicolopolis against the Turks. Dracula learned all the skills of war and peace that were deemed necessary for a Christian knight.
The political situation in Valachia remained unstable after Vlad Dracul seized the throne in 1436. The power of the Turks was growing rapidly as one by one the small states of the Balkans surrendered to the Ottoman onslaught. At the same time the power of hungary was reaching its zenith and would peak during the time of Iancu de Hunedoara (Hungarian- Janos Hunyadi, Saxson- John Hunyadi), a Romanian yet, the White Knight of Hungary, and his son King Matie Corvin (Saxon-Matthew Corvin, Hungarian-Matthius Corvinus) . Any prince of Valachia had to balance his policies precariously between these two powerful neighbors. Vlad Dracul was a member of the Order of the Dragon and sworn to fight the infidel. At the same time the power of the Ottomans seemed unstoppable. Even in the time of Vlad's father, Mircea the Old, Valachia had been forced to pay tribute to the Sultan. Vlad was forced to renew that tribute and from 1436-1442 attempted to walk a middle coarse between his powerful neighbors.
In 1442 Vlad attempted to remain neutral when the Turks invaded Transilvania. The Turks were defeated and the vengeful Hungarians under Iancu forced Dracul and his family to flee Valachia. Iancu placed a Danesti, Basarab II, on the Valachian throne. In 1443 Vlad II regained the Valachian throne with Turkish support, on the condition that he sign a new treaty with the sultan that included not only the customary annual tribute but the promise to yearly send contingents of Valachian boys to join the sultans Janissaries. In 1444, to further assure to the sultan of his good faith, Vlad sent his two younger sons to Adrianople as hostages. Dracula remained as a hostage in Adrianople until 1448.
In 1444 the King of Hungary, Ladislas Poshumous, broke the peace and launched the Varna campaign under the command of Iancu de Hunedoara in an effort to drive the Turks out of Europe. Hunedoara demanded that Vlad II fulfill his oath as a member of the Order of the Dragon and a vassal of Hungary and join the crusade against the Turk. The Pope absolved Dracul of his Turkish oath, but the wily politician still attempted to steer a middle coarse. Rather than join the Christian forces himself he sent his oldest son, Mircea. Perhaps he hoped the sultan would spare his younger sons if he himself did not join the crusade.
The results of the Varna Crusade are well known. The Christian army was utterly destroyed in the Battle of Varna. Iancu de Hunedoara managed to escape the battle under conditions that add little glory to the White Knight's reputation. Many, apparently including Mircea and his father, blamed Hunedoara for the debacle. From this moment forth Iancu de Hunedoara was bitterly hostile toward Vlad Dracul and his eldest son. In 1447 Vlad Dracul was assasinated along with his son Mircea. Mircea was apparently buried alive by the boiars and merchants of Tirgoviste. Hunedoara placed his own candidate, a member of the Danesti clan, on the throne of Valachia.
On receiving the news of Vlad Dracul's death the Turks released Dracula and supported him as their own candidate for the Valachian throne. In 1448 Dracula managed to briefly seize the Valachian throne with Turkish support. Within two months Hunedoara forced Dracula to surrender the throne and flee to his cousin, the Prince of Moldavia, while Hunedoara once again placed Vladislav II on the throne.
Dracula remained in exile in Moldavia for three years, until Prince Bogdan of Moldavia was assasinated in 1451. The resulting turmoil in Moldavia forced Dracula to flee to Transilvania and seek the protection of his family enemy, Hunedaora. The timing was propitious; Hunedaora's puppet on the Valachian throne, Vladislov II, had instituted a pro-Turkish policy and Hunedaora needed a more reliable man in Valachia. Consequently, Iancu accepted the allegiance of his old enemy's son and put him forward as the Hungarian candidate for the throne of Valachia. Dracula became Iancu's vassal and received his father's old Transilvanian duchies of Faragas and Almas. Dracula remained in Transilvania, under Iancu's protection, until 1456 waiting for an opportunity to retake Valachia from his rival.
In 1453 the Christian world was shocked by the final fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans. The East Roman Empire which had existed since the time of Constantine the Great and which for a thousand years had shielded the rest of Christendom from Islam was no more. Iancu immediately began planning another campaign against the Turks. In 1456 Iancu invaded Turkish Serbia while Dracula simultaniously invaded Valachia. In the Battle of Belgrade, Iancu routed the Ottoman host of Sultan Mohammed, forcing the Turks to withdraw to Constantinople. Iancu de Honedoara planned to push the war into Turkey but disease ravaged his forces in the weeks following the battle, claiming Iancu himself on August 11, 1456. Meanwhile, Dracula succeeded in killing Vladislav II and taking the Valachian throne, but Iancu's death made his long term tenure questionable. For a time at least, Dracula was forced to attempt to placate the Turks while he solidified his own position.
Dracula's main reign stretched from 1456 to 1462. His capital was the city of Tirgoviste while his castle was raised some distance away in the mountains near the Arges River. Most of the atrocities associated with Dracula's name took place in these years
Copyright © 1992, Ray Porter (Romanian spellings added by The Vampir Metrou March 13, 2008)
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