Vlad the Impaler

Vlad III had been married twice. Historian Alexandru Simon concluded that his first wife was an illegitimate daughter of John Hunyadi. He married his second wife, Justina Szilágyi, probably in 1475, after the death of his first wife. Vlad III reportedly had three sons, MihneacelRău (1462-1510), an unknown second son (??-1486), and VladDrakwlya (??-??).

The tales of Vlad III’s deeds began to spread even during his lifetime. Since his death, a wide range of both fictional and non-fictional literature has been published about him, most notably Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’. He continues to be a subject of interest for scholars of history, politics, and military tactics. While the rest of the world has come to see him as a monster, in Romania, he is revered as a national hero.

Vlad III was born sometime between 1428 and 1431, presumably after his father, Vlad II settled in Transylvania. According to most historians, his mother was either a daughter (Princess Cneajna of Moldavia) or a kinswoman (Eupraxia of Moldavia) of Alexander I of Moldavia and the first wife of his father. He had at least three siblings, elder brother Mircea II of Wallachia, younger brother RaducelFrumos, and half-brother VladCălugărul (Vlad II’s illegitimate child with DoamnaCălțuna).

Vlad II was an illegitimate child of his own father, Mircea the Elder and Doamna Mara. He earned the moniker ‘Dracul’ because of his association with the Order of the Dragon, a military fraternity that was set up by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund in order to halt the Ottoman advance into the Christendom. His son would proudly carry on the title and continue his father’s war against the Ottoman Empire.

According to historian RaduFlorescu, Vlad III’s birth occurred in the Transylvanian Saxon town of Sighișoara (then in the Kingdom of Hungary), where his father lived between 1431 and 1435. After the death of his half-brother, Alexander I Aldea in 1436, Vlad II captured the Wallachia throne and issued a charter on January 20, 1437, proclaiming Vlad III and Mircea II as his “first born sons”. From 1437 to 1439, Vlad II issued four other charters mentioning his two sons and the last one also named Radu as his legitimate son.

After he did not support the March 1442 Ottoman invasion of Transylvania, Ottoman Sultan Murad II demanded that Vlad II visit him in Gallipoli and renew his loyalty to the Ottoman throne. Vlad II took his two younger sons, Vlad III and Radu and journeyed to the Ottoman Empire where they were immediately imprisoned. While Vlad II was later released, his sons were kept as hostages to ensure his loyalty.

Vlad III received proper education during his time with the Turks. However, he was also whipped and beaten and developed hatred towards Radu and Mehmed. The latter was later crowned as the sultan. He and his brother felt their lives were truly in danger after Vlad II declared his support for Vladislaus, King of Poland and Hungary, against the Ottoman Empire during the Crusade of Varna in 1444. However, they remained unharmed.

Following the death of his father and brother, Vlad III began to be considered as a possible heir to his father’s seat. In September 1448, Vladislav II participated in Hunyadi’s campaign into the Ottoman territory. Sensing an opportunity, Vlad III invaded Wallachia with Ottoman soldiers and captured the fortress of Giurgiu on the Danube and helped in strengthening it. On October 18, 1448, the Ottoman forces defeated Hunyadi's army in the Battle of Kosovo.

However, Vladislav II returned to Wallachia soon after and Vlad III had to make a reluctant and hasty retreat in December. He went to Edirne in the Ottoman Empire after he was ousted from power for the first time. He later relocated to Moldavia, where one of his uncles had captured the throne, to ask for support. However, that uncle was killed and Vlad III had to flee to Transylvania with his cousin. They petitioned Hunyadi's for help but he had committed to a three-year peace with the Ottoman Empire already.

Vladislav II had thrown out a significant portion of the Wallachian boyars after he came to power and they eventually settled in Brașov. Vlad III was hoping to live there but Hunyadi refused to allow it. The events in his life from this point onwards are not known. Sometime in 1456, he returned to the pages of history once more by attacking Wallachia with Hungarian support. Vladislav II was subsequently killed and Vlad III assumed the principality of Wallachia later that year.

Right from the beginning, Vlad III sought to establish himself as an assertive and effective ruler. He had an authoritarian personality. Most sources agree that he had hundreds of thousands of people executed soon after his ascension. He led a systematic purging of the Wallachian boyars who he believed had anything to do with the murders of his father and brother. Seizing the control of the money, property and other goods of his victims, he redistributed them among the loyalists, thus radically transforming the political and economic scenes in his principality.

He continued to pay customary tributes to the Ottoman Sultan. This, while kept the Ottomans happy, made the Hungarians angry. They had a new captain-general, Ladislaus Hunyadi, the oldest son of John Hunyadi. He claimed that Vlad III had “no intention of remaining” faithful to the Hungarian throne and instructed the burghers of Brașov to lend their support to Vladislaus II's brother, Dan III, who had emerged as one of the rivals for Vlad III’s seat. The burghers also supported Vlad III’s half-brother VladCălugărul.

On March 16, 1457, Ladislaus Hunyadi was executed by Ladislaus V, the king of Hungary. That resulted in a rebellion, stirred up by Hunyadi’s family, which would eventually put Matthias Hunyadi (later Corvinus) on the Hungarian throne. Taking advantage of this civil war, Vlad III aided Stephen, the son of Bogdan II of Moldavia, to reclaim his father’s throne in June. He also raided into Transylvania, where, according to German tales, he captured thousands of Saxon men, women, and children, took them back to Wallachia, and had them impaled.

Vlad III sent representatives to negotiate peace between Michael Szilágyi, a general and regent of Hungary, and the Saxons. The subsequent treaty compelled the burghers of Brașov to expel Dan III from their land. In return, Vlad III agreed to the notion that merchants from Sibiu could do business freely in Wallachia in exchange for the "same treatment" of the Wallachian merchants in Transylvania. On December 1, 1457, Vlad III proclaimed Szilágyi as “his lord and elder brother”.