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When Sultan Mehmet II conquered Constantinople in 1453 his force is already occupied much of the
Balkans and threatened and occupied much of Eastern and Central Europe
Mehmet was expanding his empire west, north and east, but there was one region there was a critical
thorn in his side; the kingdom of Wallachia in modern-day Romania. His Nemesis was a prince
who had become infamous throughout history and a household name thanks to a Jewish Irish novelist.
Who was Vlad the Impaler and how did he get his name?
Why was his role and resistance to the Ottoman Turks so legendary and controversial?
How did he become the most famous ruler of the Middle Ages becoming a part of literary
historical and cinematic folklore? Hello I'm Colin Heaton, former soldier, Marine
Corps scout sniper, history professor, historian, book author, and we will
answer these questions and other issues on this segment of Forgotten History [Music]
Vlad the Impaler also known as Vlad III Dracula or in Romanian Vlad III Draculea
was also called Vlad Tepes was born in 1431 in Sighisoara, Transylvania now in Romania.
He was the second of four brothers born into the noble family of Vlad II Dracul,
with Dracula meaning "Son of Dracul". This name derived from the Latin word "draco" or "dragon" after
his father's induction into the Order of the Dragon. This order was created by Holy Roman
Emperor Sigismund for those who fought in defense of Christian Europe against the Ottoman Empire.
During this period Walachia was allowed to retain his own dynasty, territory, and religion. The caveat
was that it had to pay tribute and grant trade concessions to the Ottoman Empire and submit much
of its agricultural produce. Their principality was allowed to follow its own foreign policy as long
as they did not conflict with Turkish policies, and any ruler of Walachia had to be approved
by the sultan. Vlad found these restrictions unbearable. Vlad moved to Targoviste, Walachia
in 1436 when his father resumed the leadership of the Walachian "voivodate" or principality.
In 1442 the future of Vlad III and his younger brother Radu the Handsome were sent to the court
of Ottoman Sultan Murad II who supported his rule with conditions. Murad was the father of Mehmet.
The boys were sent to the father of Mehmet II as collateral. This was a commonly accepted practice
to submit or even exchange hostages amongst belligerents, and the brothers were sent to
assure Murad that their father would tow the line and support Ottoman policies. In November
1447 John Hunyadi and his Hungarians launched an attack against Walachia due to its alliance
with the Ottomans by the treaty's signed by Vlad II and his duplicity in the Varna Campaign of 10
November 1444. Vlad was accused of turning on his fellow Christians and joining the Ottomans as the
two armies clashed at the Battle of Varna near the Black Sea fortress of Varna, Bulgaria. The Ottomans
won a decisive victory despite heavy losses, while the Crusaders lost King Wladislaw and over fifteen
thousand men. Raju's and young Vlad's father fled but their older brother Mircea II was captured
by boyars from Targoviste and blinded with a red-hot poker before being buried alive. Vlad the Impaler
took note of every event against his family. A short time after their father was also captured
and killed by the forces of John Hunyadi Vlad III was released in 1448. He became Murad II's chosen
candidate for the throne of Walachia, believing that Vlad would be more compliant than his older
brother and father. Vlad would lose and regain his throne several times before losing battles
with Murad II and the Hungarians and going into hiding, the first time he would rule for only a
matter of months. Vlad returned in 1448 after the assassination of his father and elder brother
at the hands of Walachian boyars, or the nobles the previous year. His younger brother remained
with the sultan, adopted Islam and thus became an enemy. Mehmet II assumed the throne in 1451 and he
was preoccupied with his long-standing desire to take Constantinople, which Vlad III used to
his advantage. Vlad drafted an enemies list and sent his spies to locate every one of them. Vlad
began a series of military campaigns to regain his father's seat. Among his enemies were the
Romanian nobles which included the boyars who also followed the sultan. Vlad launched an attack
and was victorious in 1448, but he was deposed only after two months with assistance from the pro
Ottoman boyars. After an eight-year struggle where assassination and execution were his weapons of
choice against his local enemies, Vlad gathered an army and again won a decisive victory, claimed the
principality and was ruler. He had adapted a new method of psychological warfare. Vlad also had
problems with the Hungarians and Saxons who wanted to reclaim the region for their own
kingdoms, which only heightened and intensified his precarious position, squeezed between two enemies.
Vlad would gather his captured enemies and have sharpened spears that were pushed into
the rectum of a person up through the chest cavity. Then the long spear would
be planted into the ground supporting the weight of the still living victim.
He used this method of torture on foreign and domestic enemies alike.
This was brought to full visual observation after he won what has become known as "The Night Battle"
on 16-17 June 1462, when he left a field decorated with over 23,000 Ottoman soldiers impaled, and the
legend was born that he collected their blood in jars and having feasts near their bodies he
would dip his bread in these jars of blood and eat it. All of this may have just been propaganda
to incite Christian resistance against him. The Ottomans were led by the Janissaries, the Greek
slave mercenaries in service to the Ottomans who were commanded by Vlad's brother Radu. Radu then
went to all of the regions that had been punished by his brother, especially the Saxons to get their
alliance to the sultan. Vlad's first wife, who bore him a son, who became known later in life as "Mehnia
the Evil", was said to have committed suicide rather than be taken by her brother-in-law Radu and his
Janissaries, which was said to have driven Vlad to Insanity. The deals Radu offered in the name
of Mehmet II were too good to be passed up, so Vlad found himself vastly outnumbered on all fronts.
Many of the other Christians in the region feared Vlad more than the Turks due to his methods. Vlad
never forgave a betrayal and he was ruthless in his punishments. He had once convinced dozens
of the most prominent boyars, nobles from Hungary, Saxony and throughout Romania to a massive banquet
to bury the hatchet, so to speak, and negotiate a peace treaty. Finding this welcoming news
Mehmet II saw this as a positive development; he even sent his personal emissary to monitor
the event. During this time he conducted public executions of traitors. After the boyars were all
seated Vlad's men sealed the door and windows and burned the occupants alive. He sent the message
of his deed back personally with the Mehmet's emissary after he nailed the man's turban to his
head. Vlad's reasoning for the cruelty of impaling was to intimidate any Ottoman forces that followed.
However his methods frightened even his Christian allies who feared Ottoman retribution. Later that
same year he escaped Ottoman capture only to be captured by soldiers of Hungarian King Matthias
Corvinus I to whom Vlad was related by marriage. Vlad had agreed to marry a cousin of
Matthias Corvinus, Ilona Szilagyi in order to have a treaty and to be released from jail. The deal
was that Vlad would not attack Hungarian territory and stop impaling their soldiers, and he also had
to convert to Catholicism and marry Ilona. They were married in 1474 and Vlad converted in 1475.
Vlad had previously asked for his assistance as well as support from the church in Rome which was
initially denied, but instead of receiving help he found himself arrested a thrown into the dungeon
over false charges of treason. His brother Radu was placed on the throne. Vlad regained his seat in
1476 but was reportedly killed in battle the same year in a coalition force that trapped him in his
mountain fortress. It is possible that Vlad Tepes disappeared in the battle, just one of thousands
of anonymous dead. Others claimed that he was in fact imprisoned by the Turks. His daughter Maria
was meanwhile brought to the Neapolitan Court in Italy whose ruling family was allied with her
Dracula family. She was adopted and eventually married a Neapolitan nobleman. Some researchers
state that he was ransomed at high price to his daughter and died in Naples. The final grave
containing Vlad's remains has been a mystery for almost 600 years. He was supposedly enshrined in
a sarcophagus after his death in Bucharest, but in 1931 the site was excavated and only animal
bones were found. Medieval history scholar Raffaello Glinni followed up on the discovery made by Erica
Stella, a student writing a dissertation on Piazza Santa Maria La Nova Church in Naples, who found a
headstone she believes belongs to Vlad. Glinni said the early 16th century tomb is covered in
images and symbols of the House of Transylvania Carpathians bearing the symbol of "Dracul" and
not the tomb of an Italian nobleman. The tomb could be that Vlad's daughter or her offspring.
Currently they are awaiting permission for DNA testing on the remains. Vlad Tepes the Impaler
has remained a folklore hero in the region for his efforts against Ottoman encroachment and
was the most prominent symbol of Romanian Independence, and he is still revered. Irish
author Abraham Stoker, better known as Bram Stoker traveled to the area in the 19th century and was
doing research. He heard the stories of Vlad and from his information gathering and own fertile
mind created perhaps the most undead monster in the history of literature, and the rest is of
course history. We hope you enjoyed this segment of Forgotten History. Please click like and subscribe
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