Vlad II, known as Vlad Dracul, was a voivode of Wallachia.
He reigned from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447.
He was the father of Mircea II, Vlad Călugărul, Vlad III Dracula, who became posthumously
known by the epithet Țepeș, and Radu III the Beautiful.
Vlad II received the surname Dracul in 1431, after being inducted into the Order of the
Dragon, founded in 1408 by the King Sigismund of Hungary, as part of a design to gain political
favor from the Catholic Church and to aid in protecting Wallachia against the Ottoman
Empire.
Family Vlad II Dracul was a member of the House of
Drăculești lineage, and son of Mircea "the Old", Voivoide of Walachia, and was known
to have murdered members of the rival princely House of Dănești, a not-so-distant relation
to his own father's House of Basarab, and gained power in Wallachia, upon returning
from exile in Transylvania in 1436.
The identity of Vlad's first wife is unknown.
His second wife, Princess Vasilissa of Moldavia, was the eldest daughter of Alexandru cel Bun
and paternal aunt of Stephen the Great of Moldavia.
Of his legitimate children, Mircea was the eldest, his mother's identity being unknown.
Vlad Călugărul was the product of Vlad and one of his mistresses, a Wallachian noblewoman
called Călțuna.
Vlad Țepeș and Radu were children of his marriage with Vasilissa of Moldavia.
Vlad, having numerous mistresses, also fathered several illegitimate children, including another
son named Mircea.
Radu Florescu documented on page 193 of his book, Dracula: Prince of Many Faces that the
Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I granted a patent of nobility on January 20, 1535, to Ladislas
Dracula and his brother John, affirming their direct descent from Vlad and making specific
mention of "the ancient insignia of Ladislas's family" having been the same as that of the
Bathory family, i.e. gules a sword covering three wolf teeth.
Ottoman campaign, ascending the throne In 1431, Vlad Dracul's brother Alexandru I
Aldea took the throne from Dan II, the latter having held it on and off since 1420.
In 1436, following Alexandru I Aldea's death from illness, Vlad Dracul ascended the throne.
Mircea II ascended to the throne in 1442, as Vlad Dracul was in the Ottoman court negotiating
for support from the Ottomans in an effort to better defend his rule against John Hunyadi,
the voivode of Transylvania.
Following the battle of Marosszentimre in 1442, Hunyadi forcefully entered Wallachia
and forced Dracul to submit.
In 1443, Mircea II was ousted from the throne by an invading army led by Hunyadi, and was
forced to flee.
Hunyadi placed Basarab II, son to Dan II, on the throne.
However, Basarab II held the throne for only a short time, losing it within a year to Vlad
Dracul, supported by armies of the Ottoman Empire.
Vlad Dracul had made a treaty with the Ottomans insuring that he would give them annual tribute,
as well as sending Wallachian boys to them yearly to be trained for service in their
armies.
He also had left his two sons, Vlad Tepes and Radu the Handsome.
Mircea II supported his father, but did not support his politics with the Ottoman Empire.
Mircea II led Wallachian forces in a successful campaign against the Ottomans with the full
knowledge of his father, but with neither support nor opposition from him.
An able military commander, Mircea II successfully recaptured the fortress of Giurgiu in 1445.
However, in yet another treaty with the Ottomans, his father allowed the Ottomans to again have
control of the fortress in an effort to retain their support of his having the throne, and
in an effort to keep his two captive sons safe.
In 1443, the new King of Hungary, Ulaszlo I, launched the Varna campaign against the
Ottoman Empire, under the command of Hunyadi, in an effort to drive the Turks out of Europe.
Hunyadi demanded that Vlad II fulfill his oath as a member of the Order of the Dragon
and a vassal of Hungary: Vlad was commanded to join the campaign but declined.
Pope Eugene IV absolved Dracul of his promise, but demanded that he send his son Mircea II
instead.
The Christian army was destroyed in the Battle of Varna; Hunyadi escaped the scene, and was
blamed by many, including Mircea II and his father, for the debacle.
This marked the start of hostilities between Hunyadi on one side and Vlad Dracul and his
eldest son on the other.
Death In December 1447, boyars in league with the
Hungarian regent John Hunyadi rebelled against Vlad Dracul II and killed him in the marshes
near Bălteni.
Mircea, Dracul's eldest son and heir, was blinded and buried alive at Târgoviște.
Notes
External links Marek, Miroslav.
"Vlad II's rather reliable genealogy".
Genealogy.EU.
Wallachian History Wallachian Rulers