Wallachia in the 15th century was an unstable region with many pretenders to the throne, local
feuds and external threats from the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire and the mighty Hungarian Kingdom.
Among the long list of rulers was a 15th-century Wallachian prince - Vlad III Dracula. He ruled
over the principality three separate times during his lifetime. Most of the information
regarding his life has been pieced together with fragments of surviving sources, as many details
have been destroyed during Ottoman invasions, wars and time. He enjoyed another nickname,
namely ‘Tepes’, which means as much as ‘Impaler '. And there is a good reason - Vlad III may
very well have been one of the bloodiest and most brutal rulers of his day - and that says a lot.
Vlad Tepes’ Origins (1390-1448)
Somewhere in the 1390s, the ruler of Wallachia, Mircea I, had an illegitimate son. This Vlad II
was sent to the court of his on-again-off-again ally, Hungary’s King Sigismund. Throughout the
years, the King recognised him as the legitimate Wallachian voivode. He made him a member of the
Order of the Dragon in 1431, founded by the King to fight “the enemies of Christianity.”
Vlad’s membership resulted in his nickname Dracul and his founding of the house of Draculesti.
It would be one of his sons who would become famous all over the world for his brutality.
Born in 1431 în Sighișoara, Transylvania, Vlad III was born as one of four sons.
His nickname soon became Dracula, which means as much as ‘Son of Dracul.’
Five years after his birth, Wallachia’s voivode died and his father seized the throne,
moving the family to Wallachia’s capital, Targoviste. Considering Wallachia was an Ottoman
Vassal for a few years, a Hungarian-supported capture of the throne unnerved the Sultan.
As little Vlad received an education in languages, sword fighting and horse riding,
there was significant turmoil in the region which would soon change his life for good.
In 1437 King Sigismund of Hungary passed away. With Hungary’s figurehead gone, an era of domestic
instability followed. The Sultan wanted to invade Hungary, trekking through Wallachia. Ignoring
pleas from Hungary and likely understanding the might of the ever-expanding Ottoman Empire, Vlad
turned his back on his former ally. He allowed the Sultan to use Wallachia as a springboard into
Transylvania multiple times. In 1441 Hunyadi and Vlad met in Targoviste, with Hunyadi reminding him
of his pledge to the Order of the Dragon. Still, Vlad refused to recant his vassalship to the
Sultan but declared neutrality during a subsequent invasion into Transylvania by the Sultan.
He simply let the Ottomans pass. Hunyadi defeated them at Hermannstadt. This humiliating defeat
made the Sultan suspicious of Vlad’s true intentions. Soon after, the Sultan invited
both Vlad and another vassal, the Serbian Despot Durad Brankovic to his court. Durad refused,
but Vlad came nonetheless, taking his two youngest sons with him. Upon their arrival, the Sultan
imprisoned them on Gallipoli. He made Vlad swear an oath of loyalty, pay an annual tribute and
supply young men for the Devshirme system. Dracula and Radu remained in Edirne, the Ottoman capita to
ensure the Wallachian lord would remain loyal. During his absence, the rival Danesti House
seized the throne, and sources are vague about how Vlad recaptured the throne upon his return.
One year later, Hunyadi and the Hungarian King embarked on the so-called Long Campaign,
capturing Nis, Krusevac and Sofia before retreating due to severe winter. Hunyadi
followed the campaign up with another crusade against the Ottomans. Vlad continually voiced his
reluctance but sent a contingent of approximately 4000 horsemen commanded by his son, Mircea.
Hunyadi embarked with his king Wladyslaw, Mircea and Rome’s legate Cardinal Cesarini
to once and for all expel the Ottomans from Europe. Skanderbeg too pledged his support. But
Brankovich figured his best chance at retaining his territories was by remaining neutral,
and either he or local Ottoman commanders blocked Skanderbeg from sending his troops to support the
crusaders’ army. Troops from the papal states did not arrive either. Not a great start.
At the 1444 Battle of Varna, Vlad’s predictions came true. The Crusaders were badly beaten,
the Hungarian King was slain, and Hunyadi barely escaped with his life.
News reached the Sultan of Vlad’s insubordination by supplying troops for the crusade.
Instead of executing his boys, he allowed them to remain at court, continuing their education.
Both boys took very differently to the capture. Radu began identifying with the Ottomans, whereas
Dracula retained a deep-seated hatred for his captors. Surviving reports describe how Dracula
often lashed out at teachers, receiving severe punishment. We know more about Radu - he became
a court favourite and even became good friends with Murad’s son, the future Sultan Mehmed II.
Vlad’s relationship with Hungary deteriorated after the Battle of Varna. Vlad made peace
with the Ottomans and supported an opponent of Hunyadi vying for the Moldavian throne.
In summer 1447, Hunyadi unexpectedly invaded Wallachia, to deal with the insubordinate
ruler. Vladislav II, the pretender to the Wallachian throne, accompanied him.
They captured Vlad, had him and his oldest son Mircea executed.
Vladislav took over the court and began his rule as the new voivode of Wallachia.
Vlad Tepes’ First Reign (October-November 1448)
Learning of Hunyadi’s actions, the Sultan decided Dracula’s time had come. His chance came when a
bit over half a year after Vladislav claimed the Wallachian throne, the Hungarians launched another
crusade. As a Hungarian vassal, it was expected Vladislav contributed troops. But in addition,
it turned out he was one of its commanders. Exploiting his absence, an Ottoman contingent
with Vlad Dracula marched into Wallachia while the crusaders fought the 1448 Battle of Kosovo. Then,
after a brief, bloody coup, he installed himself as voivode at Targoviste while the Ottomans
conquered strategic fortresses such as Giurgiu. The Ottomans defeated the Crusaders at Kosovo,
making the situation seem even more hopeful for Dracula initially. However, upon their retreat,
the battered Crusader army received news of Dracula’s takeover. Hunyadi, who retreated to
Buda via Serbia, was captured by the Serb despot Brankovic. Still, Vladislav marched enough troops
over the border to shoo Dracula away. Choosing to reclaim his throne rather than help the imprisoned
Hunyadi, who had to pay a significant sum for his release, soured the relations between both rulers.
A deterioration that would ironically play into Dracula’s cards, albeit after multiple years.
In exile, Dracula first resided in Edirne
but soon travelled to neighbouring Moldavia. His whereabouts the next few years are murky.
Some sources state he returned to Edirne, others that he remained in Moldavia, and yet others that
he settled in Transylvania. All that is for sure is that a letter from July 1456 survives. In it,
Hunyadi writes that he entrusted the defence of Transylvania’s borders to Dracula. By this
time Vladislav realised he could not resist the Ottomans, and drifted away from Hunyadi. Hunyadi,
in turn, likely figured Dracula was his next best bet. In Summer 1456, all European eyes were set on
Belgrade as Hunyadi’s relief force marched onto the fortified city to relieve an Ottoman siege.
Meanwhile, to the east, Dracula commanded a small contingent of soldiers crossing the Wallachian
border. Vladislav intercepted his troops near Targsor. Chronicles describe how Vladislav agreed
to single combat with him, upon which Vlad killed the ruler. Hunyadi relieved Belgrade,
one of the greatest military victories of his lifetime. The fact he passed away one
month after writing that letter must have been as unexpected to Dracula as it was to himself.
Vlad Tepes’ Real Reign (1456-1462)
Following Hunyadi’s death, a bloody rebellion broke out within Hungary.
It was not concluded until his son Matyas Corvinus became King two years later.
Corvinus would become very important in Vlad’s life, both as an ally and enemy. Vlad’s first
reign was full of terror and surprisingly autonomous from both the Ottomans and Hungarians.
The boyars who killed his father and older brother years before were the first to suffer from his
vengeance. He organised a feast and invited all boyars. It became a Red Wedding-style feast, for
all boyars were impaled on stakes while Dracula enslaved their sons. Forced to construct his
Poenari Castle, those who survived the gruelling slave labour were impaled afterwards nonetheless.
Surviving records reveal that councilmembers he deemed inefficient disappeared, not to mention
the public impalements of those he considered spies or actively working against him. Often,
after execution, it would surface that his victims remained loyal to him to their death.
Still, even for that time Vlad employed an incredibly diverse court of Hungarians, Serbs,
Moldovans and even Ottomans and Tatars. He minted his own coins, much to the disapproval of Hungary
as Wallachia and the Kingdom had been a monetary union since 1424. Although he signed treaties
agreeing to defend Transylvania’s borders and Hungarian merchants, in practice, within a few
days after the signing of the treaty, the Ottomans already raided the Transylvanian periphery.
Dracula was a rogue lord, agitating both the Hungarians and Ottomans.
Thanks to his Ottoman education, Dracula made sure his troops were up to the task of fighting them.
Sources reveal that his soldiers were some of the first Europeans to use Arquebus’
in battle, and his siege equipment was also considered very modern.
Ruling with an iron fist domestically, he began influencing surrounding territories.
In 1457 he helped his cousin Stephanus III to seize Moldavia’s throne. To the west of Wallachia
lay Serbia. Brankovic had died a few months after Hunyadi, and three years later the Sultan finally
annexed what was left of Serbia. The final buffer between the Ottomans and Hungary, Transylvania
and Wallachia, had disappeared. But bad blood between Corvinus and Dracula lead to anything
but a united front. The Wallachian lord had acted against ethnic minorities who supported Corvinus.
He, in turn, supported two pretenders to the Wallachian throne and prevented Brasov merchants
from selling arms to the Wallachians. But the two men would soon come to an
understanding. In 1459 a contingent of the Sultan’s emissaries arrived, notifying Dracula
of his obligation to pay tribute and supply 500 Wallachian boys for the devshirme system. Vlad did
not take kindly to the demands and instead impaled the emissaries, sending a letter to Brasov to warn
them of a probable Ottoman invasion. Another version of the story goes that Dracula had the
emissary turbans nailed to their heads. That same year Pope Pius II called for a crusade, leading
to an alliance between its figurehead Matthias Corvinus and Dracula, who fully turned his back to
the Ottomans. Moreover, Corvinus proposed Dracula marry his niece, something he seemed open to.
The Sultan was besieging Corinth when news reached him of the killed emissaries and Vlad’s alliance
with the Hungarians. So he sent 23000 troops across the Danube. But instead of immediate
fighting, Dracula invited the Ottoman commander to his court. When he arrived, Dracula captured him
and had him, and forty of his men impaled. Then, he lined them up around the walls of Targoviste.
It was a gruesome affair - and it is pretty clear why Dracula’s moniker “Tepes”,
meaning as much as impaler, was so fitting. A year of skirmishes followed, with him recapturing most
fortresses on Wallachian territory, eventually pushing the Ottomans back over the river.
Dethroning and Exile (1462-1476)
Emboldened by his success, and understanding he fully burned the bridges with the Sultan, he took
a huge gamble. In February 1462, he crossed the Danube into Bulgaria. He subdivided his army into
small contingents, all raiding settlements and strongholds along the Danube and even recaptured
Giurgiu. According to chroniclers, he disguised himself as an Ottoman commander and told the
citizens to open the gate in fluent Turkish. Once inside, he ordered his men to exterminate every
living thing inside. He perpetrated a massacre against converted Bulgarians and Ottomans
throughout the entire territory, impaling tens of thousands. A letter he wrote to Corvinus survives.
“I have killed peasants men and women, old and young, who lived at Oblucitza
and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea, up to Rahova, which is located near Chilia,
from the lower Danube up to such places as Samovit and Ghighen. We killed 23,884 Turks without
counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers…Thus,
your highness, you must know that I have broken the peace with him (Sultan Mehmet II).”
The unhinged Vlad was becoming a significant problem for the Sultan.
In summer 1462 he raised a 90.000-strong army, and crossed the Danube at Nikopolis into Wallachia to
finish him off once and for all. A fleet occupied the port city Braila and burned it to the ground,
while two leading regiments marched onto Targoviste. They fought several skirmishes,
while Vlad retreated each time. It was a hot summer, and Vlad employed scorched earth tactics
every time he fled. Before two weeks, the Ottoman troops were overheated, dehydrated and exhausted.
Still, they reached Targoviste. Before laying their siege, they set up camp. During the night,
Dracula took between 7- and 10.000 men, divided them into two groups and attacked the military
encampment in an attempt to assassinate the Sultan. Unsuccessfully so. Enjoying
minor successes, the Ottomans eventually defeated his army, and he could do no more than retreat.
But when they entered Targoviste, they found nothing short of a ghost town.
Impaled bodies of men, women, children of all ethnicities lined the streets.
Vlad had left the Ottomans a grim spectacle. In the east, another problem emerged for Vlad.
Stephen III of Moldavia made use of the fact Dracula was preoccupied with the Ottomans
and besieged the city of Chilia. It was an important port, which used to be Moldavian,
and Stephen now thought he could easily reclaim it. Instead, Dracula tried to put up a fight,
commanding an army of 6000. But as he went on his way to lift the siege, another problem emerged.
His estranged brother Radu, a friend of the Sultan, accompanied him on the military campaign.
While in Wallachia, he campaigned among the boyars to accept him as the legitimate ruler.
Vlad never reached Chilia, and after several skirmishes between Radu and his army,
he retreated into Transylvania, effectively losing his throne.
Hoping to receive support from Corvinus, instead, he ran into trouble.
It is not entirely clear why, but likely upon believing forged letters stating that Vlad had
concluded an alliance with the Ottomans, Corvinus imprisoned him in Visegrad... for over a decade.
It took many repeated requests to Corvinus, by both him and Stephen, to set him free.
Stephen’s motives were simple: he fought serious wars against the Ottomans and required a fellow
anti-Ottoman ruler in the region. Eventually, Corvinus agreed, as long as Vlad married his
niece and converted to Catholicism. He agreed, married Jusztina Szilagyi, and had two sons.
Upon release he vied for revenge. A year before his release, Radu passed away,
after an on-again-off-again reign of 13 years. Basarab III succeeded Radu.
Dracula convinced Corvinus he was the man to lead an anti-Ottoman campaign, and frankly, he probably
was Corvinus’ best bet. He first helped the Hungarians relieve a siege of the Bosnian Sabac.
He then went on to besiege Srebrenica, seizing the city and pillaging it within weeks.
They then moved against Kuslat, emerging victorious, and finally surrounded Zvornik.
Contemporary witnesses write that the unhinged Dracula would impale Ottomans who surrendered,
often tearing them apart bare-handed. Moving into Transylvania,
Dracula met up with a large army of Transylvania’s voivode Stephen Bathory.
In November 1476, a combined force of Hungarians, Wallachians and Moldovans under Stephen III
marched into Wallachia. They emerged victorious in battle against Basarab nearby Bucharest,
taking over the capital Targoviste as well. Ten days later, they crowned Dracula as voivode of
Wallachia. He invited the merchants from Brasov to trade again. Stephen left for Moldavia, but
left 200 loyal bodyguards behind, understanding the treacherous nature of the nobles who welcomed
Dracula, but previously supported his brother and Basarab. And it turned out he was right.
Nearly two months later, Basarab led a large Ottoman army back into Wallachia. With most
of the Hungarians and Moldavians returning home, Dracula’s army was heavily outnumbered. Engaging
in battle, many of the nobles and Wallachians defected - it would lead to his ultimate end.
Chronicles recount how he met his end in battle after being mortally wounded by a janissary.
His corpse was beheaded and his head was sent to the Sultan. Some sources detail how Janissaries
played kickball with it for days. Other chronicles describe how he was quartered or impaled. All that
is sure is that Vlad Dracula is undoubtedly one of the most famous Medieval rulers of the region. It
is very well possible he served as the inspiration for Bram Stoker and his world-famous 1897 novel
Dracula. Vlad’s son Mihnea ruled Wallachia decades after his father’s death, although the unstable
political situation led to nothing more than a short-lived reign and inevitable assassination.