We last left the infant Vlad the Impaler and his brother Radu the would-be Handsome in the hands
of Sultan Murad II - who if you remember, had taken the boys from Vlad II so as to use them
as a bargaining chip to keep Vlad II in line. The idea was that so long as Sultan Murad II had Vlad
II’s sons, he could manipulate Vlad II into doing what he wanted, but most importantly, he could
steer Vlad II who he had placed as the ruler of Wallachia, and deter him from working against him.
Put simply, Sultan Mehmed II was all like,
‘Say the Ottomans are the best and I won’t kill your children.’
But now you see, Vlad II kinda called Sultan Mehmed II’s bluff and though he didn’t outrightly
oppose the Ottoman rule (nor say that the Ottomans weren’t the best), he was forced into playing both
sides - sometimes supporting the Hungarian and Transylvanian armies who were pressuring him to
side with them against the Ottomans, whilst also paying tribute to the Ottomans and demonstrating
his support to them. Vlad II was basically put in between a rock and a hard place and there was only
so long before he was struck down by one side or the other. This blow came from the Transylvanian
voivode John Hunyadi, who after seeing peace established between Wallachia and the Ottomans
in 1446 felt personally betrayed by Vlad II and so invaded Wallachia and assassinated him.
WIth Vlad II dead, Wallachia pretty much fell into Transylvanian control,
with Hunyadi making Vladislav II - a son of Vlad II’s cousin - the new voivode of Wallachia.
But let’s not lose sight of the real victim here…. That’s right - Sultan Mehmed II,
who had now lost his Ottoman inspired Voivode and totally lost the crucial territory of Wallachia.
Worse yet, he was stuck with these two brats that weren’t even his!
With no reason to keep Vlad III and his brother Radu alive anymore,
the Sultan was expected to pretty much do away with them.
But… inspiration struck the Sultan and though it is unknown what type of relationship they
had with their new Ottoman step-daddy, they did live it up… as least as far as education went.
The Sultan ensured that the boys received the finest tuition - not because he was particularly
caring of the brothers, but because he intended to raise them as future voivodes of Wallachia - those
who, despite their heritage, would be loyal to him and the Ottoman Empire. Of course, this would
not be a smooth road for anyone involved. For one, Vlad was rebellious in comparison to his
younger brother. He acted out, defied authority and showed more of that temerity that was evident
in his father. Due to this, it was not uncommon for the young Vlad to suffer beatings, none
the least which came from the whip - something he would grow up to resent. On the other hand,
his brother Radu was far more agreeable with the Sultan and adopted his newfound obligations with
far more acquiescence. Furthermore, Radu was thought to have been an exceptionally
good-looking boy - a feature that would follow him into adulthood as he was known as Radu the
Handsome. Because of his easy personality and good looks, Radu would come to earn the
Sultan’s favour as well as the favour of both high noble men and the affections of women.
Vlad in comparison only grew more and more bitter and the success of his brother - or as
Vlad would’ve seen it - the total disregard of his heritage would drive a wedge between them.
Radu would find it easy to make friends and he would soon befriend Mehmed II - the
future Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Despite the boys growing up together,
Vlad did not have the same bond with Mehmed as Radu did and as a result, it would not prevent the
bloody incursions that would take place between the two in their later adult lives. When word of
Vlad Dracul and Mircea II’s death reached the Ottomans, the news was said to have struck the
young Vlad the most. It is here that some believe the Impaler was born, for after learning of how
his father and brother were murdered - betrayed by their Transylvanian neighbours no less - he
swore vengeance upon both John Hunyadi and the new Wallachian voivode Vladislav II - a
man who Vlad declared would die by his own hand. In the following years, John Hunyadi launched a
campaign against the Ottoman Empire and in 1448 at the battle of Kosovo, he proved that he wasn’t
quite ready for the Ottoman strength with little advancement upon Ottoman land and many losses to
show for it. Indeed, for Hunyadi, the Battle of Kosovo was a complete disaster. And to make it
worse, while Hunyadi and Vladislav II engaged in this battle - no one was back home in Wallachia
and so… Vlad took advantage of his enemy's absence and with an Ottoman force snuck into Wallachia.
Here with the Ottoman strength on his side, Vlad seized control of his home and initiated
his birthright by becoming the Voivode of Wallachia for the first time in 1448.
But of course, this sudden usurpation did not sit right with the Hungarians.
Despite being Vlad Dracul’s son, Vlad would appear to them to be heavily influenced by the Ottoman
Empire on the account that he was raised by them and that his army was made up entirely of the
Turks they despised. Having an Ottoman inspired Voivode in charge of Wallachia only made the
threat of the Ottoman invasion seem all the more real and now that they had Wallachia, they were
drawing nearer and nearer. But luckily for the Hungarians, Vlad’s rule was very short lived here.
After suffering his defeat at Kosovo, Vladislav II returned to Wallachia where he was able to
regroup with his forces and drive the Turks and Vlad out of the region in the very same year.
Interestingly, we also learn that John Hunyadi had gone missing during the battle of Kosovo - on the
account that he was captured and held prisoner on his way home by Serbian despot Đurađ Branković,
who planned to send Hunyadi straight to the judgement of the Sultan.
However, Hungarian nobles were able to convince Branković to make peace with Hunyadi, but this
was only done through an embarrassing treaty that saw Hunyadi forced to pay 100,000 gold florins and
forced to relinquish all territories he had gained in Serbia through previous conquests.
As well as this, Hunyadi was also forced to send Branković his son as hostage. But at the
very least, Hunyadi was returned to Hungary relatively unharmed - if not for his pride.
Of course, the Transylvanians had no idea where their voivode in John Hunyadi was, because he
had obviously not returned from the devastating battle of Kosovo. Nicholas Vizaknai, the governor
of Transylvania, wrote to Vlad during his short occupancy of Wallachia, for he believed Vlad had
imprisoned him or worse… He requested Vlad to come and meet with him to explain where Hunyadi was and
to justify the unexpected coup. But here we see Vlad’s true colours in the form of the letter he
returned to Vizaknai, explaining that he did not know where Hunyadi was and that he did wish to
meet with him, but could not - because the Turks would become suspicious and march upon the pair of
them. However, he also added that he would wait to see if Hunyadi emerged alive and that if he did,
he would meet with him and make peace with him. It would seem from this letter then,
that despite spending his childhood in the Ottoman Empire and despite being raised to become a
Ottoman inspired Voivode, Vlad never forgot where he had come from and intended to betray the Turks
at the first opportunity he got…even if it meant siding with the man who had killed his father.
Now, as mentioned, Vladislav II did regroup after the devastating loss at the Battle of
Kosovo and this allowed him to cut Vlad’s first reign fairly short, as he regained Wallachia and
drove Vlad out. After this defeat, Vlad returned to Ottoman occupied territory for a short while,
before fleeing to Moldavia in 1449, Moldavia being a neighbouring region of Wallachia which
was occupied by Bogdan II - an uncle of Vlad who’d mounted the throne with support from none other
than John Hunyadi. Here, Bogan II received the exiled Vlad and assumed him into his own court,
treating him like a son and even educating him further alongside his own son Stephen.
Life for Vlad during these few years was mostly peaceful, but it would come to an
abrupt end when Bogdan II was assassinated by his own brother Peter Aaron in October 1451.
With no viable options and feeling unsafe in Moldavia,
Vlad and Stephen fled into Transylvania whereby they sought assistance from John Hunyadi.
But in the space of the four years since Hunyadi’s defeat to the Ottomans, he’d been stripped of
his titles as the viceroy of Hungary and the voivode of Transylvania - basically, after that
embarrassing defeat at Kosovo and that humiliating treaty with the Serbian despot Branković that left
him poorer and also son-less, people thought that John Hunyadi was a bit of a joke now.
Whilst he did maintain some influence - well, a lot of influence considering he
still controlled the army, Vlad and Stephen felt it was safer to avoid
Hunyadi as well and instead seek refuge in Brasov - a region in far southern Hungary
and just north of Wallachia - a place that opposed the rule of voivode Vladislav II.
There, Vlad believed he would find allies against the treacherous cousin who’d usurped his father.
Of course, Hunyadi had no intention of allowing Vlad to settle anywhere in Hungary or Wallachia,
for his presence could undo the groundwork he had put in place in his efforts to keep Vladislav II
in charge. Hunyadi went as far as to write to the mayor of Brasov to ban Vlad from staying there,
though rumours exist that this was ignored and Vlad was allowed into hiding. Hunyadi would
continue to search for Vlad within the region - evidently unsettled about the Wallachian’s
presence in Hungary and would even go as far as to hire assassins to remove the problematic Dracul.
Learning of this, Vlad went further into hiding. Whilst this was going on, we learned that the
relationship between John Hunyadi and Vladislav II was beginning to fall apart on the account that
Vladislav was beginning to soften to the Turks and the new Sultan, Mehmed II - the childhood
peer of Vlad. It’s also possible that Hunyadi was bitter towards Vladislav II because Vladislav had
not been successful in rescuing him from his Serbian imprisonment when he was captured at
the battle of Kosovo. With all this going on, Hunyadi came to realise that if he could not
rely on an ally in Vladislav II, then he would have to turn to an enemy… he summoned for Vlad.
Join me next time for part 3 of this series on Vlad the Impaler, where we’ll step into
the uneasy alliance of Vlad and John Hunyadi and see how these two titans of Eastern Europe
fared in the face of the Ottoman onslaught. As always guys, if you’ve enjoyed today’s special
episode on Vlad the Impaler then be sure to give it a like and don’t forget to subscribe for more
content just like this! Until next time