Vlad Dracula, Rise of the Impaler
We already talked about vampires quite a bit on this blog. Dracula himself was already mentioned in the Dearg Due post a while ago. Today, I thought it would be nice for this famous prince of Walachia to receive his own post. Bring on the stakes, the Impaler has arrived.
Vlad III Dracula, the son of Vlad II Dracul, prince and then ruler of Walachia, is a pretty controversial figure. Though in his homeland of modern Romania, he is revered as a national hero and one of the defenders of Europe against the Ottoman expansion, in other places he is viewed as a cruel tyrant. And both sides are kind of true. You see, Walachia was at the time, in a difficult position. Stuck between the behemoth Ottoman Empire and the mighty Kingdom of Hungary, the tiny principality was in a fishy position. Try ally with one and the other will steam role through your lands. Both sides would also constantly keep interfering with Walachian politics, overthrowing the current leader to install a puppet one and keeping hostages left and right. Dracul, Vlad’s father also named Vlad, spent his childhood growing up in the Hungarian court. For his share, Vlad and his brother Radu grew up in the Ottoman court, something that would serve young Vlad later on.
Oh yeah, because Vlad also had a brother, which for once wasn’t named Vlad, unlike the rest of their family. Despite growing up side by side, the two brothers couldn’t be more different. Radu, also called Radu the Handsome, was a charming fellow that quickly got along with everyone, albeit a bit aloof. On the other hand, Vlad was distant, cold, and very dedicated to politics and intrigues. He would constantly observe the Ottoman ways of ruling, even the darkest side of it, and take an example of it. This is something that got him the attention of the Sultan of the time, Murad II, who decided to pick Vlad over his more famous brother to take over Walachia. Soon, Dracul, after constantly switching back and forth between the Ottoman and the Hungarian to avoid annihilation, ended up dying in a Boyar uprising, backed up by the Hungarian. Now you see what I meant by Walachia politics being messed up by its neighbour.
Anyway, with the support of the Ottoman military, young Vlad was sent by Murad to take back Walachia from a relative named Vladislav. With the Hungarian murdering his father and older brother, Murad thought Vlad would never join their side in their unending conflicts between the two powers. Yeah, Murad kind of misjudged who he was dealing with because one of Vlad’s mottoes happened to be ‘politics is never personal,’ but more on that later. Unfortunately for Vlad, his reign was cut short when Vladislav deposed of him two months later. Vlad fled back to the Ottoman but was once again caught up by Walachian politics, with Vladislav trying to make peace with them, since Hungary wasn’t doing too well. Vlad fled to Moldavia seeking help from another relative, his uncle, with who he was getting along well for once.
Later, Vlad found himself allying with Hungarian national hero John Hunyadi, after some political shenanigans. For the record, he was the guy that led the Hungarian expedition that killed his father and elder brother, and even if Vlad was still pissed at this, he decided that being the ruler of Walachia was much better than a loyal nothing. Since Vladislav, the guy John put on the throne, was turning toward the Ottoman, sticking a deal wasn’t that hard. Vlad spent some time in the Hungarian court making allies for his future reconquest of Walachia. However, something would put a small wrench in his plans. Murad II had died, and his successor happened to be the man, the myth, the legend, Mehmed the Second. This should be fun for Vlad.
Follow me on the next episode of how Vlad reclaimed his throne and started his grim legend as the Impaler.
