Misplaced Pages

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by NovellaGirl (talk | contribs) at 07:00, 29 April 2009 (Continuing to add back what the vandalizer deleted.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia, more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Ţepeş in Romanian, or simply Dracula (November/December 1431 – December 1476), was a Wallachian (present-day southern Romania ) voivode. His first reign as crown prince took place at age 17, during the same year of his release from Turkish captivity, in 1448. His main reign took place in 1456 and ended in 1462. His final reign was accomplished with the aid of the Hungarian throne in 1476 and he ruled until his assassination months later within the same year. Vlad the Impaler is known for the exceedingly cruel punishments he imposed as ruler of Wallachia, however the people of Romania refer to Vlad as a savior to their nation and continue to justify his method of torture as not uncommon for that period in history.Impalement was Ţepeş's preferred method of torture and execution, however the exact number of enemies executed cannot be relied on for they are documented by Vlad's rivals, therefore are most likely exaggerated to an extent. In the English-speaking world, Vlad III is perhaps most commonly known for inspiring the name of the vampire in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. As prince, Vlad maintained an independent policy in relation to the Ottoman Empire and was a defender of Wallachia against Ottoman expansionism.

Names

His Romanian surname "Drăculea" means "Son of Dracula" and is derived from his father's title, Vlad the Devil (see Vlad II Dracul ); the latter was a member of the Order of the Dragon created by Emperor Sigismund. The word "Dracula" means "the Devil" in modern Romanian but in Vlad's day also meant "dragon" and derives from the Latin word "Draco", also meaning "dragon". The suffix "-lea" can be translated as "son of". The old Romanian word for serpent (Cf. "drat") is nowadays the most common and casual reference to the devil—the people of Wallachia gave Vlad II the surname "Dracula" ("Dracula" being the more grammatically correct form). His son Vlad III would later use in several documents the surname "Drăculea". Through various translations ("Draculea", "Drakulya") Vlad III eventually came to be known as "Dracula" (note that this ultimate version is a modern invention). His post-mortem moniker of "Ţepeş" ("Impaler") originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement—as popularized by medieval Transylvanian pamphlets. In Turkish, he was known as "Kazıklı Bey" (pronounced kɑzɯkˈɫɯ) which means "Impaler Prince". Vlad was referred to as "Dracula" in a number of documents of his times, mainly the Transylvania Saxon pamphlets and "The Annals of Jan Długosz".

Biography

Early years

Vlad was very likely born in the citadel of Sighişoara, Transylvania in 1431. He was born as the second son to his father Vlad Dracul and his mother Princess Cneajna of Moldavia. He had an older brother named Mircea II and a younger brother named Radu the Handsome. Although his native country was Wallachia to the south, the family lived in exile in Transylvania as his father had been ousted by pro-Ottoman boyars. In the same year as his birth, his father was living in , where he was vested into the Order of the Dragon. At the age of five, young Vlad was also initiated into the Order of the Dragon.

Hostage of the Ottoman Empire

Vlad's father was under considerable political pressure from the Ottoman sultan. Threatened with invasion, he gave a promise to be the vassal of the sultan and gave up his two younger sons as hostages so that he would keep his promise. Vlad developed a well-known hatred for Radu the Handsome and for Mehmed, who would later become the sultan. According to Raymond T. McNally and Radu Florescu, he also distrusted his own father for trading him to the Turks and betraying the Order of the Dragon's oath to fight them.

Brief reign and exile

Vlad's father was assassinated in the marshes near Bălteni in December 1447 by rebellious boyars allegedly under the orders of Hungarian regent John Hunyadi. Vlad's older brother Mircea II was also dead at this point, blinded with hot iron stakes and buried alive by his political enemies at Târgovişte. To protect their political power in the region, the Ottomans invaded Wallachia and the Sultan put Vlad III on the throne as a puppet ruler. His rule at this time would be brief; Hunyadi himself invaded Wallachia and ousted him the same year. Vlad fled to Moldavia until October 1451 and was put under the protection of his uncle, Bogdan II.

Turning Tides

Bogdan was assassinated by Petru Aron, and Vlad, taking a gamble, fled to Hungary. Impressed by Vlad's vast knowledge of the mindset and inner workings of the Ottoman Empire as well as his hatred of the new sultan Mehmed II, Hunyadi pardoned him and took him in as an advisor. Eventually Hunyadi put him forward as the Kingdom of Hungary's candidate for the throne of Wallachia. In 1453, the Ottomans, under Mehmed II, took Constantinople after a prolonged siege, thus putting an end to the final major Christian presence in the eastern Mediterranean. Ottoman influence began to spread from this base through the Carpathians, and began to threaten mainland Europe. In 1456, Hungary invaded Serbia to drive out the Ottomans, and Vlad III simultaneously invaded Wallachia with his own contingent. Both campaigns were successful, although Hunyadi died suddenly of the plague. Nevertheless, Vlad was now prince of his native land.

Main reign (1456–1462)

Vlad III's actions after 1456 are well-documented. After the death of his grandfather (Mircea the Elder) in 1418, Wallachia had fallen into a somewhat chaotic situation. A constant state of war had led to rampant crime, falling agricultural production, and the virtual disappearance of trade. Vlad used severe methods to restore order, as he needed an economically stable country if he was to have any chance against his external enemies. The early part of Vlad’s reign was dominated by the idea of eliminating all possible threats to his power, mainly the rival nobility groups, i.e. the boyars. This was done mainly by physical elimination, but also by reducing the economic role of the nobility: the key positions in the Prince’s Council, traditionally belonging to the country’s greatest boyars, were handed to obscure individuals, some of them of foreign origin, but who manifested loyalty towards Vlad. For the less important functions, Vlad also ignored the old boyars, preferring to knight and appoint men from the free peasantry. A key element of the power of the Wallachian nobility was their connections in the Saxon-populated autonomous towns of Transylvania, so Vlad acted against these cities by eliminating their trade privileges in relation with Wallachia and by organizing raids against them. In 1459, he had several of the German settlers (Saxons) and officials of the Transylvanian city of Kronstadt who were transgressing his authority impaled. Vlad III was constantly on guard against the adherents of the Dăneşti clan, and some of his raids into Transylvania may have been efforts to capture the clan's would-be princes. Several members of the clan died at Vlad's hands. Vladislav II of Wallachia was murdered soon after Vlad came to power in 1456. Another Dăneşti prince, suspected to have taken part in burying his brother Mircea alive, was captured during one of Vlad's forays into Transylvania. Rumors (spread by his enemies) say thousands of citizens of the town that had sheltered his rival were impaled by Vlad. The captured prince was forced to read his own eulogy while kneeling before an open grave before his execution.

References

Florescu, Radu R.; McNally, Raymond T. (1989). Dracula: Prince of Many Faces. Little Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-28655-9. Florescu, Radu R.; McNally, Raymond T. (1994). In Search of Dracula. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-395-65783-0. Treptow, Kurt W. (2000). Vlad III Dracula: The Life and Times of the Historical Dracula. Center for Romanian Studies. ISBN 973-98392-2-3. Babinger, Franz (1992). Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691010786.