Vlad iii the impaler biography

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During the first reign of Vlad II, Vlad the Impaler accompanied his father to Targoviste - capital of Wallachia at that time.

The Byzantine chancellor Mikhail Doukas showed that, at Targoviste, the sons of boyars and ruling princes got a distinguished education from either Romanian or Greek scholars, coming from Constantinople.

Night Attack at Târgoviște (17 June 1462) — A surprise night assault aimed at killing Mehmed II in his camp. Much of the information about his atrocities and cruelty comes from the German stories written about him, which were for the most part politically, religiously and economically inspired propaganda against Vlad Ţepeş. He was obscure enough that few would recognize the name and those who did would know him for his acts of brutal cruelty; Dracula was a natural candidate for vampirism.

By making Vlad a scapegoat Corvinus could justify his reasons for not taking part in the war against the Ottomans. 1560, probably after a lost original

Wallachian royalty and family background

The crown of Wallachia was not passed automatically from father to son; instead, the leader was elected by the boyars (nobles of the highest rank), with the requirement that the Prince-elect be of nominally Basarab princely lineage (os de domn—"of voivode bones," "of voivode marrow"), including out of wedlock births.

Mircea II, captured by the boyars, had his eyes burned out, after which he was buried alive.

Fast Facts

Also known as:
Vlad III, Vlad Țepeș, Vlad III Dracula.
Why it mattered: Highlights the blending of history and legend.
Reigns:
1448; 1456—1462; 1476.
Why it mattered: Three contested reigns show Wallachia's volatile power struggles.
Realm & Capital:
Principality of Wallachia; capital at Târgoviște.
Why it mattered: A frontier state between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Signature Tactic:
Impalement as exemplary punishment.
Why it mattered: Psychological warfare to deter invasion and crush internal dissent.
Name Origin:
“Dracula” = “son of Dracul,” from the Order of the Dragon.
Why it mattered: Later fueled the Dracula myth and popular culture associations.
Death:
Killed in battle in 1476; head reportedly sent to Constantinople.
Why it mattered: Marked the end of a brutal but formative chapter in Wallachian rule.

Vlad the Impaler & Dracula — Frequently Asked Questions

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This judgment was in tune with the ideology of the inward-looking regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu, although the identification did little justice to Eminescu's personal beliefs. Stories of atrocities tend to seem to be justified as the actions of a strong ruler.

Vlad III's post-mortem moniker of Ţepeş (Impaler) originated in his preferred method for executing his opponents, impalement—as popularized by medieval Transylvanian pamphlets.

Apparently Vlad Ţepeş was determined that his own power be on a modern and thoroughly secure footing. The challenge for the student of history is to sift through all the materials, examining the motives of those who wrote or analyzing their backgrounds and likely loyalties, to produce what might be a balanced account. The German stories about Vlad the Impaler consist of 46 short episodes, although none of the manuscripts, pamphlets or the poem of Beheim contain all 46 stories.

All of them begin with the story of the old governor, John Hunyadi, having Vlad's father killed, and how Vlad and his brother renounced their old religion and swore to protect and uphold the Christian faith.

Although there are similarities between the Russian and the German stories about Ţepeş there is a clear distinction with the attitude towards Vlad Ţepeş in these stories. Contemporary woodcuts and pamphlets from Central Europe amplified his notoriety—one 1499 Nuremberg woodcut shows Vlad dining among impaled victims, imagery that later fed into his transmutation into gothic villainy.

His epithet “Dracula” originally meant “son of Dracul (the Dragon).” In 1442, amid shifting allegiances along the Danube frontier, Vlad and his brother Radu were sent as hostages to Sultan Murad II to secure their father's compliance.

Personal crusade

Following family traditions and due to his old hatred towards the Ottomans, Vlad decided to side with the Hungarians.

According to Florescu and McNally, he also distrusted his own father for trading him to the Turks and betraying the Order of the Dragon oath to fight them.^[3]

Bust of Vlad Ţepeş near the birthplace plate.

Brief reign and exile

Vlad's father was assassinated in the marshes near Bălteni in December of 1447 by rebellious boyars allegedly under the orders of John Hunyadi.

Rushing back to the castle, a distraught Vlad is shown his wife's dead body in the chapel, and is told by an elderly priest that due to her suicide, Elisabeta's soul cannot enter heaven.

To top it off, the two powerful neighbors of Wallachia, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, were at the peak of their rivalry for control of southeastern Europe, turning Wallachia into a battle ground.