Historical Study: Vlad the Impaler

So after a little detour into Mehmed II’s intriguing life, I now come to the main focus of this Romanian phase. This will be a detailed biographical study of the infamous life of Vlad the Impaler who inspired the iconic character of Dracula. The interest has come to me from reading Elizabeth Kosovo’s book, “The Historian” which I will later have a full book review on. I’ve heard of Vlad the Impaler for some time, but honestly didn’t know too much about the historical setting. He was not a king or conqueror rather a “voivode (like a prince or warlord) of Wallachia (modern day Romania). He reigned briefly in 1448, then from 1456-1462, and finally in 1475-1476.

His life is a very interesting one, albeit shrouded in darkness and cruelty. Perhaps his greatest claim to fame were his cruel methods of punishment, such as the impalement. However to be fair he was ultimately protecting his land from the Ottoman aggression of Mehmed II. He used these wicked executions mostly as a form of psychological warfare to shock his enemies, especially Mehmed II. He also used other extreme methods of political purges, justice, taxation, and scorch-earth tactics which eventually made him quite unpopular with the nobles and peasants. Despite these wicked acts he remains one of the few leaders in eastern Europe who was able to resist conquest from Mehmed II.

Early childhood with the Ottomans (1431-1448)

Vlad the Impaler also known as Vlad Tepes, was born in 1431. His father Vlad Dracul II was a member of the Order of the Dragon, a chivalric society which defended Christianity. Vlad II become the voivode of Wallachia in 1436 with Hungarian support. Throughout his reign he maintained balance and loyalty to both the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire thru tribute payments. However Vlad II was eventually forced to choose a side and joined the Ottoman invasion of 1438 against John Hunyadi in Transylvania. Hunyadi stood his ground however and continued to strengthen the Hungarian’s resistance to the Ottomans. As a result of Hunyadi’s rise to power the Ottomans increased their pressure on Vlad II, forcing him to swear allegiance against the Hungarians. In 1442 he gave up his two sons Vlad III and Radu as hostages to prove his devotion to the Ottoman Empire. Vlad III was eleven years old at the time.

While his two sons were learning of Ottoman customs, Vlad II continued to maintain a balance between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Despite various arrangements he was still caught in the crossfire and would frequently switch sides. Despite swearing allegiance with the Ottomans in 1442, he once again supported Hunyadi in 1444 during his campaign at the Crusade of Varna. Despite this however Vlad II was distrusted by both the Hungarian and Ottoman nobles for his constant flip-flopping of loyalty. In 1447 John Hunyadi invaded Wallachia and later captured and killed Vlad II. Some speculation is that he was assassinated by the noble Vladislav II. John Hunyadi made Vladislav II the new voivode of Wallachia, which was to be a Hungarian puppet state. This was of course still heavily disputed by the Ottomans.

1st Reign and exile (1448-1456)

Despite being a prisoner of the Ottoman court for five years, Vlad Tepes remained defiant of their Turkish customs. Nonetheless he was chosen by the Ottomans as the rightful ruler of Wallachia. He was released from his imprisonment and supported by the Ottomans to seize the throne from the Hungarian puppet voivode Vladislav II. An opportunity presented itself in 1448, when Vladislav II accompanied John Hunyadi during his campaign in Kosovo. Vlad III was able to lead a coup for the throne, and quickly attempted to gain support from the nobles. The reign was short-lived however only 2 months before Vladisav II returned from the loss Battle of Kosovo. Vlad was forced to flee back to Ottoman territory.

Vlad eventually made his way to Moldovia to take refuge with his cousin Bodgan II, and his son Stephen. Here he was able to strengthen his allies, and learn more about diplomacy. In 1451 Bodgan II was assassinated at a wedding feast by Peter Aron, causing both Stephen and Vlad to flee Moldovia. At this moment Vlad made a crucial decision to flee towards Hungary and not to Ottoman territory. In truth he hated both sides; the Hungarians for killing his father and the Ottomans for keeping him prisoner for 5 years. It seemed sensible that he would still lean in favor of the Ottomans since they supported his 1448 claim to the throne. However Vlad was eager to change the script, and realigned himself with the Hungarians instead. He ultimately decided that having support from the Hungarians would provide a better chance at Wallachian independence versus a continued vassalage with the Ottomans.

To his surprise, John Hunyadi welcomed Vlad III back to Hungary where he found refuge and began to plot his return to power. Hunyadi had recently lost faith with Vladislav II, the voivode he had personally put in power, due to Vladislav’s open relations with the Ottomans. This was the same flip-flopping tendencies that made Hunyadi oust Vlad II in 1447. Hunyadi therefore began to support and mold Vlad III as the new rightful claimant to the Wallachian throne. During this time Vlad III continued to strengthen his allies and establish a firm stance of anti-Ottoman fervor.

2nd Reign (1456-1462)

By mid-1456 Vlad III amassed a strong force with the support of Hunyadi to mount his 2nd coup against Vladislav II. He invaded from Transylvania and initiated raids and skirmishes throughout the Carpathian mountains. He eventually met Vladislav face-to-face near Targoviste and challenged him to single combat for the throne. Vlad III was able to kill Vladislav in the combat, and after a few weeks of fighting he had secured the throne of Wallachia. He quickly consolidated power by purging all his political opponents, especially the noble Hungarian boyars that arranged the death of his father. He invited many of these nobles to an Easter feast where he later had them all executed via impalement. This is considered his first use of the terrible impalement method which would later define his cruel reputation.

Once Vlad had consolidated power he continued to pay tributes to both the Hungarians and the Ottomans to keep the peace for some time. However he once again lost favor with the Hungarians after he killed many German-Saxon nobles and merchants. He implemented a harsh new code-of-law with heavy taxation and raided villages in Transylvania that were not completely loyal to him. He once again used his wicked methods of impalement as a form of judicial punishment to instill fear to all those who opposed him. His violent raids in the Saxon towns of Brasov and Sibiu were most noteworthy of his bloodthirst. It is estimated that he had several thousands of German-Saxons executed by various means (mostly impalement) from 1457-1461. According to legend he had a first wife during this time who committed suicide by jumping from the castle walls. It is believed she gave birth to Vlad’s son Mihnea the Bad before she died.

Conflict with Mehmed II (1461-1462)

Perhaps Vlad’s greatest claim to fame is his open defiance against the great Ottoman conqueror, Mehmed II. In 1461 Vlad openly defied the sultan, by refusing to pay him tribute. He made this intent crystal clear, when he executed Mehmed’s emissaries by nailing their turbans to their heads. Anticipating a response, Vlad began a war campaign into Ottoman territory south of the Danube River (primarily in Bulgaria). It is estimated he killed close to 20,000 Ottomans during these raids from 1461-1462. These raids infuriated Mehmed, who decided to organize a force of 150,000 men to conquer Wallachia (considered his second largest army behind the one that conquered Constantinople).

Vlad pulled back from Bulgaria to defend his homeland of Wallachia against the massive Ottoman army. He famously used scorch-earth tactics, which devasted his own land in order to slow the enemy. On June 1462 he launched his legendary Night Attack at Targoviste with an army of 30,000, with an intent to kill Mehmed himself. Mehmed was able to escape, but the attack was effective in causing great disarray and panic among the Ottoman army. It was here in Targoviste where Vlad coordinated his most shocking display of horror known as the Forest of the Impaled. Nearly 20,000-25,000 Ottoman prisoners were impaled by stake (which must have taken weeks to prepare logistically). The psychologic effect of this display served it’s purpose however when Mehmed witnessed it. It surely must have been like a scene out of some hellish horror movie. Fields of scorched fire and thousands of dead bodies pieced by giant wooden stakes.

Mehmed was so horrified by the scale of death, that he decided to abandon his campaign. He however appointed Radu the Handsome (Vlad’s brother) to continue the fight and lay claim to the throne. Vlad’s popularity among the Wallachian nobles quickly went into a freefall due to his scorched-earth tactics. Furthermore many found his methods to be far too cruel. Radu on the other hand quickly gained influence with support from the Ottoman empire. He was able to bribe many of the nobles and used his superior military and financial resources to eventually drive Vlad out of Wallachia. Vlad turned to Hungary’s king Matthias Cornivus for support, but instead Cornivus had Vlad arrested for his atrocities. The imprisonment of Vlad was also to be used as political leverage with the Ottoman Empire. Radu the Handsome became the new voivode of Wallachia, fully in support of the Ottoman Empire.

Imprisonment in Hungary (1462-1475)

Vlad was first imprisoned in the fortress of Alba Iulia in Transylvania under harsh conditions. He was a political prisoner and he was likely kept in the lower cells with the other common criminals. However this was only for several weeks until he was relocated to the fortress of Visegrad in Hungary. During this time he was treated as more of a noble prisoner, with some freedom, but still confined to the fortress grounds. This is considered a very mysterious period for Vlad where no historical documents or records are kept on his dealings from 1462 to 1475. It is believed he eventually did find favor with Cornivus, who even arranged a political marriage between Vlad and his cousin Ilona Szilagyi. Vlad remained prisoner in Hungary for nearly 12 years (almost the majority of his adult life). 

By 1475 Stephen of Moldovia had risen to prominence and achieved several great victories against the Ottomans, most notably at the Battle of Vaslui. He was thus able to convince Cornivus to release his cousin Vlad, so that he could reclaim Wallachia and join him in a campaign against the Ottomans. By 1476 Vlad began his campaign to retake the throne of Wallachia which was now controlled by Basarab Laiota. Vlad was supported by both Hungary and Moldovia as he marched into Transylvania. He once again resorted to his familiar tactics of night-raids, scorched earth, and more impalements against the Ottomans. Basarab was eventually forced to flee and Vlad returned to the Wallachian throne for his third reign in the autumn of 1476.

Third Reign and Death (1475-1476)

Despite coming to power with the support of Hungary and Moldovia, Vlad is unable to win the loyalty of the Wallachian nobles. They distrust him due to his previous reign and his harsh methods of punishment. Furthermore the tides of fortune quickly turn when Stephen suffers a terrible defeat at the hands of Mehmed in the Battle of Valea Alba. Stephen is forced to retreat and loses much influence in the region. This allows Basarab to lead an invasion into Wallachia with Ottoman support to take back his throne from Vlad. In December of 1476, Vlad’s small force cannot match Basarab’s greater army, and he is killed during the fighting. His reign lasted only two months and Basarab returned to the throne of Wallachia. The exact details and location of Vlad’s death are unclear, but it is believed he was killed in Snagov (either during the fighting against the Ottoman soldiers or possibly assassinated by his own noblemen). 

According to legend Vlad’s head was removed by the Ottoman soldiers and sent to Mehmed as proof of his final defeat. It was believed his body was buried at the Snagov Monastery however excavations could never officially verify this. Other speculations are that he was buried in the Comana Monastery, but still with no concrete evidence. This mystery of his final resting place has led to the famous depiction of him as an undead vampire seeking vengeance on the living. It would certainly fall in line with his darker methods of punishment. However aside from his wicked cruelty, there is not any historical evidence that suggests he was involved with occultism, witchcraft, or dark mysticism. This is no doubt where folklore and fiction (such as the book I am reading) have taken liberties in an attempt to connect the dots between Vlad and Dracula. It’s a fair pursuit, since Vlad was without question one of the darkest yet most fascinating figures in history.