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Within the city of Sighisoara, Transylvania a son to the exiled king of Wallachian, Vlad II Dracul was born in 1431. Vlad II was living in Transylvania while trying to obtain support for his plans to retake the throne from the Danesti Prince, Alexandru I.
Centuries later an author by the name of Bram Stoker would use this prince as the basis of his infamous vampire “Dracula.”
There are few facts to be found about Dracula’s early life.
He spent his early years of education with his mother, a Transylvanian noblewoman with his brothers Mircea and Radu.
His true education started after his father was able to once again gain the Wallachian throne by killing his rival. An elderly knight was brought in who had fought against the Turks to be his tutor and Dracula learned all the skills needed by a Christian knight.
Wallachia had an unstable history. Situated between the Ottoman Turks on one side and the Hungarians on the other, Dracula’s father attempted to ride the middle by openly being a vassal of the King Matthius Corvius of Hungary while simultaneously paying tribute to the Sultan.
Vlad Dracul was a member of the Order of the Dragon and as such, had sworn an oath to fight the infidels. On the other hand, the Ottoman power increased and seemed virtually unstoppable.
In 1442 the Turks invaded Transylvania and Vlad II desperately attempted to remain neutral but when the Turks were defeated, the Hungarians under John Hunyadi became vengeful over Vlad’s lack of support and inaction. Their vengeance forced the Dracul family to flee to Turkish land until 1443 when Vlad returned and was able to once again take the throne thanks to the aid of the Turks.
This aid was dearly paid for though. Vlad had made an agreement with the Sultan that not only would an annual tribute be paid to the Turks, a yearly force of Wallachian boys would be sent to join the Sultan’s Janissaries.
Another portion of the agreement included the stipulation of Dracul’s two youngest sons to be held as hostages to insure Vlad’s good faith.
Dracula and his brother Radu would remain hostages of the Turks in Adrianople until 1448.
In 1444, the new King of Hungary, Ladislas Poshumous decided to break the Hungarian/Turkish treaty and launched a massive strike with the intention of ridding all of Europe of the Turks. When ordered by the King to join in the attempt, Vlad decided to try and appease both sides by sending his eldest son Mircea in his place. The results of this Hungarian crusade were that the Christian army was virtually eradicated in the battle of Varna. Vlad, his son Mircea and many others considered it the fault of the Hungarian leader, John Hunyadi’s fault and incurred Hunyadi’s wrath. In 1447 Hunyadi had Vlad assassinated and Mircea buried alive. When word of this was received in Turkey, the Sultan released Dracula and supported him in his quest of the Wallachian throne, which he was able to take but not hold.
In 1456 he made another attempt and was successful. His reign would last from 1456 to 1462. It was during this reign he would earn his legendary name, Vlad the Impaler.
Although Dracula practiced driving nails into the heads, cutting off the limbs, blinding, strangulation, burning, skinning, boiling alive and the mutilation of sexual organs, his preferred method of execution and torture was to impale the victim on a stake until he or she died. No one was immune to his atrocities. Peasant men, women and children, foreign dignitaries, monks, priests, Turks and noblemen were all likely candidates. Dracula enjoyed having a horse attached to each of the victim's legs while a not too well sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. Usually it would be inserted through the anus and forced thru until it came out of the victim’s mouth.
There are recorded instances where the victims were impaled through other orifices, through the abdomen and even of infants being impaled while held to the mother’s chest.
The victims would die a slow and painful death lasting from a few hours to actual days. Dracula wasn’t particular about the numbers involved. He was as happy impaling a visiting Catholic priest as having dinner surrounded by thirty thousand victims from Brasov, Transylvania.
Dracula’s reign of terror came to an end in December 1476. He had launched a campaign against the Turks and was killed outside of the city of Bucharest. The exact circumstances of his death are debated to this day.
Some say he was killed by disloyal Wallahians just at the brink of winning the battle, others say he was defeated in battle and died honorably while surrounded by his Moldavian bodyguard. A third theory states he was accidentally struck down by one of his own men during a victory celebration.
It is known that the Turks decapitated Dracula and had his head sent to Constantinople where it was displayed for all to see and be assured that the Impaler was actually dead.
His body was taken to the island monastery Snagov located near Bucharest.
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