There is no other ruler in the history of medieval Europe, whose life would be overgrown with so many myths as Vlad III, the ruler of the tiny and unknown Wallachia. However, his peculiar methods of control and reprisals against the rebellious earned him bad reputation even among his contemporaries, accustomed to everything. Much was embellished, much was invented, but Vlad Kolosazhatel, whose biography is very bizarre, remained in the public mind an ominous vampire count.
Nickname confusion
The future ruler of Wallachia was supposedly born in 1430, the exact date is in question. Then he still bore the short name Vlad III. The Impaler is the nickname that he was subsequently awarded. In Romanian it means “stake”, and he was awarded by him for his wonderful habit of executing criminals in this way.
At that time, his father, Vlad II, lived in Tighisoara, in Transylvania. His mother was the Moldavian princess Vasilika.
The nickname "Dracula", by which he will become known, the future Tepes inherited from his father. Vlad II was nicknamed “Dracula” because he entered the Order of the Dragon, founded by the Hungarian monarch Sigismund. Already becoming the sovereign, he began to actively use the image of the mythical beast on coins, heraldic shields, emblems. After that, he received the nickname of Dracula.
Childhood
Up to seven years, the future Vlad Kolosazhatel, whose family subsequently increased after the birth of another son, Radu, lived with his father, mother and brothers in Tighisoara, in Transylvania. Then Vlad II received the vacated throne of the sovereign and moved to Wallachia.
The political situation in the region in those years was very difficult. Little Wallachia in those years balanced between Catholic Hungary and Muslim Turkey. Vlad II leaned towards Turkey, for which he was imprisoned by the Hungarian ruler Janos Hunyadi.
After a series of military clashes, Vlad II returned to the Wallachian throne with the consent of the Turks, however, to guarantee his loyalty, he was forced to send his two sons to the court of the Sultan - Vlad and Red.
The Formation of Tepes
So, at the age of 14, Vlad and his brother went to the headquarters of the Turkish Sultan, where he spent several years. According to the chroniclers of those years, he changed a lot during his time away from his homeland. Extreme cruelty, emotional instability - all this is the result of a forced vacation in the palace of the Sultans, where, moreover, he could watch the numerous executions of criminals in a sophisticated way. Maybe it was there that the formation of such a person as Vlad the Spinner happened. Who this is is now known to almost everyone.
While the son was in hostage status, the father was on the hot throne of Lord Wallachia. Dracula's father, Vlad II, entered into military alliances with the Hungarians, then departed from them.
This ended with the fact that Janos Hunyadi organized the overthrow of the obstinate vassal in 1446. Vlad II's head was cut off, and Dracula's elder brother Mircea was buried alive.
First rise to power
Vlad Kolosazhatel, having reached adulthood, decided to avenge the death of loved ones. With the support of Turkish troops, he entered Wallachia and removed the Hungarian protege Vladislav.
An investigation was launched immediately into the causes of the coup, as a result of which his father was executed. In a short time he brought to justice seven boyars.
However, the thirst for revenge at that time remained unsatisfied. The Hungarian monarch Janos Hunyadi declared Dracula the illegal ruler of Wallachia and in 1448 again organized the overthrow of the prince that he did not like.
Wandering around Eastern Europe
The disgraced ruler was forced to leave Wallachia. Vlad Kolosazhatel many poked around the yards of various small princes. He spent several years in Moldova. There he established friendly relations with the governor of the Moldovan throne, Stefan. Subsequently, he will help him ascend the throne.
Vlad Dracula Kolosazhatel continued to get very nervous on the Hungarian monarch, even being in the status of an exile and an engraver in the insignificant provinces. Janos Hunyadi sent out angry letters demanding that he have no business with Dracula to all his vassals.
The situation was defused by another war with Turkey. In 1456, Western Europe began to assemble a crusade against the Ottomans in order to recapture Constantinople from them. At this time, the Hungarian king was not up to petty squabbles with former subjects, and Vlad Kolosazhatel calmly arrived in Transylvania.
Just at that time, Franciscan monks recruited volunteers to march on Constantinople among the local population. For ideological reasons, they blocked the path to their army for adherents of the Orthodox faith. Vlad Tepes, being a believer in the Romanian Orthodox Church, took advantage of this circumstance and invited the outcast soldiers to join his squad and go to Wallachia.
Board Manager
In 1456, Vlad Dracula once again captures the Wallachian throne and remains to rule here for six years. Indomitable in his thirst for revenge, he resumes the investigation into the circumstances of the death of his father and older brother.
Numerous revealed facts of betrayal of local boyars became the reasons for their terrible execution.
Vlad Dracula The Kolosazhatel organized a big reception in his palace, where he invited all the doomed nobles. Unsuspecting boyars-traitors with a calm soul appeared at the feast, where the mass extermination of the unwanted took place.
It was during the six-year reign in Wallachia that the demonic image of Vlad the Colossal was formed in many ways. During his stay in Turkey, he became addicted to the sophisticated method of execution by imposing a stake and actively used it against enemies.
Having become the ruler of Wallachia, Dracula took a vassal oath of allegiance to the Hungarian monarch, but this did not prevent him from undertaking numerous raids on Transylvania.
During one of these campaigns, an epic battle took place with the ruler Brasov Dan. Having defeated his army, Vlad, without the slightest tenderness, organized the mass executions of captured soldiers. And at the same time with them, he put on a stake and all the women who accompanied the army. Contemporaries colorfully described these events, adding that the soldiers of Tepes tied infants to their mothers during the execution.
However, the Middle Ages is a controversial time. Along with stories of Dracula's sophisticated cruelty, evidence of his wise rule on his land remained. Numerous parables about Dracula's Solomon decisions in resolving disputes and the absence of theft in Wallachia were recorded in the Old Russian literary monument - Tales of the Dracula Governor, composed by the clerk of the Russian Embassy in Hungary Fedor Kuritsyn.
War with turkey
Little Wallachia, under different rulers, was inclined either to Turkey or to Hungary. In the end, Vlad Tepes Kolosazhatel made his final choice and began fighting against the Ottomans. This was preceded by an internal struggle with the boyars and the strengthening of their absolute power. Vlad armed the peasants, free people and gathered a fairly large army.
In 1461, Dracula declared his refusal to pay tribute to the Sultan and cut out the entire Turkish administration on the banks of the Danube.
In response, Mehmed II introduced a huge 100 thousandth army into the possession of Tepes. I must say that the cruel ruler was able to fight well. The famous night attack, undertaken by him in June 1462, remains in history. With a small army of just 15, 000, he dealt a crushing blow to the 100, 000th armada of Turks and forced them to retreat. During the fighting, Vlad acted extremely harshly and mercilessly. He sent all the prisoners to a stake, after which the fighting spirit of the proud Ottomans began to drop significantly.
Mehmed II was forced to retreat and withdrew troops from Wallachia. However, the military victory turned into a political defeat of Vlad. Matthias Corwin, king of Hungary, decided to isolate an overly powerful specific ruler and imprisoned Tepes in prison on a far-fetched charge of betrayal.
The last years of Dracula
Vlad spent twelve years in prison, but this did not break his indomitable spirit. In 1475, he went out of prison, as if nothing had happened, went to war as part of the army of the Hungarian king. As one of the military commanders, he took part in the hostilities in Bosnia against the Turks, helped his longtime friend Stefan the Great defend Moldova.
It was with the help of the latter that Vlad made another return to Wallachia, where he again took the throne for himself, having replaced the Turkish protege Loyota Basaraba.
However, after the departure of the Moldovan allies, he had too few faithful people left. Not even a year had passed before Loyota organized the murder of the indomitable ruler.
