Vlad the Impaler: A Life From Beginning to End (Medieval History) by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2016-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Vlad’s imprisonment, third reign, and death

“Death must be so beautiful. To lie in the soft brown earth with the grasses waving above one’s head and listen to silence. To have no yesterday and no tomorrow. To forget time, to forgive life, to be at peace.”

—Oscar Wilde

After being captured by his former ally Matthias Corvinus, Vlad the Impaler Lord was initially imprisoned at the Oratea Fortress, which is located in what is today Podu Dâmboviței village. He later served time in Visegrád, near Buda. Evidence suggests he was imprisoned from 1462 to 1466, but the exact length of his term is debated. During his time in prison, he gradually regained favor with Matthias Corvinus. While imprisoned, he was able to meet Ilona Szilágyi, a cousin of King Matthias, and after Vlad converted to Catholicism, the two were allowed to marry. His release from prison occurred sometime around the time of his marriage, and scholars who doubt a prisoner would have been allowed to marry into the royal family suggest he was likely released before the marriage. The couple was given a house at Pest and would eventually have two sons, Vlad Tepelus and Mircea. Vlad had another son from his first marriage, Mihnea the Bad. Mihnea would rule Wallachia from 1508-1509, but would be assassinated. Vlad Tepelus, also known as Vlad IV Dracula, would be an unsuccessful claimant to the Wallachian throne, and his younger brother, Mircea would fall ill and die in his mother’s presence in 1482. Vlad also had an illegitimate son during this time, whom he named Radu. Three of his sons would have children of their own, at least one of whom, Alexandru II, would rule Wallachia (1574-1577). By all accounts, Alexandru, like Vlad, was also an extremely cruel ruler.

Despite the turn his life had taken, Vlad Dracula still had aspirations to regain the throne of Wallachia. He began preparations to do so with Stephen V Báthory, who had been a military commander, and was, at the time of his collaboration with Vlad, a Hungarian judge royal. He would later serve as voivode of Transylvania. The two planned to assemble a mixture of Transylvanian, Hungarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian forces to take the throne from Prince Basarab the Elder. Basarab had replaced Radu the Handsome, Vlad’s younger brother, in 1473, although Radu twice returned to the throne after that. Radu, however, died suddenly in 1475, and Basarab was the ruler at the time Vlad III Dracula would seek to regain the throne. When Vlad’s army arrived, Prince Basarab’s army fled. Stephen Báthory placed Vlad on the throne and returned to Transylvania. This left Vlad with little support, however, and when he was confronted a short time later by a large Turkish army, he had fewer than 4,000 men with which to try to defend the throne. Needless to say, he was defeated, and this third reign, which he had declared on November 26, 1476, lasted only two months at best.

The circumstances that surround the death of Vlad III Dracula are unclear.

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