Not long after these harrowing events, in 1448, Vlad embarked on a campaign to regain his father's seat from the new ruler, Vladislav II. Vlad's older half-brother, Mircea, was killed alongside his father. In 1447, Vlad II was ousted as ruler of Wallachia by local noblemen ( boyars) and was killed in the swamps near Bălteni, halfway between Târgovişte and Bucharest in present-day Romania, according to John Akeroyd (" The Historical Dracula", History Ireland, Vol 17 No.2, 2009). While Vlad and Radu were in Ottoman hands, Vlad's father was fighting to keep his place as voivode of Wallachia, a fight he would eventually lose. But Vlad held enmity, and I think it was one of his motivating factors for fighting the Turks: to get even with them for having held him captive." Vlad the Prince
"Still, irked Vlad, whereas his brother sort of acquiesced and went over to the Turkish side. "They were treated reasonably well by the current standards of the time," Miller said. According to Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally, Vlad also became a skilled horseman and warrior. Under the Ottomans, Vlad and his younger brother were tutored in science, philosophy and the arts. "The sultan held Vlad and his brother as hostages to ensure that their father, Vlad II, behaved himself in the ongoing war between Turkey and Hungary," said Miller, a research historian and professor emeritus at Memorial University of Newfoundland in Canada. Others, such as James S Kessler (" Echoes of Empire," Lulu Publishing, 2016) argue that Vlad II "sent Vlad Junior and his brother Radu cel Frumos as “royal hostages” to the Ottoman court." The elder Vlad was released under the condition that he leave his sons behind. But the meeting was actually a trap: All three were arrested and held hostage. When Vlad II was called to a diplomatic meeting in 1442 with Ottoman Sultan Murad II, he brought his young sons Vlad III and Radu along. Situated between Christian Europe and the Muslim lands of the Ottoman Empire, Vlad II's (and later Vlad III's) home principality of Wallachia was frequently the scene of bloody battles as Ottoman forces pushed westward into Europe, and Christian forces repulsed the invaders. Though far from accepted by all historians, the thesis took hold of the public imagination, according to The New York Times.Īccording to Constantin Rezachevici, the Order of the Dragon was devoted to a singular task: the defeat of the Turkish, or Ottoman Empire. McNally in their book " In Search of Dracula” (The New York Graphic Society, 1972). The theory that Vlad III and Dracula were the same person was developed and popularized by historians Radu Florescu and Raymond T. Although it did not mention Vlad III, Stoker was struck by the word "Dracula." He wrote in his notes, "in Wallachian language means DEVIL." It is therefore likely that Stoker chose to name his character Dracula for the word's devilish associations. In modern Romanian, the word "drac" refers to the Devil, Curta said.Īccording to " Dracula: Sense and Nonsense" (Desert Island Books, 2020) by Elizabeth Miller, in 1890 Stoker read a book about Wallachia. His son, Vlad III, would later be known as the "son of Dracul" or, in old Romanian, Drăculea, hence Dracula, according to Historian Constantin Rezachevici (" From the Order of the Dragon to Dracula" Journal of Dracula Studies, Vol 1, 1999). The name came from the old Romanian word for dragon, "drac." This designation earned Vlad II a new surname: Dracul. In 1431, King Sigismund of Hungary, who would later become the Holy Roman Emperor, according to the British Museum, inducted the elder Vlad into a knightly order, the Order of the Dragon. It is an eerie place with secret tunnels and dungeons that is currently under restoration and open to the public. Tokat Castle is located in northern Turkey. In 2014, archaeologists found the likely location of the dungeon, according to Smithsonian Magazine. At about age 12, Vlad III and his brother were imprisoned in Turkey. It is possible for tourists to visit one castle where Vlad III certainly spent time. There is also Castelul Corvinilor, also known as Castle Corvin, where Vlad may have been imprisoned by Hungarian Governor John Hunyadi. It's also possible, he said, that Vlad the Impaler was born in Târgovişte, which was at that time the royal seat of the principality of Wallachia, where his father was a "voivode," or ruler. Vlad III's father, Vlad II, did own a residence in Sighişoara, Transylvania, but it is not certain that Vlad III was born there, according to Curta. Related: Bram Stoker's Vampire victim shows 'textbook' Leukemia symptoms