#Vlad iii the impaler series#

The Varna Crusade of 1443-1444 was just one example of this new Balkan crusade fervor. Most of Europe was lukewarm on the idea however France and England were still at war, whilst England was beginning to suffer from their own dynastic civil war, the Wars of the Roses, the German and Italian states either refused or disagreed on the terms of service. *Following the fall of Constantinople in May of 1453, the Balkan kingdoms sought to begin a new crusade against the Ottoman Empire and Mehmed II. Scant information exists on the slujiВ but one can surmise that they were prudently armed and fanatic warriors who utilized the composite bow from horseback. Dracula also formed a bodyguard, the sluji, comprised of paid mercenaries and the surviving boyarsВ who could be trusted. Warriors who served well were promoted to viteji, forming a cohesive, upper-echelon similar to an officer corps. Hastily, Prince Vlad consolidated his power base, executing many of the boyars who had wronged his family and elevating new nobility from the peasantry. Hunyandi perished in the same year from plague, removing another obstacle to Dracula's power in the region. In 1456, Prince Vlad III returned to Wallachia and overthrew and killed Vladislav II, regaining his familial crown. Making peace with his father's old enemy, Hunyandi, the elder voivode nominated Dracula with defending the Transylvania frontier in c.1455-1456. When Vladislav II returned, alive with his army, Dracula was forced to safe haven in Moldavia and later Hungary. In October of 1448, Hunyadi and Prince Vladislav II were defeated by the Ottomans at the Second Battle of Kosovo, allowing Prince Dracula an opportunity to enter the country and claim the crown with Ottoman support. Prince Vlad II's two surviving sons, Vlad III (Dracula) and Radu, were already in exile beginning around 1442, living as royal hostages at the Ottoman court while their father's successor, Vladislav II, ruled Wallachia. The boyarsВ also killed Prince Mircea during this same revolt, vengefully burying him alive after blinding him, a common extra-judical killing method of the period. This must have been draining for the kingdom's coffers as well, since Wallachia paid tribute to both Hungary and the Ottomans during DraculaвЂ™s lifetime, and had to appease both without angering the other.ДЇortune's wheel was ever spinning through to the year 1447, when Hunyandi repaid Dracul's indemnity,В aiding the Wallachian boyars who overthrew and killed Dracul in support of Prince Vladislav II of the House of DДѓneЕџti. The kingdom of Wallachia had been propped up as a vassal state caught between the Christian kingdoms to the north and Ottoman sultanate to the south, a dangerous position which the House of DrДѓculeИ™ti exploited to both their advantage and eventual peril. In the Balkan kingdoms, internal politics were often dictated by ancient feuds and personal indemnities. Diplomacy was a knife's edge issue between many of these Balkan kingdoms and the Ottoman Empire during this period. Hunyandi also nursed a personal rivalry with Dracula's father, Prince Vlad Dracul II. The Hungarians and Transylvanians, including Hunyandi had feuded with the House of DrДѓculeИ™ti before the Battle of Varna in 1444.

#Vlad iii the impaler series#

Hunyandi had fought and won a series of battles against the Turks in 1443-1444, known as the Long Campaign, briefly liberating portions of the Balkans from direct Ottoman control. As regent of Hungary and voivode of Transylvania, the Wallachian-born knight was of great importance militarily and politically. Another Wallachian, Janos Hunyadi (d.1456), had a significant influence on the events which preceded Dracula's conflict with Sultan Mehmed II. Although these nobles and princes were numerous, Dracula remains the most revered and reviled, but he was just one of the many warlords who ruled over the region, infighting with rival claimants and crusading against the Turks on Europe's frontier. Modern historical accounts correctly place Prince Vlad III in the context of the ruthless world of Slavic-Balkan crusader princes.