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| Brasov, the Black Church. |
Tensions had been building ever since Vlad Dracula had ascended the Wallachian throne in 1456, this was mainly over economic issues centered around customs revenue, and there were plenty other claimants to the throne who would be more receptive to Transylvanian demands.
In response Dracula's first attack came in the form of tariffs, taking all merchant protection away from the Transylvanian Saxons, for example, the Saxons now received extra attention at the border crossings and when entering Wallachian cities, where they had to empty their carts to customs officers. They had to sell at almost wholesale prices to Wallachian buyers making any profit almost nonexistent, and he gave favourable tariffs to Wallachian and Italian merchants making Transylvanian good prohibitively expensive.
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| The old border between Wallachia and Transylvania at Bran |
The Saxon merchants of Transylvania began to dodge Wallachian customs officials on a regular basis, they had also been conspiring to replace Dracula with his half brother, Vlad The Monk, raising funds and military forces from Boyars fleeing Dracula's court.
To add insult to injury, Dracula's cousin and rival Dan III of the Danesti clan had been receiving material support and shelter from the city Burghers of Brasov, Dan's brother Basarab Laiota was also waiting in the wings, and in 1457 the Saxons of Bistritz revolted against Michael Szilagyi* for imposing high customs revenues. Szilagyi then called upon Vlad Dracula for help, this came in swift and deadly fashion, the defences of Bistritz were quickly breached and the town was burned and looted. Those held responsible for the revolt fled to Brasov and Sibiu.
Now that Dracula was flexing his muscles in Transylvania, the German cities started to band together, when the Governor of Transylvania, Count Oswald Rozgonyi, threw his lot in with the Germans, war looked inevitable.
At this time trade with the Ottomans and the Balkan states was still carrying on favourably, Vlad Dracula still needed peace on his southern border so that he could give full attention to the north, and to consolidating his grip on power.
1458.
Dracula singled out the city of Brasov for all this turmoil, there were rumours emanating from Brasov that Dracula was in the pocket of Mehemmed II, something Dracula strenuously denied. In fact, Dracula had stopped paying the annual tribute to the Ottoman Sultan, this would cause many problems in coming years.
In the spring of 1458 Dracula attacked with a force of cavalry, his target was Brasov. Invading through the Turnu Rosu Pass south of Sibiu, the Wallachians laid waste to Talmaciu and slaughtered the population. Several more villages were attacked on the way over the mountains, when they reached the town of Bod it was raised to the ground, the population were mostly killed there, but many were taken back to Targoviste to be impaled.
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| The Palace and Chindia Tower, Targoviste |
Later that year Michael Sizlagyi, on Dracula's behalf, laid siege to Subiu, but the attack failed. However, with Sizlagyi sitting at Sighisoara with a sizable amount of men, and Dracula slaughtering his way around the countryside, a peace treaty was finally negotiated in the November.
This treaty was never going to work, among others the main demands were that Dan III was to be handed over to the tender mercies of Vlad Dracula and 10,000 florins were to be payed to Michael Sizlagyi, for this Brasov would regain full mercantile rights and privileges.
Unfortunately Sizlagyi was soon to be imprisoned by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, with him gone the Burghers of Brasov reneged on the treaty, and the horror continued.
It is interesting at this point to look back on the Merchant's Tale, said to be a cautionary story about theft, but it also could be a story directed at the merchants of Brasov, a morality tale with a bitter twist.
The story goes that a merchant arrives at Targoviste and asks where he can store his cart overnight, as all of his wares are onboard and also all of his money. Vlad tells him his cart will be safe in the street outside, no one would touch it.
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| Outside the Palace Walls, Targoviste. |
The next morning the merchant checks his cart and 160 ducats are missing, he tells Vlad of the theft and Vlad in customary fashion threatens the city with destruction if the thief is not found.
In the meantime Vlad hands over the stolen amount from his own pocket, the merchant thanks him and leaves. Reaching his cart he counts the money, he is one ducat over, he counts it again, same result.
The merchant reenters the palace and explains to Vlad that he has given him one too many, Vlad thanks him for his honesty, and confesses that he knew that to be the case. He goes on to inform the merchant that if he had kept the coin he would be guilty of theft himself and would be impaled next to the original thief.
The moral of this story can be simply 'do not steal', or in light of the situation with the Transylvanian merchants, a thief can rob a merchant, but a merchant dare not rob a Prince.
1459.
Early in the year Dracula attacked, heading north from Targoviste his army laid waste the Prahova district, burning crops and villages, killing and rounding up the populace. His army soon reached into the suburbs of Brasov, Dan III was already gone, with all of his loyal Boyars, ready to fight another day.
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| A View of Brasov and the City Walls From Tampa Hill |
Outside the city walls the chapel of St. Jacob on Tampa Hill (sometimes Timpa Hill or Quimpa Hill) was utterly destroyed, he also had the church of St. Bartholomew burned and looted, unlike St. Jacobs St. Bartholomews still exists. He even attempted a raid into Brasov to burn the famous Black Church, but this effort failed.
On Tampa Hill Dracula was to perform a horrific act that would see his name become infamous, the mass impalement of the people he had captured on his way to Brasov.
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| Tampa Hill |
Michael Beheim, a wandering German meistersinger elaborated even further on the atrocities Dracula performed on Tampa Hill, in his epic song The Story Of A Violent Madman Called Voivode Dracula Of Wallachia, first performed in 1463, he states;
"It was his pleasure and gave him courage
To see human blood flow
And it was his custom
To wash his hands in it
As it was brought to his table
While he was taking his meal."
According to the collection of horror stories published anonymously in 1488, the Dracole Waida, it is said;
"As the day came in, in early morning, he had women and men, young and old, impaled near the chapel and around the hill, and he sat amidst them, and ate his morning meal with joy."
Also, "he sent one of his captains to burn a village named Seiding (Codlea). But this captain was not able to burn it on account of resistance from the villagers. Then he came back to Dracula and said 'I wasn't able to carry out what you ordered me to do.' He immediately had the captain impaled."
1460.
The three pretenders to the Wallachian throne were still very much at large, these were Dracula's half brother Vlad The Monk, who was located at Amlas, the Danesti claimants Dan III, the champion of Brasov, and his brother Basarab Laiota, who resided at Sighisoara.
Of these men only Dan III was in any position to challenge Vlad Dracula, his opportunity came in April, with his followers he crossed the border into Wallachia from the Bran Pass and moved towards Rucar in order to bring Dracula to battle.
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| On the approach to Rucar |
The battle was short, brutal and entirely in Dracula's favour. Dan and many of his followers were captured, his followers were impaled, Dan was forced to dig his own grave and was then beheaded by Dracula himself. In revenge for this Dracula once again attacked Brasov, some sources say he massacred up to 30,000 people.
After this catastrophe the the league of German cities in Transylvania appealed to King Matthias of Hungary to negotiate a peace agreement with Dracula, this worked, the Germans were granted pre 1456 terms and conditions on trade, the northern borders were now safe, it was now the turn of the Ottomans, 1461 would bring fear and horror to Wallachia's southern border.
Postscript.
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| Basarab Laiota |
Of the other claimants Basarab Laiota would ascend to the throne of Wallachia in the 1470's while Dracula was imprisoned by King Matthias Corvinus, he vied for the throne with the other Dracula brother Radu The Handsome throughout that decade.
In November 1476 he would be forced to flee to the Ottoman Sultan as Vlad Dracula had been freed and came back for his throne, however, Dracula was killed in December 1476 and Laiota retook the throne dying in 1480.
Vlad The Monk came to the throne as Vlad IV The Monk in 1481, and ruled on and off until 1495.
*Michael Szilagyi was married to Margit Bathory and had a daughter Llona who would become the second wife of Vlad Dracula. Szilagyi's sister Erzsebet was married to the Hungarian hero Janos Hunyadi who had died of plague in 1456.
Information sourced from,
1. Dracula's Wars by James Waterson
2. Dracula; Prince Of Many Faces by Radu R. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally
3. Dracole Waida - Macabre Observer Blog Dracole Waida
4. Wikipedia.
