Vlad The Impaler - The Reckoning 1462 - 1476.

The Trap.

November 1462. Having given the Ottoman army a thoroughly miserable time Vlad Dracula now found himself in the cold and devoid of a throne. He and his loyal troops were stationed at Oratia Castle at Rucar, there Vlad waited for King Matthias to reach Brasov, once there talks were stilted.

Brasov

Vlad suggested that Matthias give him some troops and with his own they would have enough to remove Radu from the Wallachian throne, Matthias agreed and gave him troops under the command of Jan Jiskra. They marched to Oratia where Dracula's men were preparing for the attack on Radu, when Dracula's men moved off on their long march south the trap was sprung. It had been the plan all along, separate Vlad from his men and arrest him.

A Stone Relief of Jan Jiskra

His arrest by Jan Jiskra, a mercenary and former Hussite leader, had come as a shock, and being taken as a prisoner to Brasov was just humiliating.

The Papal States were incensed and other European countries, who were worried about the rise of the Ottoman empire, were at a loss as to why there had been no crusade. Most of these countries were feuding amongst themselves anyway, or were having disputes with their own citizens, hardly a united front by any means.

The reasons for his arrest were not forthcoming, three forged letters, known as the Rothel letters, had been presented as coming from Dracula. They were addressed to Sultan Mehmed II, Mahmud Pasha, and Stephen The Great, and promising to give Transylvania to the Ottomans if he was put back on the Wallachian throne instead of his brother Radu. But apart from this flimsy excuse there was nothing, even King Matthias's court historian Antonio Bonfini could not clarify this act.

Oratia Castle

Once behind the walls of Brasov the hated Impaler was handed over to a Hungarian bodyguard, King Matthias wanted his prize alive and well.

Incarceration. 

Dracula did not stay long at Brasov, the Hungarians took him to a fortress named Alba Lulia, then on to Cluj, Oradea, over the border into Hungary at Debrecen, and on to Buda just in time for Christmas. Once he was out of the sight of the Transylvanian Germans his confinement became far more comfortable, but at first he was incarcerated at Vac

Few official records exist for Vlad's time as a prisoner, and like much of Dracula's story there are several legends. According to the Russian Ambassador Fedor Kuritsyn he was initially held in the prison at Vac, north of Budapest. Here Dracula's odd behaviour was chronicled by Kuritsyn;

"It is said of him that even while in jail he could not cure himself of the evil habit of catching mice and having birds bought at the marketplace, so that he could punish them by impalement. He cut off the heads of some of the birds; others he stripped of their feathers and let loose."

By way of confirmation of this story the Bishop Of Erlau, Gabriele Rangoni wrote several years later;

"Unable to forget his wickedness, he caught mice and, cutting them into pieces, stuck them on small pieces of wood, just as he had stuck men on stakes."

Visegrad in the 15th Century

His imprisonment doesn't seem to have lasted very long as he was soon in Visegrad, this is where King Matthias Corvinus had his sprawling summer palace, and it was here that Vlad Dracula was kept on house arrest for the rest of his confinement.

King Matthias would entertain many guests and greet many envoys at Visegrad, dignitaries from the crowned heads of Europe and Asia would visit and be greeted by Matthias and Vlad. Delegates from the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II were especially nervous when in the presence of Kaziklu Bey, the Impaler Lord. Vlad had become a living legend, King Matthias's demon that he could let loose at any time of his choosing.

In 1463 King Matthias was finally crowned with the crown of St. Stephen of Hungary, he had bought it from Frederick III for 80,000 gold crowns, how much of this was Papal money given for an anti Ottoman crusade is not specified. The festivities were magnificent, sat in the most prominent seats reserved for the nobility was Vlad Dracula, soon after in 1464 the crusading Pope Pius II died, he was a bitterly disappointed man as none of the Christian states had taken up the mantle, except one, and he was a prisoner. The incoming Pope Paul II openly chastised Matthias Corvinus for using the money given for a crusade to buy a hat.

Meanwhile in Wallachia Viovode Radu was under pressure from the Moldavians, in 1465 they attacked the fortress of Chilia, back in 1462 they had been repulsed but this time Stephen The Great was triumphant.

This would cause great resentment from the Hungarian court, so much so that by 1467 the Moldavians and Hungarians were at war. In that December at the battle of Baia Stephen would again be victorious, although his army was smaller the losses on both side were heavy, it was by the skin of his teeth that King Matthias, although severely wounded, was able to escape, a Moldavian cavalry commander called Isaia failed to attack, for this he was executed. The rear guard commanded by Stephen Bathory killed many Moldavians and captured 14 of their battle flags, for this the Hungarians also claimed victory.

In 1468 Stephen The Great raided into Transylvania, and in 1469 a peace treaty was negotiated.

In 1470 hostilities broke out between Viovode Stephen and Viovode Radu, Radu was never known for his battlefield prowess, unlike his brother Vlad. Radu began by raiding into Moldavia with his Ottoman infused army, Stephen raided back, all quite low key until 1473 when Stephen launched a campaign to remove Radu.

At the battle of Vodnu, west of Bucharest Radu's army with Ottoman help was routed by the Moldavians, Radu fled to Bucharest, within days Bucharest fell and Radu ran again. With total victory at hand Stephen placed Basarab Laiota on the throne of Wallachia.

Release.

The Ambras Portrait, Painted at This Time In Pest.

Back in Hungary Vlad had been enjoying himself, being quite the celebrity he had had his portrait painted, he moved from Visegrad to Pest and lived the life of a prince. His relations with King Matthias improved dramatically when Vlad married Ilona Szilagyi, daughter of Michael Szilagyi, Matthias's cousin and Vlad's old ally against the Transylvanian Germans. It is suggested that Vlad also converted form Eastern Orthodox to Roman Catholicism, but this is not proven. 

One story about his life in Pest sees the old Vlad coming to the fore, according to Kuritsyn;

"A criminal had sought refuge in Dracula's courtyard. Officials of the King, chasing him, came into Dracula's courtyard in search of the escapee. But Dracula reacted to this intrusion into his private domain with sword in hand. 

He cut off the head of the chief officer who was holding the criminal and let the criminal go free. His men fled in terror and complained to a judge, informing him what had happened. This judge and his men went to the Hungarian King to lodge a complaint against Dracula. 

The King then sent a messenger to Dracula, who was told to ask the Wallachian 'Why have you committed such a crime?' 

King Matthias Corvinus

And Dracula replied, 'I did not commit any crime. It is the police official who committed suicide. Anyone will perish in this way, should he, like a thief, invade the house of a great ruler such as myself. If this man had come to me first and had explained the situation to me, and if the criminal had then been found in my own home, I myself would have delivered the criminal over to him and would have pardoned him.' 

When the King was told about this, he began to laugh and marvel at the candor of his new relative."

With Viovode Basarab Laiota on the Wallachian throne a problem had arisen, even though it was Stephen of Moldavia that had put him there Laiota's loyalty was very much with Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. King Matthias now recognised Vlad Dracula as the rightful Voivode of Wallachia, it was 1474 and the Ottoman army had it's sights once again on Europe.

Voivode.

In January 1475 news reached Vlad that his brother Radu was dead, that June Vlad was in Sibiu, Transylvania with his wife and children, maybe it was a little soon for safety sake as Vlad was back in Pest by mid September. Relations between Vlad and Brasov were still very bad, and Brasov's relations with Laiota's pro Ottoman Wallachia was very tense. 

The Ottoman army was pressing Stephen of Moldavia , but he had taken a leaf out of Vlad's book, the Ottomans found poisoned wells, burned crops, no population and constant hit and run raids.

Thinking they had brought the Moldavian army to battle they would get into battle array, the Moldavian army would just faded away in front of the Ottomans, tired and weary they would get back on the march only to be hit again and again from hidden Modavian positions.

Finally the Ottomans reached the village of Vaslui, it was not burnt, it had heaps of provisions, it was just across the river Barlad and ready for attacking.

The Ottomans made ready to cross the only bridge through a freezing fog, as they crossed the Moldavians open up with arrows and cannon, as the Ottoman cavalry were crossing the bridge collapsed, it is a tribute to the skill and bravery of the Ottoman army that they did get across, form up and attack the Moladvians.

The Battle of Vaslui

The Moldavian army withdrew further down the valley, either side the hills rose up, the valley was quite marshy and not suited to cavalry. More and more men crossed the river and battled down the valley. Stephen's trap was about to spring, as the Ottomans were busy in the valley his main force thundered down the flanking hills cutting the Ottoman van off completely. This broke the Ottomans who turned and fled, a general rout ensued, the Wallachians under the command of Basarab Laiota deserted their Ottoman comrades and went home. This defeat was huge, the Ottomans lost approximately 45,000 men.

The Ottomans were harried all the way to Wallachia, there Basarab Laiota's treachery knew no bounds as he ordered his men to attack the Ottoman stragglers, Laiota now threw in his lot with the Moldavians and Hungarians. 

Stephen of Moldavia immediately wrote to King Matthias asking for Vlad to replace Laiota as the latter had proved unreliable, Matthias agreed making Dracula a Lieutenant in the Black army. But matthias had other plans for the Impaler, he wanted to blunt the Ottoman incursions into Bosnia.

Voivode Basarab Laiota

By some miracle King Matthias managed to get Papal funding for his "crusade", at the head of a 5,000 strong army Vlad Dracula and his lieutenant Gregorevi headed for Srebrenica. 

During their monthly market Vlad's men entered the city dressed as Turks, the attack was swift and deadly, soon the city was in flames and the Ottoman garrison were all impaled, according to Gabriele Rangoni;

"He tore the limbs off the Turkish prisoners and placed their parts on stakes, displaying the private parts of his victims, so that when the Turks see this they will run away in fear."

In Wallachia Basarab Laiota was once again the Sultans man, adding 10,000 troops to the Ottoman 150,000, along with approximately 30,000 Tartars that began attacking Moldavia form the east. The Tartars were decimated, the Ottoman army captured the Danube basin and were brought to battle by the 20,000 strong Moldavians at Valea Alba, this very one sided affair ended with horrible casualties on both sides, but the Ottomans won the day, Stephen fled to Poland to build another army.

The Ottoman invasion of Moldavia soon faded out, Mehmed had had his revenge. Matthias had seen Laiota's treachery and now decided it was time he was gone, Vlad Dracula was now in ascendancy.

Stephen Bathory

November 1476. Assembled near Brasov, Transylvania, was an army of 25,000 men under the command of Stephen Bathory, Vlad's army of Hungarians, Transylvanians, Wallachians and Serbs were poised to attack. The Brasovians had forgiven Dracula for his wars and atrocities of 1458 - 1460 after being promised extensive trading rights and commercial concessions.

Laiota's army was of some 18,000 mainly Ottomans and a few boyars and their men, the confrontation occurred near the town of Rucar, Dracula was successful but the battle was costly with around 10,000 casualties on both sides.

At the same time Stephen and his revitalised Moldavians drove out the Ottomans from the north east of Wallachia, it didn't take long for Dracula's forces to drive out any resistance and by the 8th November he was back in his capital at Targoviste. Once Stephen arrived there a pledge to begin the great crusade against the Turks was made by Vlad Dracula, Stephen of Moldavia and Stephen Bathory.

Stephen The Great

The combined forces now swept down to Bucharest, all the boyars joined the victorious army, they entered Bucharest on the 16th November and Vlad was made Voivode on the 26th. All the crowned heads of Europe turned in his direction, it looked like the great crusade would happen.

At the beginning of December Basarab Laiota was back challenging the throne of Wallachia, with an army made up of mainly Ottomans including the famous Janissaries, in a small engagement north east of Bucharest, Vlad Dracula was killed.

According to legend the engagement was near the Witches Pond in the Boldu Creteasca forest, although the events are clouded now by both history and myth. Whether by ambush, accident, or treachery who knows, the headless and mangled corpse of the Viovode was found, it is said, by monks from Snagov, who took his body to be interred in that famous monastery to which he had been a generous patron.

Legend has it that his head was taken to Constantinople to prove the dreaded Impaler was really dead, once there it was placed on a spike for all to see. There is no evidence for this or anything else in the death of Dracula, in Romania to this day Vlad Dracula is a national hero.

Snagov Monastery

The Author at Snagov Monastery