Most of the you of visiting this site are probably aware of the fact that when Bram Stoker
penned his immortal classic, _Dracula_, he based his vampire villain on an actual
historical figure. Stoker's model was Vlad III Dracula (call Tepes, pronounced tse-pesh);
a fifteenth century voivode or prince of Wallachia of the princely House of Basarab.
Wallachia is a province of Romania bordered to the north by Transylvania and Moldavia, 
to the east by the Black Sea and to the south by Bulgaria. Wallachia first emerged 
as a political entity during the late thirteenth century from the weltering confusion 
left behind in the Balkans as the East Roman Empire slowly crumbled. The first prince of 
Wallachia was Basarab the Great (1310-1352), ancestor of Dracula. Despite the splintering 
of the family into two rival, clans some member of the House of Basarab continued 
to govern Wallachia from that time until well after the Ottomans reduced the principality 
to the status of a client state. Dracula was the last prince of Wallachia to retain any 
real measure of independence. 
    
  In order to understand the life of Vlad Dracula it is first necessary to understand
something about the nature of Wallachian society and politics. The throne of Wallachia
was hereditary but not by the law of primogeniture; the boyars or great nobles had the right
to elect the voivode from among the various eligible members of the royal family. As with
most elective monarchies during the Middle Ages the power of the central government
tended to be dissipated among the nobility as various members of the ruling family vied for
the throne. Wallachian politics also tended to be very bloody. Assassination was a
common means of eliminating rivals and many of the voivodes ended their lives violently
and prematurely. By the late fifteenth century the House of Basarab had split into two rival
clans; the descendants of Prince Dan and those of Prince Mircea the Old (Dracula's
grandfather). These two branches of the royal house were bitter rivals. Both Dracula and
his father, Vlad II Dracul, murdered rivals from the Danesti upon reaching the throne. 
The second ascendant fact of fifteenth century Wallachian political life was the influence
of powerful neighbors. In 1453 Constantinople and the last vestiges of the Byzantine or
East Roman Empire, which had blocked the Islam's access to Europe for nearly one
thousand years, succumbed to the armed might of the Ottoman Turks under Sultan
Mohammed the Conqueror. Long before the fall of the Imperial City the Ottomans had
penetrated deep into the Balkans. Dracula's grandfather, Mircea the Old, was forced to
pay tribute to the sultan early in the fifteenth century. The Hungarian Kingdom to the north
and west of Wallachia reached the zenith of its power during the fifteenth century and
assumed Constantinople's ancient mantle as defender of Christendom. Throughout the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the princes of Wallachia attempted to maintain a
precarious independence by constantly shifting allegiances between these powerful
neighbors.
 
  Dracula ruled as Prince of Wallachia on three separate occasions. He first claimed the
throne with Turkish support in 1448. On this occasion he ruled for only two months
(November-October) before being driven out by a Danesti claimant supported by Hungary.
Dracula dwelt in exile for several years before returning to Wallachia to kill the Danesti
prince, Vladislav II, and reclaim the Wallachian throne with Hungarian support. Dracula's
second regnal period stretched from 1456 to 1462. It was during this time that Dracula
carried out his most famous military exploits against the Turks and also committed his
most gruesome atrocities. 
            
  In 1462 Dracula fled to Transylvania to seek the aid of the King of Hungary when a
Turkish army overwhelmed Wallachia. Instead of receiving the assistance he expected
Dracula was imprisoned by the Hungarian king. He remained a prisoner of Matthias
Corvinus of Hungary for several years. For most of the period of Dracula's incarceration
his brother, Radu the Handsome, ruled Wallachia as a puppet of the Ottoman sultan. When
Radu died (ca. 1474-1475) the sultan appointed Basarab the Old, a member of the
Danesti clan, as prince. 
              
  Eventually, Dracula regained the favor and support of the Hungarian king. In 1476 he
once again invaded Wallachia. His small force consisted of a few loyal Wallachians, a
contingent of Moldavians sent by his cousin Prince Stephen the Great of Moldavia, and a
contingent of Transylvanians under their prince, Stephen Bathory. The allies succeeded in
driving Basarab out of the country and placing Dracula on the throne (November 1476).
However, after Dracula was once again in control, Stephen Bathory returned to
Transylvania taking most of Dracula's army with him. The Turks soon counterattacked with
overwhelming force. Dracula was killed fighting the Turks near Bucharest in December of
1476. His head was sent to Constantinople where the Sultan had it displayed on a stake to
prove that the terrible Impaler was really dead.

The Name