Dracula was born in 1431 in the Transylvanian city of Sighisoara. At that time Dracula's
father, Vlad II Dracul, was living in exile in Transylvania. Vlad Dracul was in Transylvania
attempting to gather support for his planned effort to seize the Wallachian throne from the
Danesti prince, Alexandru I. The house where Dracula was born is still standing. In 1431 it
was located in a prosperous neighborhood surrounded by the homes of Saxon and
Magyar merchants and the townhouses of the nobility. 
               
   Little is known about the early years of Dracula's life. It is known that he had an elder
brother, Mircea, and a younger brother named Radu. His early education was left in the
hands of his mother, a Transylvanian noblewoman, and her family. His real education
began in 1436 after his father succeeded in claiming the Wallachian throne and killing his
Danesti rival. His training was typical of that common to the sons of the nobility throughout
Europe. His first tutor in his apprenticeship to knighthood was an elderly boyar who had
fought under the banner of Enguerrand de Courcy at the Battle of Nicolopolis against the
Turks. Dracula learned all the skills of war and peace that were deemed necessary for a
Christian knight. 
        
   The political situation in Wallachia remained unstable after Vlad Dracul seized the
throne in 1436. The power of the Turks was growing rapidly as one by one the small states
of the Balkans surrendered to the Ottoman onslaught. At the same time the power of
Hungary was reaching its zenith and would peak during the time of John Hunyadi, the
White Knight of Hungary, and his son King Matthias Corvinus. Any prince of Wallachia had
to balance his policies precariously between these two powerful neighbors. The prince of
Walla chia was officially a vassal of the King of Hungary. In addition, Vlad Dracul was a
member of the Order of the Dragon and sworn to fight the infidel. At the same time the
power of the Ottomans seemed unstoppable. Even in the time of Vlad's father, Mircea the
Old, Wallachia had been forced to pay tribute to the Sultan. Vlad was forced to renew that
tribute and from 1436-1442 attempted to walk a middle course between his powerful
neighbors. 
  
   In 1442 Vlad attempted to remain neutral when the Turks invaded Transylvania. The
Turks were defeated and the vengeful Hungarians under John Hunyadi forced Dracul and
his family to flee Wallachia. Hunyadi placed a Danesti , Basarab II, on the Wallachian
throne. In 1443 Vlad II regained the Wallachian throne with Turkish support, on the
condition that he sign an new treaty with the sultan that included not only the customary
annual tribute but the promise to yearly send contingents of Wallachian boys to join the
sultan's Janissaries. In 1444, to further assure the sultan of his good faith, Vlad sent his
two younger sons to Adrianople as hostages. Dracula remained a hostage in Adrianople
until 1448. 
            
   In 1444 the King of Hungary, Ladislas Posthumous, broke the peace and launched the
Varna campaign under the command of John Hunyadi in an effort to drive the Turks out of
Europe. Hunyadi demanded that Vlad II fulfill his oath as a member of the Order of the
Dragon and a vassal of Hungary and join the crusade against the Turk. The Pope
absolved Dracul of his Turkish oath but the wily politician still attempted to steer a middle
course. Rather than join the Christian forces himself he sent his oldest son, Mircea.
Perhaps he hoped the sultan would spare his younger sons if he himself did not join the
crusade. 
    
   The results of the Varna Crusade are well known. The Christian army was utterly
destroyed in the Battle of Varna. John Hunyadi managed to escape the battle under
conditions that add little glory to the White Knight's reputation. Many, apparently including
Mircea and his father, blamed Hunyadi for the debacle. From this moment forth John
Hunyadi was bitterly hostile toward Vlad Dracul and his eldest son. In 1447 Vlad Dracul
was assassinated along with his son Mircea. Mircea was apparently buried alive by the
boyars and merchants of Tirgoviste. Hunyadi placed his own candidate, a member of the
Danesti clan, on the throne of Wallachia. 
     
   On receiving the news of Vlad Dracul's death the Turks released Dracula and supported
him as their own candidate for the Wallachian throne. In 1448 Dracula managed to briefly
seize the Wallachian throne with Turkish support. Within two months Hunyadi forced
Dracula to surrender the throne and flee to his cousin, the Prince of Moldavia, while
Hunyadi once again placed Vladislav II on the Wallachian throne. 
   
   Dracula remained in exile in Moldavia for three years, until Prince Bogdan of Moldavia
was assassinated in 1451. The resulting turmoil in Moldavia forced Dracula to flee to
Transylvania and seek the protection of his family enemy, Hunyadi. The timing was
propitious; Hunaydi's puppet on the Wallachian throne, Vladislav II, had instituted a
pro-Turkish policy and Hunyadi needed a more reliable man in Wallachia. Consequently,
Hunyadi accepted the allegiance of his old enemy's son and put him forward as the
Hungarian candidate for the throne of Wallachia. Dracula became Hunyadi's vassal and
received his father's old Transylvanian duchies of Faragas and Almas. Dracula remained
in Transylvania, under Hunyadi's protection, until 1456 waiting for an opportunity to retake
Wallachia from his rival. 
       
   In 1453 the Christian world was shocked by the final fall of Constantinople to the
Ottomans. The East Roman Empire which had existed since the time of Constantine the
Great and which for a thousand years had shielded the rest of Christendom from Islam
was no more. Hunyadi immediately began planning another campaign against the Turks.
In 1456 Hunyadi invaded Turkish Serbia while Dracula simultaneously invaded Wallachia.
In the Battle of Belgrade Hunyadi was killed and his army defeated. Meanwhile, Dracula
succeeded in killing Vladislav II and taking the Wallachian throne but Hunaydi's defeat
made his long term tenure questionable. For a time at least, Dracula was forced to attempt
to placate the Turks while he solidified his own position. 
    
   Dracula's main reign stretched from 1456 to 1462. His capital was the city of Tirgoviste
while his castle was raised some distance away in the mountains near the Arges River.
   Most of the atrocities associated with Dracula's name took place in these years. It was
also during this time that he launched his own campaign against the Turks. This campaign
was relatively successful at first. His skill as a warrior and his well-known cruelty made him
a much feared enemy. However, he received little support from his titular overlord,
Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary (the son of John Hunyadi) and Wallachia's resources
were too limited to achieve any lasting success against the conqueror of Constantinople. 
     
   The Turks finally succeeded in forcing Dracula to flee to Transylvania in 1462.
Reportedly, his first wife committed suicide by leaping from the towers of Dracula's castle
into the waters of the Arges River rather than surrender to the Turks. Dracula escaped
across the mountains into Transylvania and appealed to Matthias Corvinus for aid. Instead
the King had Dracula arrested and imprisoned in a royal tower near Buda. Dracula
remained a prisoner for twelve years. 
         
   Apparently his imprisonment was none too onerous. He was able to gradually win his
way back into the graces of Hungary's monarch; so much so that he was able to meet and
marry a member of the royal family (some of the sources claim Dracula's second wife was
actually the sister of Matthias Corvinus). The openly pro-Turkish policy of Dracula's brother,
Radu the Handsome, who was prince of Wallachia during most of Dracula's captivity
probably was a factor in Dracula's rehabilitation. During his captivity Dracula also
renounced the Orthodox faith and adopted Catholicism. It is interesting to note that the
Russian narrative, normally very favorable to Dracula, indicates that even in captivity he
could not give up his favorite past-time; he often captured birds and mice which he
proceeded to torture and mutilate -- some were beheaded or tarred-and-feathered and
released, most were impaled on tiny spears. 
          
  The exact length of Dracula's period of captivity is open to some debate. The Russian
pamphlets indicate that he was a prisoner from 1462 until 1474. However, during that
period Dracula managed to marry a member of the Hungarian royal family and have two
sons who were about ten years old when he reconquered Wallachia in 1476. McNally and
Florescu place Dracula's actual period of confinement at about four years from 1462 until
1466. It is unlikely that a prisoner would be allowed to marry into the royal family.
Diplomatic correspondence from Buda during the period in question also seems to
support the claim that Dracula's actual period of confinement was relatively short. 
           
  Apparently in years between his release and 1474 when he began preparations for the
reconquest of Wallachia Dracula resided with his new wife in a house in the Hungarian
capital. One anecdote from that period tells how a Hungarian captain followed a thief into
Dracula's house. When Dracula discovered the intruders he killed the Hungarian officer
rather than the thief. When questioned about his actions by the king Dracula answered that
a gentlemen does not enter the presence of a great ruler without an introduction -- had the
captain followed proper protocol he would not have incurred the wrath of the prince. 
        
  In 1476 Dracula was again ready to make another bid for power. Dracula and Prince
Stephen Bathory of Transylvania invaded Wallachia with a mixed force of Transylvanians,
a few dissatisfied Wallachian boyars and a contingent of Moldavians sent by Dracula's
cousin, Prince Stephen the Great of Moldavia. Dracula's brother, Radu the Handsome,
had died a couple of years earlier and been replaced on the Wallachian throne by another
Turkish candidate, Basarab the Old, a member of the Danesti clan. At the approach of
Dracula's army Basarab and his coherents fled, some to the protection of the Turks, others
to the shelter of the mountains. After placing Dracula on the throne Stephen Bathory and
the bulk of Dracula's forces returned to Transylvania, leaving Dracula's tactical position
very weak. Dracula had little time to gather support before a large Turkish army entered
Wallachia determined to return Basarab to the throne. Dracula's cruelties over the years
had alienated the boyars who felt they had a better chance of surviving under Prince
Basarab. Apparently, even the peasants, tired of the depredations of the Impaler,
abandoned him to his fate. Dracula was forced to march to meet the Turks with the small
forces at his disposal, somewhat less than four thousand men. 
          
  Dracula was killed in battle against the Turks near the small town of Bucharest in
December of 1476. Some reports indicated that he was assassinated by disloyal
Wallachian boyars just as he was about to sweep the Turks from the field. Other accounts
have Dracula falling in defeat, surrounded by the bodies of his loyal Moldavian bodyguard
(the troops loaned by Prince Stephen of Moldavia remained with Dracula after Stephen
Bathory returned to Transylvania). Still other reports claim that Dracula, at the moment of
victory, was accidentally struck down by one of his own men. Dracula's body was
decapitated by the Turks and his head sent to Constantinople where the sultan had it
displayed on a stake as proof that the Impaler was dead. He was reportedly buried at
Snagov, an island monastery located near Bucharest.

The Name Atrocities