Vlad the
Impaler had a really interesting family. For example, Vlad’s grandfather, Mircea
cel Batrin (Mircea the Old) was a medieval warlord. He was famous for his
struggle against the Ottoman Empire. He wanted to prevent any permanent Turkish
settlements in Wallachia. When Mircea died in 1418, he left behind multiple
illegitimate children. At this time there were not really any set laws on
inheritance so a feud broke out. This feud was called the Draculesti-Danesti
feud. It was between Mircea’s illegitimate Vlad (Vlad the Impaler’s father) and
Dan, the son of one of Mircea’s brothers. In the end, or more precisely in
1431, Vlad was stationed at Sighisoara as one of the military commanders. He was
responsible for guarding the passes from Transylvania to Wallachia from enemies
trying to invade. During the same year Vlad was summoned to Nuremburg by
Sigismund, the Holy Roman Emperor. He was one of many that were initiated into
the Order of the Dragon. This order was modelled after the St. George order.
It was at this point that Vlad took the name Dracul. “Dracul”
is a Wallachian word derived from the Latin word “Draco”, meaning “Dragon”.
Later his son, Vlad the Impaler, would take on the same Dracula, meaning “son
of the Dragon”. This was the positive connotation to the names Dracul and
Dracula. There is a negative connotation where the name Dracul means “Devil”
and Dracula means “son of the Devil”. This connation was used more as a way to
describe the actions of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad the Impaler was also known as
Vlad Tepes. This name was drawn from the Turkish nickname “kaziklu bey”,
meaning “impaling prince”. As one can see this is also where the nickname Vlad
the Impaler comes from.
Not much is known about Vlad Tepes’s early childhood. We do
know that he was the second born and had two brothers, Mircea and Radu. Most of his early childhood was spent living in Sigisoara. It was in 1436
that the family moved to Targoviste and Vlad Dracul became the warlord of
Wallachia. Vlad Dracula was brought up here. He was educated in the court and was learning
the ways of knighthood until Vlad Dracul’s political machinations changed
everything. It was after Sigismund died that Vlad Dracul’s political agenda
started to change. He went from being pro-Turkish to espousing more neutral policies when
dealing with the Turks. He apparently was only considering the welfare of
Wallachia. The Sultan was smart though. In order to guarantee Vlad Dracul’s
support he had Vlad Dracul send Vlad Dracula and Radu to be held in Turkey. Vlad
Dracula would have been approximately 11 years old and Radu approximately 7 when they were
sent to Turkey. Radu was treated better while they were in Turkey because he attracted the attention of the future sultan. During their stay
neither boy was harmed physically, but psychological harm is another matter. Since
we are looking at things in the past it is hard to determine the exact extent
of the psychological harm done to Vlad Dracula. In 1448, Vlad Dracula
and Radu were allowed to leave Turkey. Radu decided to stay in Turkey while
Vlad Dracula went home to Wallachia. Upon returning to Wallachia, Vlad Dracula
found out that his father had been assassinated and his older brother Mircea
had been buried alive by nobles of Targoviste, in support of a
rival claimant. It was at this point that Vlad Dracula took on the title of
warlord of Wallachia.
Source:
http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/index.html
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