Treachery could be a constant theme in vlad the impaler’s reworked campaign:
- Starting with how he became prisoner to the ottomans because his father and older brother were betrayed by the sultan.
- Then how his father and older brother were killed betrayed by the wallachian boyars
- Then how he executed the boyars (see the story down below at the “Powerhungry for justice” part) who betrayed his father and brother in the past.
- Then how he was betrayed by his younger brother radu that he protected from the ottomans when they were kids, not being pro-ottoman himself and with the sultan.
- Then how he was betrayed by matthias covinus of hungary who promised him support but instead imprisoned him.
- Then how finally (after mission 5, the outro) how one and a half year later he would be betrayed by the boyars and killed.
Basically, the story would end in a similar way it began. His father and brother were betrayed and killed by the Wallachian Boyars. He would end up betrayed and killed by the Wallachian Boyars.
All the treachery around him could be one of the major causes for why he ended up the way he did, here’s a more in-detail version of events:
- He and his younger brother Radu were taken prisoners by the Sultan when the Sultan beytrayed his father.
- His father and older brother Mircea were betrayed by the Wallachian boyars and burried alive while he was still a child at the Ottoman court. He did hear the news from the Sultan, that his father and brother were betrayed and killed by the Wallachian boyars. The Sultan considered killing the 2 brothers but later thought they would be useful. (probably the inspiration for only actually Romanian-named Wallachian “Voivode” in mission 1, Mircea was already dead by the time Vlad took this first reign, let alone his 2nd that is mission 1, not to mention if he was alive older brother legitimate ruler)
- He was taken prisoner by the Hungarians when Matthias Covinus betrayed him, not only not sending support as he was fighting the Ottomans as Matthias Covinus said he would, but imprisoning Vlad after he took refugee in Transylvania after the fall of Targoviste.
- His younger brother Radu that he protected as a child, became very pro-Ottoman and was part of the Ottoman forces that invaded Wallachia with Mehmed the Conqueror at their front. After Vlad was imprisoned by Matthias Covinus, Mehmed made Radu ruler of Wallachia (Vlad was avenged by his cousin, Stephen the Great, who defeated Radu and replaced him while Vlad was in prison in Hungary, but that replacement defected to the Ottomans after 2 years)
- And finally: He died during his 3rd reign betrayed by the boyars.
That’s a lot of Game of Thrones and the first 2 were when he was a child. In a way he became “powerhungry for justice”. DRACULA STORIES:
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Vlad was known throughout his land for his fierce insistence on honesty and order. Vlad was so confident in the effectiveness of his law that he placed a golden cup on display in the central square of Targoviste. Everyone was allowed to use the golden cup to drink water from the fountain. So strict was his authority that the cup was never stolen and remained entirely ########## throughout Vlad’s reign.
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Vlad once played a trick on two monks in the countryside. He asked them for their opinions on his actions as prince and if he would go to Heaven. The first monk said that Vlad was an evil man beyond reproach and would surely #### ## ##### The second monk praised Vlad and said his decisions were ordained by God himself as prince and he would go to Heaven. Vlad impaled the monk who sung his praises because he was a liar.
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One Easter, Vlad invited all of his boyars (nobles) and their families to dine with him. When they arrived he asked them one simple question, “How many princes have you seen in your time here?” This was a trick question because Vlad knew these rich and powerful nobles disposed of any prince who did not collude with them thus there had been many princes. They began to answer huge numbers - 25, 30, 70, and so on. Vlad was disrespected and had them captured at that moment. The elder ones were impaled right there and the younger men and women were marched on foot as slave laborers to help renovate his mountain top fortress at Poenari. It is said they were forced to work “until their clothes fell off” or until they starved to death or fell into the ravine below.
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When ushered into the presence of the prince, the Turkish envoys refused to remove their Phrygian caps, as was the custom when in the presence of the prince in Wallachia. When questioned they answered that it was not the custom of their fathers to remove their hats. Dracula then ordered their hats nailed to their heads with three nails so that they might never have to break such an excellent tradition.
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When the Ottomans invaded Targoviste, they found the city empty, and where used to be a forest, they found 23,844 impaled Turks, that Vlad The Impaler had left for them.
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When Vlad III Dracula was kept prisoner in Hungary on charges of heresy it is said that even in his cell he caught rats and small birds and impaled them on tiny sticks.
And my favorite Vlad the Impaler story:
- A merchant from a foreign land once visited Dracula’s capital of Tirgoviste. Aware of the reputation of Dracula’s land for honesty, he left a treasure-laden cart unguarded in the street over night. Returning to his wagon in the morning, the merchant was shocked to find 160 golden ducats missing. When the merchant complained of his loss to the prince, Dracula assured him that his money would be returned and invited him to remain in the palace that night. Dracula then issued a proclamation to the city — find the thief and return the money or the city will be destroyed. During the night he ordered that 160 ducats plus one extra be taken from his own treasury and placed in the merchant’s cart. On returning to his cart in the morning and counting his money the merchant discovered the extra ducat. The merchant returned to Dracula and reported that his money had indeed been returned plus an extra ducat. Meanwhile the thief had been captured and turned over to the prince’s guards along with the stolen money. Dracula ordered the thief impaled and informed the merchant that if he had not reported the extra ducat he would have been impaled alongside the thief.
Beside all the treachery it may have been the Ottoman education TM that caused his behavior:
As a child after he was taken from his father, Dracula was brought to Tokat Castle, a place commonly used as janissary barrack and prison. In fact they excavated one cell where he was kept prisoner a couple years ago. Let’s look, shall we?
This is where Dracula & Radu as children while prisoners of the Ottomans.
Keeping in mind those cells were kept in the dungeon/basement area, hence why they were so well preserved.
Sure, technically they did educate him and his brother in Turkish and Turkish warfare. Vlad was 12 when he came to the Ottoman Empire, just 4 years shy of being an adult, so they did not “raise him” and he already had an extensive European/Christian education.
But they didn’t offer Vlad an education and food because the Turks “loved him”, and it wasn’t “optional”, either.
It was indoctrination. Sultan Murad (Sultan Mehmed’s father) never planned on letting Dracula go. They only did that when his father was unexpectedly assassinated on the orders of Janos Hunyadi and they felt they had no other choice.
Vlad was “educated” in a sense (the bare minimum, he did not receive a sultan’s education) because the Ottomans were notorious for kidnapping Christian boys (who they could freely enslave, because they weren’t Muslim).
They then brainwashed them through a series of beatings, starvation, and indoctrination in the form of an all Turkish, all Muslim education. If you’re curious, I recommend picking up a book on the Janissary or devshirme practices in The Ottoman Empire.
Once sufficiently mentally stripped, the boys would be set up as commanders/governors/mayors around the empire, with loyalty only to the Sultan (because they were ripped away from their families, brainwashed, and were totally dependent on his mercy, remember?)
Vlad had a dual purpose. He doubled as leverage against the Wallachians, which is also why they kept him and Radu alive.
ship;
The sultan spent that winter in his palace and summoned Vlad [III], the son of [Vlad II] Dracul and ruler of Wallachia, as he already had his younger brother [Radu III] at the court, keeping him as his lover and maintaining him. It happened that the sultan was almost killed by the boy when he had wanted to have *** with him. This was when he had first gained the throne and was preparing to campaign against Karaman. He was in love with the boy and invited him for conversation, and then as a sign of his respect he invited him for drinks to his bedchamber. The boy did not expect to suffer such a thing from the sultan, and when he saw the sultan approaching him with that intention, he fought him off and refused to consent to ########### With him. The sultan kissed the unwilling boy, who drew a dagger and struck the sultan on his thigh. He then fled in whatever direction he could find. The doctors were able to treat the sultan’s wound. The boy had climbed up a tree there and was hiding. When the sultan packed up and left, the boy came down from the tree, began his journey, and, shortly afterward, arrived at the Porte and became the sultan’s lover. The sultan was used to having relations no less with those who shared his own inclinations.
“The Histories” 1465 by LAONIKOS CHALKOKONDYLES (Translated and published by Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library)
I think that showed in Vlad’s attitude, who resented the Turks. As well as his cruel behavior, and literal thirst for justice, being impaled for stealing an apple or telling a lie.
