Vlad- the one who impaled

Vlad- the impaler

Vlad was the second legitimate son of Vlad II Dracula, himself an illegitimate son of Mircia I of Wallachia.  Vlad II won the moniker "Dracul" for his membership in the Order of the Dragon, a militant fraternity founded by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.  The Order of the Dragon was dedicated to halting the Ottoman advance into Europe.  Since he was old enough to be a candidate for the throne of Wallachia in 1448, Vlad's time of birth must have been between 1428 and 1431.  Vlad was probably born after his father settled in Transylvania in 1429.  Historian Radu Florescu writes that Vlad was born in the Transylvanian Saxon town of Sighisoara (then in the Kingdom of Hungary), where his father lived in a three-story stone house from 1431 to 1435.  Modern historians identify Vlad's mother as either a daughter or relative of Alexander I of Moldavia or as the unknown first wife of his father.

Vlad II Dracul seized Wallachia in 1436 after the death of his half-brother Alexander I Aldea.  One of his charters (which was issued on 20 January 1437) preserves an earlier reference to Vlad III and his elder brother, Mircia, mentioning them as them.  The "first-born son" of the father.  He was mentioned in four more documents between 1437 and 1439.  His younger brother Radu is also mentioned in the last of the four charters.

  After a meeting with John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, Vlad II Drakul did not support an Ottoman invasion of Transylvania in March 1442.  The Ottoman Sultan, Murad II ordered him to come to Gallipoli to demonstrate his loyalty.  Vlad and Radu accompanied their father to the Ottoman Empire, where they were all imprisoned.  Vlad Drakul was released before the end of the year, but Vlad and Radu remain hostages to secure their loyalty.  According to contemporary Ottoman chronicles, he was imprisoned in the fortress of Arigoz (now Dogrugoz).  His life was especially endangered after his father supported King Wadyslaus of Poland and Hungary during the Crusades of Varna in 1444 against the Ottoman Empire.  Vlad II Drakul was convinced that his two sons would be "butchered for Christian peace".  "But neither Vlad nor Radu were killed or mutilated after their father's rebellion.

Vlad Drakul again accepted the suzerainty of the Sultan and promised to pay him an annual tribute in 1446 or 1447.  John Hunyadi (who then became regent-governor of Hungary in 1446) invaded Wallachia in November 1447.  Vlad and Radu fled to the Ottoman Empire, and the sultan allowed them to return to Wallachia when their father paid tribute to them.  Vlad Drakul and his eldest son, Mircea, were murdered.  Hunyadi made Vladislav II (Vlad Drakul's cousin, son of Dan II) ruler of Wallachia.

After the death of his father and older brother, Vlad became a potential contender for Wallachia.  Vladislav II of Wallachia was accompanied by John Hunyadi, who launched a campaign against the Ottoman Empire in September 1448.  Taking advantage of his opponent's absence, Vlad marched into Wallachia at the head of an Ottoman army in early October.  He had to accept that the Ottomans had captured and fortified the fortress of Girgiu on the Danube.

  The Ottomans defeated Hunyadi's army in the Battle of Kosovo between 17 and 18 October.  Hunyadi's deputy, Nicolas Vizcanai, urged Vlad to visit him in Transylvania, but Vlad refused.  Vladislav II returned to Wallachia at the head of the remnants of his army.  By 7 December 1448 Vlad was forced to flee to the Ottoman Empire.

Vlad first settled in Edirne, Ottoman Empire after its fall.  Shortly after, he moved to Moldavia, where Bogdan II (his father's brother-in-law and possibly his maternal uncle) ascended the throne with the support of John Hunyadi in the autumn of 1449.  After Bogdan was assassinated by Peter III Aaron in October 1451, Bogdan's son, Stefan, fled with Vlad to Transylvania to seek aid from Hunyadi.  However, Hunyadi ended a three-year truce with the Ottoman Empire on 20 November 1451, acknowledging the right of Wallachian boyars to elect a successor to Vladislav II, if he died.

  Vlad reportedly wanted to settle in Braov (which was the center of the Wallachian boyars expelled by Vladislaus II), but Hunyadi forbade the burghers to shelter him on 6 February 1452.  Vlad returned to Moldavia where Alexandre had superseded Peter Aaron.  Returned to Hungary before 3 July 1456, because on that day, Hunyadi informed the townspeople of Braov that he had entrusted Vlad to guard the Transylvanian border.