Blessed be
The LORD, my rock,
who trains my
hands for war,
and my
fingers for battle:
He is my
steadfast love and my fortress,
My stronghold
and my deliverer,
My shields in
whom I take refuge,
who subdues
peoples under me.
Psalm 144:1-2
In my last publication, I introduced us to our first guide in this
journey, our Virgil, Christopher Columbus.
Although, unlike Virgil, he would not be in Limbo with the rest of the
noble pagans. His home I think would be
the sphere of Mars with the rest of the warriors of the Faith, among
Charlemagne, Roland, and Godfrey of Bouillon (had Dante Aligheri created a
heavenly sphere for explorers, he doubtless would be its chief soul). Our second guide Vlad Draculea of Wallachia I
referred to as our Cato, another noble pagan who has been granted the position
of guarding the mountain of Purgatory.
Though he would no doubt play that role well, Vlad was no pagan, and
would probably be placed in the circle of the wrathful on that mountain. Once his stint there had finished, he would
doubtless also join the sphere of warriors. The man himself was and is still of
disputed and corrupted reputation, but he is most certainly a far cry from the
title character of Bram Stoker’s Victorian melodrama.
Once the Ottoman Turks conquered the Byzantine Empire, the last
stronghold of Rome, and seized Constantinople “Rome of the East” the powerful
kingdom of Hungary to the north began to see itself as the defender of
Christendom. The two countries would
spend the next century in sporadic wars, the Ottomans trying to invade Europe, and Hungary
(and later Austria also) working to push them back and keep Islam out of The West. Caught between these two giants was the tiny
nation of Wallachia, which struggled to maintain its independence in the midst
of both the Hungarian and Ottoman Empires claiming it as their own land.
Wallachia actually did start out as part of Hungary. It was founded as a separate territory when
Basarab I rebelled against Charles I of Hungary in the early 14th
century and also founded its dynasty, the House of Basarab. The name Wallachia stems from the Germanic
word walha which was used to describe
the Celts, Romanized Celts, and later any Romance-language speaking
people (i.e. non-Germans). This root word is also still
preserved in place names like Wales, Cornwall, and Wallonia (a region of
Belgium). The name Wallachia was used
even before it seceded from Hungary, but Basarab probably kept it to
distinguish his Romanic people from the more Germanic Hungarians (rather like
the term “Hoosier” in the U.S. was originally pejorative slang for a backwoods
hick, but then was adopted as a title of honor by residents of Indiana). The
dynasty of Basarab would later split into two rival lines, the Danesti and the
Draculesti when then Vlad II of Wallachia was inducted into the Order of the
Dragon.
King Sigismund of Hungary founded the Order of the Dragon in 1408 as a
chivalric order of Eastern European noblemen, based on the military orders of
the Crusades, who were tasked with defending Christendom against its enemies,
particularly the Ottoman Turks. Vlad II, then future ruler of Wallachia, was
inducted into the order in 1431 the same year his son, also named Vlad, was
born. Vlad had two half-brothers, and a
younger brother named Radu. Both boys were raised in the Wallachian capital of
Targoviste, and, as sons of the king, were well-education in combat, geography,
mathematics, languages, and philosophy. In 1436, Vlad II ascended the throne of
Wallachia, but five years later he was overthrown by rival factions in
Hungary. The elder Vlad was able to gain support from the Ottomans in taking back his
kingdom by agreeing to pay them tribute. As a guarantee of his loyalty,
Vlad agreed to allow his two sons, the Vlad Draculea (“Son of the Dragon”) and
Radu, to live at the Ottoman court.
Other sources say that Vlad II took his sons to the Ottoman court to
meet Sultan Murad and his son Mehmed (who would soon become the famous Sultan
Mehmed II) and, because Vlad misunderstood the situation, his sons were
captured as hostages and kept at the Ottoman court. Whatever the truth, what is certain is
that the boys were now prisoners of the Turks, and would remain so for the next
six years. During this time, the boys
would grow into men and enjoy a rather privileged status, continuing their
classical education and also studying the Koran as well as the Turkish language
and literature. Privileged or no, Vlad
was not pleased to be a captive of the Turks. Radu was well-behaved and quickly
became a favorite at the Ottoman court, he would come to be known as Radu Cel
Frumos “Radu the Handsome” and eventually converted to Islam. Vlad meanwhile was defiant and impudent, and
often punished for his disobedience. He
resented his situation, the attention his brother gained as well as his
conversion, and he likely resented his father who, after swearing to fight
against the enemies of Christendom, sold out to the Ottomans and let his sons
be taken hostage.
At the end of their captivity, Vlad and Radu were released. In the meantime, their father Vlad II had died, probably
assassinated by his successor, Vladislalv II who was the current ruler of
Wallachia. Upon his release from Ottoman captivity, Vlad Draculea staged
a coup with the help of some Turkish allies and overthrew Vladislav. Vlad’s
reign lasted two months before he was overthrown himself and escaped to
Moldova, where he found refuge with his uncle Prince Bogdan and cousin Prince
Stephen. Vlad and Stephen formed a close friendship and swore to help each
other in time of need. Three years
later, Prince Bogdan was assassinated, and Vlad had to go into further exile, this time to Transylvania. There
he found refuge with the warlord Janos (John) Hunyadi and the Hungarian King
Ladislaus. In 1456, these two send him
back to Wallachia to eliminate the Ottoman-friendly Vladislav II who had taken
back the throne after Vlad’s coup to unseat him.
Ladislaus and Hunyadi did not appreciate a Muslim ally so close to their
own border, and Vlad was happy to oblige by killing Vladislav himself in
hand-to-hand combat. With the death of
his rival and assassin of his father, Vlad III Draculea began his second
and longest reign of Wallachia. This
time, Vlad set about improving the kingdom.
Throughout the reigns of Vlad’s father and Vladislav, if not even
earlier, the economy of Wallachia had been wasted in the hands of the Boyars,
which were the Eastern European ruling aristocracy. They had been ruining the territory with
petty wars against each other to the extent that they even at times held sway
over their kings and princes. When Vlad
began his second term, he drove away most of the Boyars in the ruling body of
Wallachia, and replaced them with men he knew were loyal only to him. Some of these replacements were even
commoners and foreigners, which further upset the Boyars’ noble sensibilities.
The offended nobles would come to plague Vlad as much as his Turkish enemies.
 |
| Portrait of Vlad Draculea painted circa 1560, rumored to be a copy of an earlier portrait created during his lifetime. |
A year later Vlad, true to his promise, helped Stephen establish himself
as ruler of Moldavia by providing 6,000 horsemen to assist Stephen defeat his
rival Petru Aron. Prince Stephen’s long
rein was marked by its strong resistance to Ottoman interference. Two years after Stephen ascended the throne,
in 1459, Pope Pius II called for a new crusade against the Ottomans which was
to be led by the son of Janos Hunyadi, Matthias Corvinus (“Matthew the Crow”).
Vlad quickly allied himself with Matthias, hoping that Matthias would assist
him in keeping the Ottomans out of Wallachia, as Mehmed was at the time trying
to claim the tiny kingdom as Ottoman territory. That same year, Mehmed sent
envoys to Vlad requesting that he pay back-owed tribute in the amount of 10,000
ducats (About $13,000 at the time, if dollars had been around. This is the 1914 dollar value, which is as
far back as I could go. In modern
American dollars, that would have been about $307,483.00, which I believe is a
low estimate.). The envoys also
requested that Vlad give 500 men as recruits to the Ottoman army. This would not only have stressed the already
weak economy of Wallachia, which was still recovering from the wastes of the
Boyars, but also it would have robbed the country of many of the men that could protect
it. In addition, giving in to such terms
would demonstrate public acceptance of Wallachia as a territory of the Ottoman
empire. Vlad absolutely refused and, to
literally make his point, he had the Turkish envoys turbans nailed to their heads. When Mehmed received news of this, he was
less than pleased, and in response sent the lord of Nicopolis, Hamza Bey (the son
of a prominent Serbian noble family that had become Ottoman Vassals about 70
years prior), to sue for peace and, if that did not work, to eliminate
Vlad. Hamza and his cavalry were
ambushed by Vlad in a mountain pass and nearly all captured. They were executed by impalement, with Hamza
placed on the highest stake. Riding high
on this success, Vlad invaded Ottoman territory in Bulgaria and, using the
intimate knowledge of Turkish language and culture he gained as a hostage,
managed to infiltrate and destroy the Ottoman camps. He wrote to Matthias about his
accomplishments saying “I have killed peasants men and women, old and
young,…where the Danube flows into the sea… We killed 23, 884 Turks…Thus, your
highness, you must know that I have broken the peace.”
Furious at Vlad's cunning, Mehmed raised an army of 60,000 the following spring and sent
them north to crush Vlad and bring Wallachia back under Ottoman control. Among the commanders of this force was Vlad’s
now estranged brother Radu, the “handsome” favorite of the Ottoman court. Mehmed
placed Radu at the capital city of Targoviste, hoping that he would raise
anti-Vlad sympathies which would eventually lead to Radu becoming ruler of
Wallachia. Vlad was originally successful in repelling Mehmed’s forces, and
this victory as well as the prior one was celebrated by the Saxons of
Transylvania, the Italian states, and the Pope.
Indeed, a group of Genovese personally thanked Vlad, as his war against
the Turks kept away a fleet of Ottoman ships that otherwise would have attacked them at Caffa (a Genovese port on the Black Sea coast).
Vlad’s victories against the combined forces of Mehmed and Radu was short-lived
however. Radu’s plans succeeded, due in
part to the fact that the Boyars Vlad he had alienated earlier were eager to get
him out if their way. This faction
managed to pursue Vlad and besiege him in his famed lair at Poinari Castle,
which is above a cliff. Legend says that
when the castle was surrounded, a prisoner of the Ottomans who was loyal to
Vlad managed to get a message to him, by shooting an arrow through the castle
window, saying the Turks would soon attack.
Frightened by what her fate would be at the hands of the Turks, Vlad’s
young wife threw herself from the castle walls over the cliff. Today, the stream that flows through the
valley below is still known by locals as The Princess’s River. Poinari was
indeed besieged, but Vlad managed to escape to Moldavia and later the protection
of Matthias Corvinus in Hungary. He
would never return to Poinari, and the castle fell to ruins. Radu was quickly crowned Voivode * ("Prince") in his
brother’s place.
 |
| The ruins of Castle Poenari on Mount Cetatea, overlooking the valley. |
After his rather humiliating defeat, Vlad and Matthias spent five weeks
in the Autumn of 1462 forging his alliance and making battle plans. Vlad then
headed home to Wallachia, thinking his trust with Hungary had been sealed. To
his surprise, Vlad was captured just inside the Wallachian border by Matthias’
own men and taken prisoner back to Hungary.
Even today, no one is quite sure why Matthias’ sympathies changed so
quickly. Recent research has suggested
that the ruler of Hungary was tempted by the idea of becoming Holy Roman
Emperor, and to do this, he had to abandon his campaigns against the Turks which included his new alliance with Wallachia, to focus on gaining
power in Western and Central Europe. To justify
this move, he had Vlad captured and claimed he was actually in league with the
Ottomans and therefore, Wallachia was unworthy of his assistance. Vlad would be imprisoned in Hungary for
approximately four years. Eventually his
dear friend and cousin Stephen the Great of Moldavia would intervene on Vlad’s
behalf to have him released. Around the
time of his release, Vlad married Ilona Szilagyi, a cousin of Matthias. She would give Vlad two sons, Vlad IV Draculea and Mircea. The elder son's descendants would later marry into the Hungarian royal family. Even later, A descenant of Vlad and Ilona would marry into the British royal family.
In the meantime, Radu died, and his successor to the throne was the
Turkish vassal Basarab the Elder, a member of the rival Danesti line of House
Basarab. Vlad was having none of
this. With the aid of some Hungarian
forces led by Stephen V Bathory, Voivode of Transylvania (also an ally of
Corvinus), forces from Stephen of Moldavia, and some dissatisfied Wallachian
Boyars (whom it seems could not be satisfied no matter who was in charge) Vlad
invaded Wallachia for a third time.
Basarab and his government fled as soon as rumor of Vlad’s arrival
reached them. Vlad was established as
ruler of Wallachia once again for a third and final reign. Unfortunately, this last rule would be very
short. Once Vlad was crowed, his allies
went home, leaving him in a weak position with a very small army. Before he had time to gain assistance from
anyone else, the Turks returned with the intention of placing Basarab back on
the throne and eliminating Vlad for good. They succeeded. Vlad had declared himself ruler on 26
November, and by early January, he was dead. How he died is not clear even to
this day. Some sources claim he was
killed battling the Turks, surrounded by the bodies of Moldavian
bodyguards. Others have claimed he was
killed by traitorous Boyars who sided with the Turks in Basarab the Elder’s
final coup. Or, he possibly was killed
while hunting, either a tragic accident or an assassination made to look like a
hunting calamity. What is certain is
that Vlad, who was notorious in life, would become infamous in death and his name would become synonymous with ruthlessness and bloodlust
For the next hundred years, legends and stories about Vlad III Draculea,
the Dragon’s Son known as Tepes ‘The Impaler”, or “Impaler Lord” would spread
across Europe. His reputation varied
throughout. In Germany he was known as a
cruel, evil and bloodthirsty ruler, who killed infants and forced their mothers
to eat them, and cut off women’s breasts and fed them to their husbands. Others claimed he liked to dine within the
forests of impaled bodies he created, even collecting the blood of his victims
and drinking it. Yet in Russia and Eastern
Europe, he was seen through a more optimistic lens. Yes, he went a bit far at
times, but his at times cruel actions were seen as the necessary workings of a
strong ruler, and he was also hailed as a great warlord against the encroaching
Muslim menace of the Ottoman Empire. In
Romania and Bulgaria, Vlad was and still is hailed as a hero, and a harsh yet
fair leader who did what had to be done to rid the kingdom of corruption
within, and keep the Ottoman invaders at bay.
Before we pass final judgment let us consider the times. It is a favorite saying among historians that
you cannot take a man out of his times.
In other words, a person’s tastes and sentiments are dictated by their
surroundings. That is not always the
case, but in this instance I believe it is to an extent. Europe and the Middle East in the 15th
century were very violent by modern standards.
This was the era of the Inquisition (whose own reputation is worse than
the actual organization), and in its wake would come the post-Reformation
religious struggles where Protestants and Catholics would abuse and destroy
each other in ways that no Christian should ever behave toward their brother or
sister in Christ. And when Constantinople fell, the Turks spent three days
ravishing and killing all they found, even going so far as to rape the altar
boys of the Hagia Sophia. Was Vlad the
Lord Impaler cruel? Most certainly, but I doubt he was much more “devilish”
than many others were they in his place.
And what of Wallachia? It would be fought over by both Christians and Muslims for the next four hundred years until it united with Moldavia and Transylvania in 1859 to become Romania. Romania itself would declare its final independence from the now declining Ottoman Empire in 1877. She was at last free.
This is the end of the known territory of our search into Islam, its
relation to the Fall of Rome, and its permanent stunting of Christianity en masse, and why Western Civilization has an indescribable fear of it. From here I must decide which direction to
take. Certainly we have touched on the loss of the Rome of the East in
Constantinople and will revisit that again.
I must write about a few other things first, but I assure you I shall
explore further soon.
*Voivode is the Wallachian title used by their rulers. This title has no direct English translation, but "Prince" is the closest meaning to the concept.
