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{{short description|15th-century ruler of Wallachia}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Vlad Dracula|Count Dracula|Vlad Dracul|Vladracula}}
{{Redirect2|Vlad Drăculea|Vlad Țepeș|the Japanese manga series|Vlad Drăculea (manga)|other uses|Vlad Țepeș (disambiguation)}}
{{Redirect|Draculea|the village in Ukraine|Trudove, Izmail Raion, Odesa Oblast}}
{{For|the baseball player so nicknamed|Vladimir Guerrero}}
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| father = [[Vlad II Dracul|Vlad II of Wallachia]]
| mother = Eupraxia of Moldavia (?)
| religion = [[Roman Catholic]]{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=161}}{{sfn|Balotă|1991|p=207}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Origins of Dracula: Vlad the Impaler |url=https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/the-origins-of-dracula-vlad-the-impaler/ |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=Warfare History Network |language=en-US}}</ref>{{efn|Converted from [[Romanian Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]]{{sfn|Cazacu|2017|pp=81–83}}}}
| birth_date = 1428–1431
| birth_place = <!--uncertain; see talk page-->
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The [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Sultan]], [[Mehmed II]], ordered Vlad to pay homage to him personally, but Vlad had the Sultan's two envoys captured and impaled. In February 1462, he attacked Ottoman territory, massacring tens of thousands of Turks and Muslim Bulgarians. Mehmed launched a campaign against Wallachia to replace Vlad with Vlad's younger brother, Radu. Vlad [[Night Attack at Târgoviște|attempted to capture the sultan]] at [[Târgoviște]] during the night of 16{{ndash}}17{{nbsp}}June 1462. The Sultan and the main Ottoman army left Wallachia, but more and more Wallachians deserted to Radu. Vlad went to Transylvania to seek assistance from [[Matthias Corvinus]], [[King of Hungary]], in late 1462, but Corvinus had him imprisoned.
Vlad was held in captivity in [[Visegrád]] from 1463 to 1475. During this period, anecdotes about his cruelty started to spread in Germany and Italy. He was released at the request of [[Stephen the Great|Stephen III of Moldavia]] in the summer of 1475. He fought in Corvinus's army against the Ottomans in [[Ottoman conquest of Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]] in early 1476. Hungarian and Moldavian troops helped him to force Basarab Laiotă (who had dethroned Vlad's brother, Radu) to flee from Wallachia in November. Basarab returned with Ottoman support before the end of the year. Vlad was killed in battle before 10{{nbsp}}January 1477.
Books describing Vlad's cruel acts were among the first bestsellers in the German-speaking territories. In Russia, popular stories suggested that Vlad was able to strengthen his central government only by applying brutal punishments, and many 19th-century Romanian historians adopted a similar view. Vlad's [[patronymic]] inspired the name of [[Bram Stoker]]'s literary vampire, [[Count Dracula]]. == Name ==
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== Early life ==
Vlad was the second legitimate son of [[Vlad II Dracul]], who was himself an illegitimate son of [[Mircea the Elder|Mircea I of Wallachia]]. Vlad{{nbsp}}II had won the moniker "Dracul" for his membership in the [[Order of the Dragon]],
[[File:Casa Vlad Dracul din Sighisoara4.JPG|left|thumb|alt=A simple three-storey house|The house in the main square of [[Sighișoara]] where Vlad's father lived from 1431 to 1435]]
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Vlad II Dracul seized Wallachia after the death of his half-brother [[Alexander I Aldea]] in 1436.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=237}}{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=43}} One of his charters (which was issued on 20{{nbsp}}January 1437) preserves the first reference to Vlad III and his elder brother, [[Mircea II of Wallachia|Mircea]], mentioning them as their father's "firstborn sons".{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=46}} They were mentioned in four further documents between 1437 and 1439.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=46}} The last of the four charters also refers to their younger brother, [[Radu cel Frumos|Radu]].{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=46}}
After a meeting with [[John Hunyadi]], [[Voivode of Transylvania]], Vlad II Dracul did not support an Ottoman invasion of Transylvania in March 1442.{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|pp=53–54}} The [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Sultan]], [[Murad II]], ordered him to come to [[Gallipoli]] to demonstrate his loyalty.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=47}}{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=54}} Vlad and Radu accompanied their father to the Ottoman Empire, where they were all imprisoned.{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=54}} Vlad Dracul was released before the end of the year, but Vlad and Radu remained hostages to secure his loyalty.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=47}} They were held imprisoned in the fortress of
Vlad Dracul again acknowledged the sultan's [[suzerainty]] and promised to pay a yearly tribute to him in 1446 or 1447.{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|pp=54, 60}} John Hunyadi (who had by then become the regent-governor of Hungary in 1446),{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=288}} invaded Wallachia in November 1447.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=53}} The Byzantine historian [[Michael Critobulus]] wrote that Vlad and Radu fled to the Ottoman Empire, which suggests that the sultan had allowed them to return to Wallachia after their father paid homage to him.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=53}} Vlad Dracul and his eldest son, Mircea, were murdered.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=53}}{{sfn|Cazacu|1991|p=55}} Hunyadi made [[Vladislav II of Wallachia|Vladislav II]] (son of Vlad Dracul's cousin, [[Dan II of Wallachia|Dan II]]) the ruler of Wallachia.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=53}}{{sfn|Cazacu|1991|p=55}}
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==== Ottoman war ====
{{See also|Night
[[File:Sarayi Album 10a.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=A corpulent bearded young man holding a rose and wearing a turban|The [[List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman Sultan]], [[Mehmed II]], who invaded Wallachia during Vlad's reign]]
[[Konstantin Mihailović]] (who served as a [[janissary]] in the sultan's army) recorded that Vlad refused to pay homage to the sultan in an unspecified year.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=118}} The Renaissance historian Giovanni Maria degli Angiolelli likewise wrote that Vlad had failed to pay tribute to the sultan for three years.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=118}} Both records suggest that Vlad ignored the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan, [[Mehmed II]], already in 1459, but both works were written decades after the events.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|pp=118–119}} [[Tursun Beg]] (a secretary in the sultan's court) stated that Vlad only turned against the Ottoman Empire when the sultan "was away on the long expedition in [[Empire of Trebizond|Trebizon]]" in 1461.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=119}} According to Tursun Beg, Vlad started new negotiations with Matthias Corvinus, but the sultan was soon informed by his spies.{{sfn|Rezachevici|1991|p=258}}{{sfn|Babinger|1978|pp=203–204}} Mehmed sent his envoy, the Greek Thomas Katabolinos (also known as Yunus bey), to Wallachia, ordering Vlad to come to Constantinople.{{sfn|Rezachevici|1991|p=258}}{{sfn|Babinger|1978|pp=203–204}} He also sent secret instructions to Hamza, [[Sanjak of Nicopolis|bey of Nicopolis]], to capture Vlad after he crossed the Danube.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=123}}{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=133}} Vlad found out the sultan's "deceit and trickery", captured Hamza and Katabolinos, and had them executed.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=123}}{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=133}}
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Having learnt of Vlad's invasion, Mehmed II raised an army of more than 150,000 strong that was said to be "second in size only to the one"<ref>[[Laonikos Chalkokondyles]]: ''The Histories'' (Book 9, chapter 90), p. 377.</ref> that [[Fall of Constantinople|occupied Constantinople in 1453]], according to Chalkokondyles.{{sfn|Babinger|1978|p=205}}{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=139}} The size of the army suggests that the sultan wanted to occupy Wallachia, according to a number of historians (including [[Franz Babinger]], Radu Florescu, and Nicolae Stoicescu).{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=126}}{{sfn|Babinger|1978|p=205}}{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=139}} On the other hand, Mehmed had granted Wallachia to Vlad's brother, Radu, before the invasion of Wallachia, showing that the sultan's principal purpose was only the change of the ruler of Wallachia.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=126}}
[[File:AtaculdeNoapte.jpg|thumb|alt=Horsemen holding torches in a camp of tents|''The Battle with Torches'', a painting by [[Theodor Aman]] about Vlad's [[Night
The Ottoman fleet landed at [[Brăila]] (which was the only Wallachian port on the Danube) in May.{{sfn|Babinger|1978|p=205}} The main Ottoman army crossed the Danube under the command of the sultan at [[Nikopol, Bulgaria]] on 4{{nbsp}}June 1462.{{sfn|Rezachevici|1991|p=259}}{{sfn|Treptow|2000|pp=130–132}} Outnumbered by the enemy, Vlad adopted a [[scorched earth]] policy and retreated towards [[Târgoviște]].{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=132}} During the night of 16{{ndash}}17 June, Vlad broke into the Ottoman camp in an attempt to capture or kill the sultan.{{sfn|Rezachevici|1991|p=259}} Either the imprisonment or the death of the sultan would have caused panic among the Ottomans, which could have enabled Vlad to defeat the Ottoman army.{{sfn|Rezachevici|1991|p=259}}{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=132}} However, the Wallachians "missed the court of the sultan himself"<ref>[[Laonikos Chalkokondyles]]: ''The Histories'' (Book 9, chapter 101), p. 387.</ref> and attacked the tents of the ''[[vizier]]s'' [[Mahmud Pasha Angelović|Mahmud Pasha]] and Isaac.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=132}} Having failed to attack the sultan's camp, Vlad and his retainers left the Ottoman camp at dawn.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=134}} Mehmed entered Târgoviște at the end of June.{{sfn|Rezachevici|1991|p=259}} The town had been deserted, but the Ottomans were horrified to discover a "forest of the impaled" (thousands of stakes with the carcasses of executed people), according to Chalkokondyles.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=147}}
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Stories about Vlad's brutal acts began circulating during his lifetime.{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=195}} After his arrest, courtiers of Matthias Corvinus promoted their spread.{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=157}} The papal legate, [[Nicholas of Modruš|Niccolo Modrussiense]], had already written about such stories to Pope Pius{{nbsp}}II in 1462.{{sfn|Balotă|1991|p=156}} Two years later, the Pope included them in his ''Commentaries''.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}}
It is even rumored that Vlad would dip his bread into the blood of his impaled victims; though this could be legendary.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-31 |title=Vlad the Impaler: The real Dracula was absolutely vicious |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/sciencemain/vlad-impaler-real-dracula-was-absolutely-vicious-8c11505315 |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref>
''[[Meistersinger]]'' [[Michael Beheim]] wrote a lengthy poem about Vlad's deeds, allegedly based on his conversation with a Catholic monk who had managed to escape from Vlad's prison.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}} The poem, called ''{{lang|de|Von ainem wutrich der heis Trakle waida von der Walachei}}'' ("Story of a Despot Called Dracula, Voievod of Wallachia"), was performed at the court of [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor]] in [[Wiener Neustadt]] during the winter of 1463.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=David B. |last2=Miller |first2=Elizabeth |author-link2=Elizabeth Miller (academic) |title=Michel Beheim, German Meistergesang, and Dracula |year=2003 |publisher=Journal of Dracula Studies, Number 5}}</ref> According to one of Beheim's stories, Vlad had two monks impaled to assist them to go to heaven, also ordering the impalement of their donkey because it began braying after its masters' death.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}} Beheim also accused Vlad of duplicity, stating that Vlad had promised support to both Matthias Corvinus and Mehmed{{nbsp}}II but did not keep the promise.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}}▼
▲''[[Meistersinger]]'' [[Michael Beheim]] wrote a lengthy poem about Vlad's deeds, allegedly based on his conversation with a Catholic monk who had managed to escape from Vlad's prison.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}} The poem, called ''{{lang|de|Von ainem wutrich der heis Trakle waida von der Walachei}}'' ("Story of a Despot Called Dracula, Voievod of Wallachia"), was performed at the court of [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor]], in [[Wiener Neustadt]] during the winter of 1463.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=David B. |last2=Miller |first2=Elizabeth |author-link2=Elizabeth Miller (academic) |title=Michel Beheim, German Meistergesang, and Dracula |year=2003 |publisher=Journal of Dracula Studies, Number 5}}</ref> According to one of Beheim's stories, Vlad had two monks impaled to assist them to go to heaven, also ordering the impalement of their donkey because it began braying after its masters' death.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}} Beheim also accused Vlad of duplicity, stating that Vlad had promised support to both Matthias Corvinus and Mehmed{{nbsp}}II but did not keep the promise.{{sfn|McNally|1991|p=200}}
In 1475, [[Gabriele Rangone|Gabriele Rangoni]], [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Eger|Bishop of Eger]] (and a former papal legate),{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=85}} understood that Vlad had been imprisoned because of his cruelty.{{sfn|Andreescu|1991|p=140}} Rangoni also recorded the rumour that while in prison Vlad caught rats to cut them up into pieces or stuck them on small pieces of wood, because he was unable to "forget his wickedness".{{sfn|Andreescu|1991|p=140}}{{sfn|Florescu|McNally|1989|p=163}} Antonio Bonfini also recorded anecdotes about Vlad in his ''Historia Pannonica'' around 1495.{{sfn|Balotă|1991|p=155}} Bonfini wanted to justify both the removal and the restoration of Vlad by Matthias.{{sfn|Balotă|1991|p=155}} He described Vlad as "a man of unheard cruelty and justice".{{sfn|Treptow|2000|p=218}} Bonfini's stories about Vlad were repeated in [[Sebastian Münster]]'s ''Cosmography''.{{sfn|Balotă|1991|p=156}} Münster also recorded Vlad's "reputation for tyrannical justice".{{sfn|Balotă|1991|p=156}}
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The mass murders that Vlad carried out indiscriminately and brutally would most likely amount to acts of [[genocide]] and [[war crime]]s by current standards.<ref>Michael Arntfield, Springer, 2016, ''Gothic Forensics: Criminal Investigative Procedure in Victorian Horror & Mystery'', p. 109</ref> Romanian defense minister [[Ioan Mircea Pașcu]] asserted that Vlad would have been condemned for crimes against humanity had he been put on trial at Nuremberg.<ref>Henry F. Carey, Lexington Books, 2004, ''Romania Since 1989: Politics, Economics, and Society'', p. 87</ref>
'''Possible hemolacria'''
=== National hero ===▼
According to research published in 2023 based on the analysis of samples collected from letters written by Vlad, he may have had a rare condition known as [[haemolacria]], which causes a person’s tears to be partially composed of blood.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Article |first=Jo Lawson-Tancred ShareShare This |date=2023-10-15 |title=Clues on Ancient Documents Suggest That Vlad the Impaler—The Prince Who Inspired Count Dracula—May Have Shed Tears of Blood |url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/clues-on-ancient-documents-suggest-that-vlad-the-impaler-the-prince-who-inspired-count-dracula-may-have-shed-tears-of-blood-2352562 |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Artnet News |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Guenot |first=Marianne |title=Vlad the Impaler, the terrifying ruler and inspiration behind Dracula, may have cried actual tears of blood, scientists say |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/dracula-vlad-the-impaler-sick-cried-blood-say-scientists-2023-8 |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author1=Jennifer Nalewicki |date=2023-08-15 |title=Vlad the Impaler may have cried tears of blood, chemical analysis of his letters finds |url=https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/vlad-the-impaler-may-have-cried-tears-of-blood-chemical-analysis-of-his-letters-finds |access-date=2024-09-14 |website=livescience.com |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Poenari 01.jpg|thumb|right|Ruins of [[Poenari Castle]], the scene of a popular tale about Vlad]]
[[File:Theodor Aman - Vlad the Impaler and the Turkish Envoys.jpg|thumb|alt=Two bearded men, each wearing a turban, stand before a man who sits on a throne; a dozen people surround them|''Vlad the Impaler and the Turkish envoys'', painting by [[Theodor Aman]]]]
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File:Tepest.jpg|''The Martyrdom of [[Saint Andrew]]'', 1470–1480, [[Österreichische Galerie Belvedere|Belvedere Galleries]]
</gallery>
== See also ==
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* [[Curtea Veche]]
* [[Dracula (Castlevania)|Dracula (''Castlevania'')]]
==Notes==
{{notelist}}
== Citations ==
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{{Commons category|Vlad III the Impaler}}
* [https://www.militaryheritage.com/count_dracula_war_on_islam.htm ''Count Dracula's War on Islam''], a geopolitical context to the military campaigns of Vlad the Impaler
* [http://people.pwf.cam.ac.uk/~jrh11/DracParNEW.doc ''The Tale of Dracula'']{{snd}}Russian manuscript
* [http://monederomanesti.cimec.ro/vlad3.htm Original coins issued by Vlad III the Impaler]
* {{cite web |last=Marek |first=Miroslav |url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/balkan/basarab.html#V2 |title= A genealogy of the Drăculești family |publisher=genealogy.euweb.cz}}
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