Ottomans 2.ott.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Vlad Dracula was born in either November or December (records are sketchy), 1431, in Transylvania. This Romanian principality at the time was under the rule of Hungary, immediately west. Dracula's father, Basarab the Dragon, was its royal governor. A member of the noble Basarab family, the Dragon had earned for himself a reputation in the "land beyond the forest" as a fierce warrior prince. At the time that his wife, the Princess Cneajna of Moldavia, gave birth to his second son, however, he was discontent in his position, eyeing instead the throne of Wallachia, located south of Transylvania on the Arges River.

Dracula was, therefore, a child of tumult. Before he could walk, before he could talk, he must have sensed the heat of the period, sensed the political rivalries and the subterfuge that were all a part of being a son in a royal family of a Renaissance-era Romania. Cutthroat was its nature. It was a land that knew battle, the discordance of small private armies on the march, the clanking of their breastplates being a daily and customary din. When blood wasn't being spilled over religious cause, it was spread over right of land. Fights were external and internal, and they were continuous.

Because Romania in the 15th Century sat on the border between the Eastern and Western cultures of the world, and because the Ottoman Turks and their Muslim rituals posed a threat to this Roman Catholic country, it became a virtual doorway linking the opposing cultures.

Since the 1100s, European crusaders on their way to save Byzantium — that is, to keep the Turks out of Europe — had crossed Romania to engage the white-hooded armies of the successive sultans. Much of the fighting took place directly above and below the Danube on the threshold of Romania/Bulgaria. Eventually, Bulgaria and its neighbor Serbia fell to the Turks. This left Romania an open doorway, through which the Turks seemed destined to charge at any moment.

But, the Turks were not the only agitators to Romania. Unbelievably, in the midst of the threat imposed by Turkey, the European dynasties surrounding it — Hungary, Germany and Poland — fought each other for its control. And as if that wasn't enough, the Romanians rebelled against each other for titles and land grants!

"There were internal problems regarding the heirs to the throne," says Badu Bogdan, a Romanian-American author who operates an excellent website on the historic Dracula. "In the Romanian states, there were several regal families, and they were fighting among themselves for who should rule the country. (There was) high political instability."

The root causes of this instability are not easily expressed in a summary nature, for they are very complex. However, they require some explanation at this point if we are to understand the direction of and the motives for Dracula's forthcoming politics.

A War-Torn History

Simply addressed, the story begins in turbulence, long before the Renaissance, long before the Middle Ages, long before the Ottoman Empire intimidated Europe and long before the formation of the Europe that we know today existed. Centuries before Christ, the Dacians who lived in the mountains of central Romania were forced to hold back an expanding Rome. Conquering these mountain people was not an easy task, Rome learned, and the Dacian defense was successful until 106 A.D., when the Carpathian Mountains caved in under the sandals of the Roman Guard. Romania remained an Imperial Roman province for nearly two hundred years and witnessed a slow transition from paganism to Christianity with the emergence of Constantine and his Holy Roman Empire.

Tranquility was short-lived. Soon, barbaric tribesmen in the form of Slavs, Goths and Huns — among them, Atilla — trampled the soil in the early centuries A.D., disrupting economy, commerce and culture. (Their "warlike fury swept the earth like a living flame," reads Jonathan Harker's journal in Dracula.)

By the 10th Century when the invasions halted, Romania was left with remnants of all the people who had, over the centuries, invaded it. The population was a polyglot mixture of Western and Eastern European influences, tasting of a blend of Roman, Byzantine (Greek), Hungarian, Florentine (Italian) and Saxon (Germanic) flavors. In mountainside villages, the architecture reflected this diversity. Poetic Grecian and Italian forms communicated with the heaviest accents of straight Germanic lines. In cities such as Bistritz, Sucovena, Brasov and Bucharest, fragments of Roman aqueducts still ran water past Moorish rooftops, Latin piazzas, Dutch-front hofbrauhauses. A bulbous tower of a Byzantine mosque might share the skyline with a narrow steeple of a Venetian cathedral.

This diverse concentration of nationalities — comprised particularly of Saxons and Hungarians — shifted as one power became predominant. Powerful, geographically close Hungary eventually dominated the land and engulfed Romania as a part of the Hungarian Kingdom.

The "Romania" was not, however, the entire country that we know today as Romania. Rather, it consisted of basically just the central part of the country, known as Transylvania, or the Carpathian Mountain Region. Connected to it were two "independent states,", Moldavia (east of Transylvania) and Wallachia (south of it) that were nevertheless thought of as Romania. As confusing as this might sound, it is important that we remember particularly Wallachia. Because of its geography, its commercial importance and the fact that it was the principality ruled over by the subject of this article, Dracula, it would become a major focus in the pages ahead.

Ancestry

According to the book, Transylvania — The Roots of Ethnic Conflict, published by Kent State Press, "The social organization of the Romanians...was relatively simple. The various groups of wandering herdsmen and soldiers were under the leadership of a voivode (warrior prince) and of a knez or kenez. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire These local leaders were the major official contact between the Romanians and the Hungarian political or ecclesiastical authority."

The ruling classes (or boyars) of Romania were the native Magyars and theSzekelys. There has been some confusion throughout the years as to what lineage Dracula was born into. Dracula author Bram Stoker claims he was Szekely. But, Radu Florescu and Raymond McNally, in their well-researched In Search of Dracula proclaim him to be of a race much older than either of the above races, one that dates directly back to the Dacians of the Pre-Roman Empire period.

Notwithstanding, many of Dracula's ancestors were warlord princes of Wallachia. One of the most notable, Basarab the Great, had driven the Mongols from the land in the mid-1300s. His son (Dracula's grandfather), named Mircea, had been a soldier, too, chalking up many victories against the Turks.

Dracula's father Basarab inherited Mircea's brains and stamina. For his chivalry, he was inducted into the Royal Order of the Dragon in 1431, only months before his son Vlad was born. This knighthood inadvertently gave the world a name that would endure in history books and in English literature for centuries. Foregoing his birth name, Basarab would refer to himself thereafter, and be referred to, as "The Dragon". In the Romanian tongue, Dragon is Dracul. Adding an "a" after the name denotes "son of". Thus, the Dragon's next heir, young Vlad, gained an eternal nickname: Dracula.

The Dragon

Before we follow the life of Dracula, let's spend a few moments on Dracula's father, Basarab the Dragon, who is himself an important historical entity and whose actions greatly affected his son's. Basarab was born out of wedlock in 1392 to Prince Mircea and one of his harem of concubines. When Mircea died, the Wallachian throne passed not to Basarab but to his brother, Mihail, whose birth had been legitimate. Basarab did not complain, but contented himself with becoming a royal page to Hungarian King Sigismund I at his palace in Luxembourg. There, he was treated to a classical education by Europe's finest teachers. When Sigismund drew up an army to route the Turks on the border region, dutiful and grateful Basarab followed, broadsword in belt, spear in hand.

Mihail passed away in 1421, leaving the state of Wallachia up for grabs. But, Basarab knew that several of his stepbrothers, as illegitimate as he, were vying for the throne. So was a cousin named Danejsti. Knowing that Danejsti was raising an army to take the principality for his own, Basarab sought the patronage of Sigismund to assign the princedom to him. Sigismund, claiming his page's young age and lack of experience, refused and, instead, supported Danejsti.

Basarab's hurt feelings soon diminished. He was soon off to Constantinople, the seat of the last vestiges of the Holy Roman Empire, to act as diplomat between his own church, the Roman Catholic, and the Eastern Orthodox. Pope Pius II in Rome, who was spearheading a movement to unite the two faiths, had petitioned Sigismund to send an envoy, one of considerable tact and speech, to convince the Holy Roman Emperor to savor the idea of unification with the Vatican. That Sigismund chose Basarab was a high compliment.

Byzantine Emperor John VIII Paleologus found the Hungarian-sent messenger a man of high ideal and decorum, but was forced to give him bad news. Although he was not closed indefinitely to the idea of further discussing a possible understanding between papist and non-papist faiths, the timing of the Pope's request, he said, was a bit premature. The Holy Roman Empire — that is, its people and their traditions — already had its hands full trying to remain intact from not only Mongolian attacks but also now constant Turkish ramrodding. The ethics of religious dogma would have to remain on hold until he could determine the strategy of the more corporal issue: defending the physical empire. Basarab graciously accepted the emperor's answer and reported back to Hungary.

Sigismund asked his ward to remain at Luxembourg to help him shape a possible crusade against the Turks. Basarab, promising his allegiance to His Majesty's wishes, nevertheless elected to take a hiatus back to Romania where he had earlier set his eyes on the daughter of Alexandru, prince of the Moldavian state. Princess Cneajna was now of marrying age, was beautiful and, best of all, very interested in her suitor. The couple married in 1427 at a High Mass. A boy child, Mircea II, was born to them a year later.

In 1431, while his wife was pregnant with their second child, Basarab was recalled to Hungary. The king's earlier designs of a Turkish crusade had flowered; now a strike against the Ottomans seemed imminent. The Turks had grown progressively dangerous; they had captured Serbia and Bulgaria; their dark shadow leaned suspiciously northwest towards Hungary. Aware that his country alone could not block a major enemy thrust, Sigismund sought the backing of other European dynasties that had a vested interest in keeping Europe Christian. To his court, then, he called together two-dozen heads of state to pledge themselves in a campaign. In a brilliant tour de force of partisanship, he admitted each representative into the highly respected and ancient Order of the Dragon, a society of knights whose principal aim, according to authors Florescu and McNally, "entailed the defense and propagation of Catholicism against...heretics". As his own compatriot, Sigismund selected Basarab, whose diplomacy in Constantinople had planted the seeds of acknowledgement between Eastern and Western churches.

Transylvanian Roots

As another prize, Sigismund begifted Basarab — now called the Dragon — the governorship of Transylvania. It was an attempt to atone for his refusal to support Basarab's earlier bid for Wallachia against Danejsti. While the Dragon's appointment made him content for the meanwhile, he still had his heart set on ruling Wallachia. As the principality's new governor, Basarab had access to Transylvania's armed militias, which, secretly and adroitly, he began to muster for a march against Danejsti when the time was ripe.

In the interim, he moved his family to the Transylvanian capital of Sighisoara, where he instantly took command of the mountainside citadel overlooking the town. In the family residence, a villa that still exists today, his princess gave birth to her second son. But, the Dragon's joy was cut short. He learned that Ottoman Turks had crossed the Danube and were pouring across Wallachia. Prince Danejsti, overwhelmed and frightened, had lain down his sword.

The Turks would have profound impact on the life of the boy who had just squealed his first cries in Sighisoara. And that boy, whose father had named Vlad Dracula, would have a very important impact on them.

The Turks

The Ottoman Turks had descended from a large conglomeration of other tribes in Asia Minor in the late 13th Century. "(Their) roots rested on Islamic foundations, but from the start it was a heterogeneous mixture of ethnic groups and religious creeds," reads Turkey: A Country Study, a report effected by the Library of Congress' foreign research library. "Muslims were thereby lumped together...and Turks as such were Turkish-speaking Sunni-Muslims."

During the 14th Century, their hordes began to move westward, gulping down at first only small states within the Eastern World, those belonging to other nomadic peoples. Spreading out, they soon infiltrated Western borders, seizing Bulgarian lands and penetrating the corps of the Holy Roman Empire. By the time of Dracula's birth, in the winter of 1431, the Ottomans ruled a vast territory that stretched from the Occidental East to the corners of Western Europe. Their first inroad into accessing Europe was none other than Romania.

Plans to make further ingress, however, would be thwarted. Often inflicting unspeakable terrors on the inhabitants of their conquered countries, a strategy to make even the bravest Catholic knight wobble in his armor, the Turks were in for a shock of their own. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Of course, in 1431 they could not have foreseen their encountering a quarter-century later of a certain Romanian named Dracula who would outride, outthink, outsmart and outfrighten them — right out of their sandals.