page_title: Vlad II Dracul
section_title: Captivity and second rule
hierarchical_section_title: Vlad II Dracul / Reign / Captivity and second rule
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Hunyadi János szobra, Tóth István alkotása
context_page_description: Vlad II, also known as Vlad Dracul or Vlad the Dragon, was Voivode of Wallachia from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447. He is internationally known as the father of Vlad the Impaler, or Dracula. Born an illegitimate son of Mircea I of Wallachia, he spent his youth at the court of Sigismund of Luxembourg, who made him a member of the Order of the Dragon in 1431. Sigismund also recognized him as the lawful voivode of Wallachia, allowing him to settle in the nearby Transylvania. Vlad could not assert his claim during the life of his half-brother, Alexander I Aldea, who acknowledged the suzerainty of the Ottoman Sultan, Murad II.
  After Alexander Aldea died in 1436, Vlad seized Wallachia with Hungarian support. Following the death of Sigismund of Luxembourg in 1437, Hungary's position weakened, causing Vlad to pay homage to Murad II, which included participating in Murad II's invasion of Transylvania in the summer of 1438. John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, came to Wallachia to convince Vlad to join a crusade against the Ottomans in 1441. After Hunyadi routed an Ottoman army in Transylvania, the sultan ordered Vlad to come to Edirne where he was captured in 1442.
context_section_description: Murad sent Hadım Şehabeddin, Beylerbey (or governor) of Rumelia, to annex Wallachia in August 1442. Hunyadi annihilated the Ottoman army in the Carpathian Mountains in September, and made Vlad's cousin, Basarab, voivode of Wallachia. Before the end of the year, Murad II released Vlad. Vlad had to pledge that he would not support the enemies of the Ottoman Empire and he would pay an annual tribute and send 500 Wallachian boys to serve as janissaries in the sultan's army. He was also forced to leave his two sons, Vlad and Radu, as hostages in the Ottoman Empire.
  The circumstances of Vlad's return to Wallachia are unknown. He regained his throne between March and September 1443. During Hunyadi's "Long Campaign" against the Ottoman Empire, which lasted from October 1443 to January 1444, Vlad remained neutral, especially because the sultan promised the release of his two sons. In the ensuing peace negotiations between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, Murad II was willing to release Vlad from his obligation to personally visit his court, but the papal legate, Julian Cesarini, prevented the ratification of the peace treaty. Instead, he urged Władysław to continue the crusade against the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, Vlad tried to dissuade Władysław III from waging war against the Ottomans, reminding him that Murad II went hunting with more retainers than Władysław had troops, according to the Polish historian, Jan Długosz. Nevertheless, he sent 4,000 horsemen under the command of his son, Mircea, to fight against the Ottomans.
  The crusade ended with the catastrophic defeat of the crusaders in the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444. After the battle Hunyadi wanted to return to Hungary through Wallachia, but he was captured by Wallachian soldiers at the Danube. Vlad only released him after Lawrence Héderváry, Palatine of Hungary, threatened him with a war. According to historian John Jefferson, Vlad held Hunyadi in captivity because he wanted to hand him over to the sultan. Camil Mureşanu writes that Hunyadi was only imprisoned because the soldiers who captured him did not recognize him. Historian Kurt W. Teptow says, Vlad held Hunyadi responsible for the catastrophe and almost killed him. After releasing Hunyadi, Vlad gave him precious gifts and accompanied him as far as the Hungarian border.
  A fleet of Burgundian crusaders attacked the Ottoman fleet on the Black Sea in the spring 1445. The commander of the fleet, Walerand of Wavrin, sent envoys to Hungary to start negotiations about a joint campaign against the Ottoman Empire. At Hunyadi's request, one of Wavrin's envoys, Pedro Vasque de Saavedra, visited Vlad and convinced him to meet Wavrin. In July, Vlad went to Isaccea where he made an alliance with Wavrin. Vlad mustered an army of 4,000–6,000 strong and placed it under the command of his son, Mircea.
  The Burgundian and Wallachian army laid siege to Silistra in the middle of September, but they could not capture it. Before long, however, they conquered and destroyed the small fort at Tutrakan. Vlad convinced Wavrin to attack Giurgiu, saying that whenever the Ottomans "want to harry Wallachia or Transylvania, they and their horses can cross" the Danube near the fortified island at Giurgiu, connected to the Wallachian bank by a bridge. During the siege of Giurgu, two iron rings of a large bombard suddenly broke, killing two soldiers, because Vlad, who was in the command of the fire, did not allow the bombard to cool down between blows. The Ottoman garrison of the fortress capitulated on the condition that they were allowed to freely leave for the Ottoman Empire. However, after they left the fortress, 2,000 Wallachian soldiers attacked and massacred them at Vlad's order, because he regarded the commander of the Ottoman garrison responsible for his captivity in 1442.
  Before long, the Ottoman garrison at Ruse also capitulated. Vlad gave asylum to more than 11,000 Bulgarians who had rebelled against the Ottomans, assisting them to cross the Danube into Wallachia. The Burgundian crusaders and the Wallachians approached Nicopo
caption: John Hunyadi, who dethroned Vlad Dracul in 1447 (a sculpture by István Tóth in Budapest)
exif: {}