Vlad II Dracul

Historical ruler of Wallachia

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Lived 1395–1447, aged 52

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39 languages
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Era
1395–1447
Aged 52

Summary

Updated 2026-06-10

His nickname came from a chivalric order—the Order of the Dragon—but history remembers him mostly as the father of Vlad the Impaler. Vlad II Dracul spent two decades pivoting between Hungarian backing and Ottoman allegiance, a balancing act that ended when he fled his own capital and was killed near Târgoviște.

Biography

About

Born illegitimate to Mircea I of Wallachia before 1395, Vlad spent his youth at Sigismund of Luxembourg's court, joining the Order of the Dragon in 1431 and earning recognition as Wallachia's lawful voivode—though his half-brother Alexander I Aldea held the throne until 1436. With Hungarian support Vlad took power that year, but after Sigismund died in 1437 he shifted allegiance to Ottoman Sultan Murad II, even joining Murad's 1438 invasion of Transylvania. When he flirted with a crusade in 1441, the sultan summoned him to Edirne and took him prisoner in 1442, forcing Vlad to leave his two you…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Vlad II Dracul

Vlad II Dracul

saidundated

If you believe that the emperor of Byzantium and the fleet of the Genoese and Venetians will defeat the Turks on one side, while we will give them battle on the other, oh!

Vlad II Dracul

saidundated