-Caveat Lector-
DRACULA WAS A GOOD GUY
>
>Most people believe - as they have been taught - that Dracula was
>a bloodthirsty 'vampire' from Transylvania. This Hollywood horror
>fairy tale is not true, or it is at least comparable with another
>fairy tale closer to our times: the total demonisation of Adolf Hitler.
>Here we offer you the true story of Prince Vlad Dracula the Impaler,
>Orthodox Christian Crusader of the 15th Century.
>
>FACING THE TURKISH THREAT
>
>Mahomed II entered history as an extremely ambitious Sultan. His two
>main goals were to conquer Central Europe and Constantinople. In order
>to fulfil his plans he had to occupy Belgrade - the gateway to Central
>Europe. Thus the Orthodox Romanian Medieval States and the Catholic
>Hungarian Kingdom became the direct targets of Mahomed II. Amidst
>the peoples, the idea of a Crusade grows, an idea which will be
accomplished
>by Iancu Corvin of Hunedoara, Vlad Dracula the Impaler and St. Stephen
>the Great.
> Iancu Corvin of Hunedoara was a Romanian Catholic military Lord
>in South-West Transylvania. He also had the jurisdiction of Southern
>Banat, on the Danube across which the Ottoman threat was coming. In
>1440, after the Hungarian King dies, Iancu Corvin helped the application
>of the Polish King Vladislav III for the Hungarian Crown. After the
>nomination of the new King in Budapest, Iancu Corvin was named Prince
>of Transylvania, in 1441. From that moment he started the project
>of the Crusade, mainly on two fields:
> 1. By strengthening the military inside Transylvania, working
>mostly on the middle class;
> 2. By helping his Romanian Orthodox friends to get into power in
>Wallachia and Moldavia - across the Carpathians.
> His first great victory upon the Turks took place in Serbia in
>1441. By surprise, in 1442, the Turks attack Transylvania. After the
>first Ottoman victory, the Christians re-grouped quickly and struck
>back at the invader's army so harshly that they succeed in killing
>the Muslim leader together with his son. The dismantled Turkish army
>ran away Southwards into Wallachia. Iancu followed them, beat them
>and named Basarab II as Prince of Wallachia. In 1442, two more battles
>followed in Transylvania and Wallachia; on almost the same frame.
>Iancu's victories impressed Europe.
> Poland, Venice, Burgundy and Aragon planned a new Crusade under
>the rule of Iancu. Trusting the help promised by these countries,
>he began a long campaign into Serbia and Bulgaria, aiming to free
>Adrianople and thus to break the siege of Constantinople. But from
>Europe, only promises came: the material help was too weak. On his
>own, he fought the Sultan, forcing him to ask for a 10 year peace
>(the Treaty of Szeged, July 1442). The military preparations didn't
>cease. The Pope insisted on an attack and the Venician fleet set sail
>for Byzantium. In this new campaign, Iancu commanded the armies of
>Transylvania, Croatia, Bosnia and also Wallachia - the last one under
>the command of Vlad Dracul (the father of Vlad Dracula the Impaler.
>'Dracul' was the Romanian for 'Dragon'; Vlad Dracul gained, as a soldier,
>a German Order of the Dragon; 'Dracula' or 'Draculea' means in Romanian
>'Son of Dracul'.
>This, in short, is the ethimological origin of the name 'Dracula').
>In Bulgaria, near Varna, a great battle took place in which the Hungarian
>King was killed. In 1446, Iancu Corvin of Hunedoara became Governor
>of Hungary. From this new position he developed strong alliances with
>Moldavia and Wallachia, shaping a common military defence system.
>He also established good contacts with Skanderbeg, the leader of the
>Albanians. In 1448, he fought the Turks at Kossovopolje (in Kossovo);
>the battle was lost because of treason. Soon afterwards, Iancu placed
>Bogdan II (the father of St. Stephen the Great) in power on the Moldavian
>Throne. In 1453, Mahomed II conquered Constantinople. In reply, Iancu
>fortified the Danube line and strengthened the Carpathian system of
>alliances. In 1456, Iancu of Hunedoara installed Vlad Dracula the
>Impaler on the Throne of Wallachia; immediately he supported the crowning
>of St. Stephen the Great in Moldavia. Looking to stop the Turks in
>the battle for Belgrade, Iancu formed an army of 30,000 men from Romania,
>Hungary, Poland, Czech, Germany etc. With this force he crushed the
>Muslims in a bloodbath. Even Mahomed II was wounded in the battle.
>While Europe was celebrating, Iancu died of pest in the military camp
>of Zemun, Serbia, on November 11, 1456. His body was laid to rest
>in peace in the Catholic Cathedral of Alba Iulia - in the heart of
>Transylvania, amongst the people he ruled and commanded in battles
>for Christendom.
>
>VLAD DRACULA CONTINUES THE STRUGGLE
>
>The political and military program of Iancu Corvin of Hunedoara was
>continued by Vlad Dracula the Impaler of Wallachia and by St. Stephen
>the Great of Moldavia.
>Vlad Dracula's extremely large European popularity was mainly due
>to his strong personality, to his authoritarian spirit and certainly
>to his unmerciful attitude toward all sorts of enemy. It was mostly
>the German stories that made his image as cruel as possible: merciless
>and bloodthirsty. That was in order to explain the hostile attitude
>of Matthew Corvin (son of Iancu and King of Hungary) who stopped the
>military campaigns of his father and imprisoned Vlad Dracula for ten
>years in Budapest. Under his political influence, the stories of Dracula
>entered more and more into the realms of fantasy, leaving the line
>of historical truth. But if we study historical documents (and not
>fantasy tales) we will discover interesting facts about Dracula: he
>was authoritarian, hard with the class of landlords, with an intense
>sense of justice, applying dreadful penalties for thieves and traitors,
>and also a courageous Crusader.
> He encouraged honest commerce with the German cities of Transylvania:
>Kronstadt-Brasov and Hermannstadt-Sibiu. But every attempt at cheating
>or stealing was punished with abominable death penalties: impaling
>causes a slow and painful death. Most of his faithful men were from
>Transylvania and Moldavia, the landlords of Wallachia were uncomfortable
>with such a correct ruler over their head and they did not cease to
>plot against him. In reply, Dracula continued to slaughter them, one by
>one. He developed a new class
>of Knights from the faithful knights to whom he gave the lands and
>castles of the killed Wallachian traitors.
> Following the European policy of Iancu Corvin, Vlad Dracula helped
>Stephen to get on the Moldavian Throne and developed many hostile
>actions against the Turks. The Muslims intended to trap him in an
>ambush at Giurgiu on the Danube (south of today's Bucharest). Dracula,
>even with smaller forces, defeated the Muslim army; took all the prisoners,
>including Hamza Beg (their leader), to the Wallachian capital Targoviste,
>and impaled them there. For Hamza Beg he reserved the longest pole.
>In the winter 1461-'62, Dracula crossed the frozen Danube into present-day
>Bulgaria, causing great damage in the Turkish ranks and liberating
>a large area on the Danube's banks. In response, Mahomed II attacked
>Wallachia in the Spring with a huge army. He chose to command the
>repressions on the field, to personally punish Vlad Dracula. The Sultan
>even brought with him a pretender to the Wallachian Throne: Radu the
>Handsome - the traitor brother of Dracula. With a small army of 22,000,
>in the night of July 16-17, 1462, near Targoviste, Dracula launched
>a night strike against the Ottoman camp. He entered the enemy camp
>with 7,000 troopers, looking for the Sultan's tent. Dracula wanted
>to kill Mahomed with his own hands. The panic was so great that the
>Muslims started to fight each other. In the morning the rays of the
>Sun showed the disaster caused by Dracula's strike. But the victory
>could not be well exploited on the political field because of the
>Wallachian landlords who preferred Radu the Handsome, betraying Dracula.
>On the other side, Matthew Corvin of Hungary, who received many supplies
>from Europe, delayed his military intervention in the support of Dracula
>(Matthew did not really want a military conflict with the Muslims).
>So, Dracula was forced to retreat over the Carpathians into Transylvania
>and wait for Matthew's support. An intrigue set up by the Wallachian
>traitors made Matthew imprison Dracula for more than ten years in
>Budapest. The Hungarian King genuinely believed the fake letter in
>which Dracula "plotted" with the Sultan against Hungary. This fact
>largely contributed to discredit his image in Europe. In the autumn
>of 1476, forced by St. Stephen the Great, Matthew came to his senses
>and liberated Dracula, finally understanding that he is the right
>person for the anti-Ottoman campaigns in the South. Back on his Throne
>again, Dracula ruled for only two months. The Wallachian landlords
>assassinated him as a result of the plots carried out by Laiota Basarab
>together with the Turks.
> Thus ended the life of Vlad Dracula the Impaler, a life dedicated
>to the armed struggle for the Cross, to the continuous policy of defending
>Europe against the Muslim invaders, for the independence of his country
>and nation. His very close friend, St. Stephen the Great of Moldavia,
>qualified by the Pope as 'Athlaeta Christi', succeeded after more
>than half of Century of continued rule over Moldavia to bring glamour
>to the Crusader spirit of Iancu Corvin of Hunedoara and Vlad Dracula
>of Wallachia.
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