Vlad (Basarab) of Wallachia (1392 - 1446)

Born 1392 in Principality of Wallachia

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 1446 at about age 54 in Bălteni, Principality of Wallachia

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Biography

Vlad II of Wallachia , known as Vlad Dracul (English: Vlad the Dragon), was a voivode (English: duke) of Wallachia. He reigned from 1436 to 1442, and again from 1443 to 1447. He was the father of Mircea II, Vlad Călugărul (English: Vlad the Monk), Vlad III Dracula, who became posthumously known by the epithet Țepeș (English: the Impaler), and Radu III the Beautiful.

Vlad II received the surname Dracul in 1431, after being inducted into the Order of the Dragon, founded in 1408 by the King Sigismund of Hungary (the later Holy Roman Emperor), as part of a design to gain political favor from the Catholic Church and to aid in protecting Wallachia against the Ottoman Empire.

Family

Vlad II Dracul was a member of the House of Drăculești lineage, and son of Mircea "the Old", Voivoide of Walachia, and was known to have murdered members of the rival princely House of Dănești, a not-so-distant relation to his own father's House of Basarab, and gained power in Wallachia, upon returning from exile in Transylvania in 1436.

The identity of Vlad's first wife is unknown. His second wife, Princess (Cneajna) Vasilissa of Moldavia, was the eldest daughter of Alexandru cel Bun and paternal aunt of Stephen the Great of Moldavia.

Of his legitimate children, Mircea was the eldest, his mother's identity being unknown. Vlad Călugărul was the product of Vlad and one of his mistresses, a Wallachian noblewoman called Călțuna. Vlad Țepeș and Radu were products of his marriage with Vasilissa of Moldavia.

Vlad, having numerous mistresses, also fathered several illegitimate children, including another son named Mircea (the name Mircea being a family favorite due to Vlad's father, Mircea cel Bătrân, a popular Wallachian voivode).[1] Radu Florescu documented on page 193 of his book, "Dracula: Prince of Many Faces" that the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I granted a patent of nobility January 20, 1535 to Ladislas Dracula and his brother John, affirming their direct descent from Vlad and making specific mention of "the ancient insignia of Ladislas's family" having been the same as that of the Bathory family--i.e., gules (red) a sword covering three wolf teeth.

Sources

• WikiTree profile Dracul-1 created through the import of O'Bryan Family tree.ged on Sep 6, 2011 by Tim Tropeck.
• Vlad II Dracul on WikiPedia