Mehmed didn’t see the funny side of that at all so he sent one of his most trusted guys — Hamza Pasha, along with 1000 cavalry to teach Mr Impaler a lesson for being so naughty. Vlad was ready well in advance and ambushed them in a narrow pass. He joyfully impaled all 1000 of them on wooden spikes with Hamza on the highest spike to denote his rank.
Of course Mehmed was more than a little miffed at this and raised an army of around 90,000 men and marched on Wallachia. Vlad had only 30-40,000 but still managed to prevent them crossing the Danube because he was so hard. Vlad III made repeated small attacks and the exasperated opposition ended up retreating.
Mehmed (pictured below) wasn’t done with this guy, so he recruited Vlad’s little brother to lead another attack. Vlad was running out of cash so he went to Hungary to ask for more funds, but instead of getting help he got locked in a dungeon for high treason. How long he was imprisoned for is unclear, some say he was there for as long as 10 years. He was only released on the promise that he turned Catholic and married the King of Hungary’s cousin. Obviously, anything is better than a Hungarian dungeon so he begrudgingly accepted.
His brother died in 1475 and Vlad III took the throne for the third time, but he was assassinated just a couple of months into the post. His manner of death is not known, but he was found mutilated in a bog after a battle with his old foes the Turks.
Despite being a blood thirsty ruler, he is still revered as a hero in Hungary and Romania. He was an able voivode (warrior), spoke many languages and was a dab hand in the saddle. As far as they’re concerned he fought off the terrors of the Ottoman army and kept the area independent.
So to end this cheery tale here’s a fact for you: Prince Charles is one of Vlad the Impaler’s descendants. How about that? Charles even stars in a Romanian Tourist Board promo video and says — “The genealogy shows I am descended from Vlad the Impaler, so I do have a bit of a stake in the country.” Great joke Charlie boy.
☛ More: Most Brutal Execution Methods #5: Disembowelment
