Vlad III Dracula | Timeline

Vlad III (1431-1477), also known as Vlad Dracula (son of Dracul) or Vlad Țepeș (the impaler), was a 15th century voivode (Prince) of Wallachia, a principality roughly corresponding to the southern third of modern Romania. Vlad became infamous for his brutal punishments, such as impalement, but also renowned by some for his attempt to fight the Muslim Ottomans, even though Vlad was only largely successful against Christian forces. He ruled on three occasions – 1448, 1456 – 62, 1476 - and experienced a new fame in the modern era thanks to links to Bram Stoker's novel "Dracula".

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December(?) 1(?), 1431 - Sighisoara - Vlad III Dracula is born

January(?) 1(?), 1436 - Târgoviște, Wallachia - Vlad and brother Radu are moved to Târgoviște when their father begins his reign as voivode

January(?) 1(?), 1442 - Doğrugöz, Konya | Edirne - Vlad II's sons Radu and Vlad (III) arrive to the ottoman Court, to serve as hostages of his loyalty

July 20, 1447 - (While in Edirne)(?) - While fleeing from Târgoviște, Vlad II is captured and killed in the marshes at Bălteni

October(?) 5(?),1448 - Giurgiu - Vlad breaks into Wallachia at the head of an ottoman army. The fortress of Giurgiu is captured =(START)

December 7, 1448 - Edirne - Vlad is forced to flee to the Ottoman Empire when Vladislav II returns to Wallachia with the remnants of his army

October(?) 1(?), 1449 - Moldavia - Moves to Moldavia, where Bogdan II (his father's brother-in-law and possibly his maternal uncle) had mounted the throne with János Hunyadi's support in the autumn of 1449

November(?) 1(?), 1451 - Transylvania - After Bogdan was murdered by Peter III Aaron in October 1451, Bogdan's son, Stephen, fled to Transylvania with Vlad to seek assistance from Hunyadi.

February 6, 1452 - Brașov - Vlad tries to settle in Brașov, but Hunyadi forbids the burghers to give shelter to him

January(?) 1(?), 1453 - Moldavia - Vlad returns to Moldavia

April 15, 1456 - Târgoviște, Wallachia - Vlad seizes the throne of Wallachia after invading it

July 3, 1456 - (While in Transilvania)(?) - Hunyadi informs the townspeople of Brașov that he had tasked Vlad with the defence of the Transylvanian border

August(?) 1(?), 1456 - Wallachia - Vlad invades Wallachia with hungarian support

September 10, 1456 - First extant letter as voivode of Wallachia to the burghers of Brașov, promising to protect them in case of an ottoman invasion of Transylvania

June 1(?), 1457 - Moldavia - Vlad assists Stephen, son of Bogdan II of Moldavia, in his move to seize Moldavia

December 1, 1457 - Letter to Michael Szilágyi

June 13, 1458 - Bucharest - Vlad issues a document in Latin

January(?) 1(?), 1459 - Brașov - When the local merchants refuse to pay taxes in spite of repeated warnings, Dracula leads an assault on Brasov, burns an entire suburb, and impales numerous captives on Timpa Hill. The scene has been immortalized in an especially gruesome woodcut which appeared as the frontispiece in a pamphlet printed in Nuremberg in 1499. It depicts Vlad having a meal while impaled victims are dying around him. As he eats, his henchmen are hacking off limbs of other victims right next to his table.

Ruins of the Poenari Castle

April 3, 1459 - Poenari - First major act of revenge aimed at the boyars of Târgoviste for not being loyal to his father. On Easter Sunday, he arrests all the boyar families who had participated at the princely feast. He impales the older ones on stakes while forcing the others to march from the capital to the town of Poenari. This fifty-mile trek was quite grueling and no one was permitted to rest until they reached their destination. Dracula then orders the boyars to build him a fortress on the ruins of an older outpost overlooking the Arges River. Many die in the process. Dracula, therefore, succeeds in creating a new nobility and obtaining a fortress for future emergencies.

September 20, 1459 - Curtea Veche, Bucharest - Vlad styles himself "Lord and ruler over all of Wallachia, and the duchies of Amlaș and Făgăraș", showing that he had taken possession of both of these traditional Transylvanian fiefs of the rulers of Wallachia. He establishes his residence at his "fortress" of Curtea Veche

Dracula at the "Calvary of Christ", 1460

April 22, 1460 - Wallachia - Dan III breaks into Wallachia, but Vlad defeats and executes him
June(?) 1(?), 1460 - suburbs of Brașov - Vlad invades Transylvania and destroys the suburbs of Brașov, ordering the impalement of all men and women who had been captured
July 26, 1460 - Brașov - Peace is restored. Vlad addresses the burghers of Brașov as his "brothers and friends"
August 24, 1460 - Amnaș | Făgăraș - Vlad invades the region around Amnaș and Făgăraș to punish the local inhabitants who had supported Dan III. "Dracula came through the forest with his servants and had all the Wallachians of both sexes tracked down, as people say outside the village of Amlaș, and he was able to bring so many together that he let them get piled up in a bunch and he cut them up like cabbage with swords, sabers and knives; as for their chaplain and the others whom he did not kill there, he led them back home and had them impaled. And he had the village completely burned up with their goods and it is said that there were more than 30,000 men."
September 10, 1460 - Letter to the Transylvanian Saxons of Braşov, warning them of Mehmed's invasion plans
January(?) 1(?), 1462 - Oblucitza | Novoselo | Rahova | Samovit | Ghigen - Vlad crosses the Danube River in the Winter and raids bulgarian lands disguised as an ottoman "Sipahi" (cavalry). He infiltrates ottoman camps, killing all in his path. Later he discribes it in a letter to Corvinus
February 11, 1462 - Târgoviste(?) - Letter to Matthias Corvinus, appealing for military. Dracula details his campaign across the Danube and lays out the probable ottoman response: "I have killed peasants men and women, old and young, who lived at Oblucitza and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea, up to Rahova, which is located near Chilia, from the lower Danube up to such places as Samovit and Ghighen. We killed 23,884 Turks without counting those whom we burned in homes or the Turks whose heads were cut by our soldiers…Thus, your highness, you must know that I have broken the peace with him.” (Sultan Mehmet II)
June 17, 1462 - Between Nikopol and Târgoviste, Romania - Vlad Ţepeş attacks the turkish camp but fails to murder Mehmed II

Pilate judging Jesus, 1463
(Dracula on the left)

June 20(?), 1462 - (While withrawing to Transylvania) - According with historians, Mehmed is sickened by the sight of Vlad Tepes' "forest of the impaled" - 20,000 men, women and children on stakes, and moves away from Târgoviste
November 1(?), 1462 - near Rucăr, Wallachia - Vlad is captured by Corvinus' czech mercenary commander, John Jiskra of Bradýs
November 7, 1462 - Forged letters allegedly from Vlad are sent to Mehmed II, Mahmud Pasha and Stephen of Moldavia, offering to join the Sultan army against Hungary if the Sultan restored him to the throne - The forgery was probably made by a saxon priest of Brașov
November 15(?), 1462 - Alba Iulia, Romania - Vlad is imprisoned in Alba Iulia
January(?) 1(?), 1463(?) - Visegrád, N. Hungary - Vlad is taken to Visegrád, where he would spend 12 years imprisoned

German drawing, 1488

January(?) 1(?), 1475 - Visegrád - After 12 years imprisoned, and supposedly converted to Catholicism, Vlad is released.
June 1(?), 1475 - Transylvania - Vlad moves to Transylvania. Sends his envoy to look for a house in Sibiu. Marries the widow Justina Szilágyi
July(?) 1(?), 1475 - (While in Sibiu)(?) - Stephen III of Moldavia sends his envoys to Matthias Corvinus, asking him to send Vlad to Wallachia against Basarab Laiotă, who had submitted himself to the Ottomans. Stephen wanted to secure Wallachia for a ruler who had been an enemy of the Ottoman Empire

Dracula's atrocities, the first
horror best-seller story
german drawing, 1499

September 21, 1475 - Sibiu - Corvinus orders the burghers of Sibiu to give 200 golden florins to Vlad from the royal revenues
October 1(?), 1475 - Buda, Hungary - Vlad leaves Transylvania for Buda
January(?) 1(?), 1476(?) - Pécs, Hungary - Vlad buys a house in Pécs that became known as "Drakula háza" (Dracula's House)
January(?) 15(?), 1476 - Corvinus dispatches Vlad and the Serbian Vuk Grgurević to fight against the Ottomans in Bosnia
February 1(?), 1476 - Srebrenica, Bosnia - Vlad and Vuk capture Srebrenica and other fortresses from February to March

Dracula's atrocities
Strasbourg, 1500

August 30(?), 1476 - Târgu Neamț - Stephen Báthory and Vlad break into Moldavia, forcing Mehmed II to lift the siege of the fortress at Târgu Neamț 
October 7, 1476 - Brașov - Vlad stays in Brașov and confirms the commercial privileges of the local burghers in Wallachia
November 16, 1476 - Bucharest - Stephen of Moldavia and Vlad occupy Bucharest, forcing forcing Basarab Laiotă to seek refuge in the Ottoman Empire
November 26, 1476 - Bucharest(?) - Vlad is crowned and declares his third reign as ruler of Wallachia
January 10, 1477 - Between Bucharest and Giurgiu - Vlad III Dracula is killed in battle against Basarab Laiotă's forces, supported by the ottomans =(END)