Virtually the only European ruler who immediately planned a positive response to the papal appeal was Dracula, and that is perhaps why the pope initially had such high regard for the Romanian warlord. Having signed a treaty with the Transylvanian Saxons in 1460 and renewed his oath of loyalty to the Hungarian king, Dracula had his western flank covered and was poised to resume the vows he had inherited from his father as a member of the Dragon Order. King Matthias Corvinus's enthusiasm was measured by his inability to be formally invested with the crown of St. Stephen; Emperor Frederick III filled his response with pious and encouraging words, but mentioned no specific dates for joining the crusade.
Sultan Mehmed II, who was well aware of the unenthusiastic response of the European powers to the pope's appeal at Mantua, felt that this was the opportune time to strike and seize control of the remaining free Balkan states. His immediate objective was the city of Smederevo (Semendria), the final symbol of Serbian independence. The city fell easily to the Muslim onslaught in 1460; in turn the Turks threatened Bosnia, a Slavic principality religiously subverted to Islam. Pressures once again increased against Belgrade, the strategic fortress under Hungarian rule, which protected the course of the Danube, leading to Buda and Vienna itself. These moves were followed by Vizier Mahmud's diplomatic mission to the despot of Morea, a Byzantine stronghold that had survived the fall of Constantinople. He persuaded the incumbent, a member of the famed imperial Paleologus dynasty, to give up his throne, assuring him safe passage to Italy. The latter fled there on March 7, 1461. Clad in the white garb of a penitent, he strode into Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome, into the presence of Pope Pius II, and presented the Holy Father with a famous relic, the head of the Apostle Andrew, which had once been preserved on the island city of Patras but had been removed because of the Turkish onslaught. Both Mistra, one of the queen cities of the Aegean, and Corinth similarly surrendered virtually without a struggle.
Dracula was understandably upset by these events of the end of 1461. He saw resistance to the Turks gradually petering out in the Balkans as the few surviving free territories were either conquered or made their peace with the sultan. Among the warriors who opted for resistance was his close ally Mihály Szilágy, belatedly reconciled to his nephew King Matthias. By a stroke of ill fortune Mihály Szilágy was captured by one of the sultan's officers, the bey Mihalolu Ali, while on a reconnaissance mission in Bulgaria, shortly after the fall of Smederevo. His companions were immediately killed and mutilated. Szilágy himself was brought to Constantinople and tortured in the sultan's presence. Mehmed was interested in obtaining detailed information on Hungary's military preparedness at Belgrade and Chilia and the extent of Dracula's commitments to the Hungarian king. We presume that Szilágy did not reveal any military secrets and that it was for his courageous silence that he was most cruelly executed by being sawed in half—a familiar Turkish method of imposing death. One can readily imagine the impact of Szilágy's death— that of a man he had always considered as a brother—on Dracula, with his strong eye-for-eye and tooth-for-tooth ethic.
The initial indication that relations between Dracula and Mehmed II had cooled considerably is evident from a letter addressed by the Wallachian prince to the city elders of Braov, dated September 10, 1460: “An embassy from Turkey had now come to us. Bear in mind that I have previously spoken to you about brotherhood and peace… the time and the hour have now come, where the Turks wish to place upon our shoulders… unbearable difficulties and… compel us not to live peacefully with you.… They are seeking ways to loot your country passing through ours. In addition, they force us… to work against your Catholic faith. Our wish is to commit no evil against you, not to abandon you, as I have sworn. I trust that I shall remain your brother and faithful friend. This is why I have retained the Turkish envoys here, so that I have time to send you the news.” These detained Turkish envoys may have been the victims of the famous nailing of the turbans to the heads of the Turks, which is described in the German, Russian, and Romanian narratives. (As mentioned, Dracula had also nailed their caps to the heads of Italian envoys from Caffa.) Dracula's action in this second matter amounted to deliberate provocation of Mehmed II, who, given his character, was bound to react in kind.
A tense Turco-Wallachian situation resulted from the above-mentioned circumstances. The reason for the final breakdown of relations and for the opening of hostilities between Dracula and Mehmed must be sought in Turkish attempts to tighten the loose terms of existing treaty obligations, as a preliminary step toward incorporating Wallachia into the empire. For instance, the tribute of 10,000 ducats a year had been paid by Dracula only until 1459. Wallachia was thus three years in arrears, owing the sultan 30,000 ducats, a very heavy burden, which ultimately fell on the peasants in the 222 villages of the country. (Each village, on average, could raise only 45 ducats.) In theory the tribute and the many other “gifts” to a variety of Turkish officials from the grand vizier downward had to be brought to the sultan in person by the prince. Preoccupied by his campaigns against the Germans of Transylvania, Dracula had never paid such homage to his Turkish masters as convention prescribed, yet another cause for offense. The Turks had also requested no fewer than 500 boys destined for the janissary corps, a demand that was not generally required of vassal states, as opposed to actual Turkish territories. Violating that provision, Turkish recruiting officers had been seen crossing the Danube frequently in certain regions of Wallachia such as Oltenia, where the quality of “manhood” was thought to be good. Such incursions had been resisted by Dracula by force of arms, and the Turkish Danubian commanders, when caught, were apt to find themselves on the extremities of stakes. In fact, such violations of territory practiced by both sides were considered added provocations, and they embittered Turko-Wallachian relations. Raiding, pillaging, and looting were endemic from Giurgiu to the Black Sea coast, and the Danube itself often froze during winter, allowing easy crossing. The Turks had also succeeded in securing control of various fortresses and townships on the Romanian side of the river, including the formidable fortress of Giurgiu, built by Dracula's father, Dracul; these provided advanced operational offensive points for them. In spite of these provocations, the sultan, the bulk of whose army was involved in a struggle with his Asiatic enemy Uzun Hazan Pasha, was playing for time, and ostensibly took the lead in attempting to resolve his differences with Dracula. He invited the Wallachian prince to discuss their differences either at Constantinople or at some mutually convenient city within the confines of his Empire.
Dracula, a wily negotiator who had learned his lessons from experience, immediately suspected a trap such as had been sprung on his father at Gallipoli in 1442. His main objective was also to gain time, and, if possible, allay the sultan's suspicions until his own forces were militarily prepared to deliver an initial strike. In a missive dispatched to Mehmed at the end of November 1461, Dracula alleged that his country had been bled white and his treasury exhausted by the three years of struggle with his German political foes in Transylvania and by domestic upheaval among the boyars. He therefore could not pay the arrears in taxes he owed to the sultan, nor could he leave his capital, “for if I should leave my country my political opponents would invite the Hungarian king to rule over my domains.” Only in the event that the sultan immediately sent one of his pashas to “watch over [the] country” would Dracula volunteer to make the trip to Constantinople. As additional proof of his good faith and his desire to remain the sultan's ally, he was ready, even contrary to treaty obligations, to “provide many children and horses, so that the sultan may not reproach me for not having served him well, and I will count the amount of the tribute and add gifts of my own.” Dracula also indicated that he was willing to discuss a mutually acceptable frontier on the Danube River.
The sultan, detecting a possible deal in the works and worried about the continuing conflict in Asia Minor, accepted Dracula's proposal and sent a diplomatic mission to Tîrgovite, led by a half-Greek, half-Serbian officia
l, Hamza Pasha, bey of Nicopolis, a chief falconer of the realm. This was to be the last official mission from the sultan to Dracula negotiating in apparent good faith.
In the meantime, Mehmed intercepted letters written by Dracula to the Hungarian king that proved that Dracula had negotiated a military alliance with the king. Now convinced of Dracula's insincerity, Mehmed hatched what he thought to be a clever plot to apprehend the Wallachian prince and forcibly bring him to Constantinople. A new meeting place for negotiations was designated by Hamza Pasha outside the island fortress of Giurgiu; there Dracula was to be ambushed and kidnapped. Yet another Turkish envoy, a renegade Greek in Turkish service, Thomas Catavolinos, was to proceed to Tîrgovite to accompany Dracula to this place. He was to keep the Turkish commander at the citadel informed at various stages on the road of the progress of the party, giving the precise time when the Wallachian leader was likely to leave his capital and reach the fortress. Forewarned of the plot, Dracula artfully played the cat-and-mouse game to the hilt; he went, but took the precaution of ordering a superior cavalry force to follow his small number of attendants at a distance. A letter from Dracula to King Matthias from the fortress of Giurgiu on February 2, 1462, makes it quite evident that the Wallachian prince suspected a trap: “By the grace of God, as I was journeying to the frontier, I found out about their trickery and slyness, and I was the one who captured Hamza Bey in the Turkish district and land, close to the fortress called Giurgiu.” Dracula had both Hamza Pasha and the Greek Catavolinos captured; they were destined to face a theatrical death.
Dracula then attacked and captured the fortress of Giurgiu, which his father had built at great sacrifice but which had fallen into Turkish hands in 1447. Disguising himself as a Turk and giving orders in fluent Turkish, he persuaded the garrison commander to open the gates of the fortress. And then, in Dracula's own words, “our men, mixing with theirs, entered and destroyed the fortress, which I immediately burned.” After looting the place for good measure, according to the Italian traveler Donado de Lezze, Dracula “personally cut the noses and ears off two slaves.” The successful attack on Giurgiu, coupled with a well-executed ambush of two high-ranking Turkish officials, was, to say the least, tantamount to a declaration of war.
Dracula was to strike next all along the Danube, taking the offensive at a most propitious moment, since the sultan was still involved in a campaign on the northern shores of Asia Minor. So the Turks were unable to respond quickly to the Dracula challenge.
During the winter of 1461–1462 Dracula waged the first and remarkably successful phase in the Turco-Wallachian war. In responding positively to Pope Pius II's call for a crusade against the Turks, Dracula was attempting to duplicate the successes of Hunyadi during the forties. The fact that the winter was unusually cold that year actually facilitated his war operations, since the frozen Danube River could be crossed with impunity along both banks. Much of the actual fighting took place on Bulgarian soil that was controlled by the Turks.
The key to Dracula's wartime strategy was speed, boldness, and ruthlessness. He forced his troops to cover the distance of some 800 kilometers in two weeks, from the Danube heel facing present-day Yugoslavia to the delta and the Black Sea. With his army divided into smaller forces under individual commanders, Dracula's principal aim was to capture those ports along the Danube, such as Giurgiu and Turnu, which lay on the Romanian bank, the points from which the Turks had launched sallies deep inside his territory. An equally important objective was the systematic destruction of towns on the Bulgarian side of the river that the Turks might use as fording places. He also aimed at depopulating the area, destroying food and other supplies the Turks might need for their future offensive, thus making a Turkish invasion more difficult. Ultimately Dracula's campaign, like Hunyadi's, had a liberating aspect, to free the Christian population of Bulgaria from Turkish control, though he would need the help of the Hungarian king to carry that objective out to its logical end. Since Hungarian help was not forthcoming, many Bulgarians in the Danube area fled with Dracula's troops after the Turkish onslaught and sought asylum in Wallachia.
In his letter to the Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus, dated February 11, 1462, Dracula boasted of his achievements, especially the numbers of enemy killed, a fact confirmed by the German chronicle from the monastery of Melk. Dracula wrote:
I have killed 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 and Bulgars without counting those whom we burned in homes or whose heads were not cut by our soldiers.… Thus Your Highness must know that I have broken the peace with him [the sultan].
Dracula also included some gruesome statistics concerning the exact number of men killed (both Turks and Bulgarians) in the various townships on both banks of the Danube, which enables us to follow the precise course of his attack. At Giurgiu itself there were 6,414 victims; at Eni Sala, 1,350; at Durostor, 6,840; at Orsova, 343; at Hîrsova, 840; at Marotin, 210; at Turtucaia, 630; at Turnu, Batin, and Novograd, 384; at Sistov, 410; at Nicopolis and Ghighen, 1,138; at Rahova, 1,460. It is worth noting that Dracula did not destroy the port of Vidin because, he stated, “from that point onward the Turks can do no great damage.” To impress King Matthias further with his accuracy, Dracula counted the heads, noses, and ears cut off, then placed them in two bags and sent them to Buda through his envoy Radu Farma. These figures did not include the thousand or so Turkish troops and their two commanders, Hamza Pasha and Thomas Catavolinos, who were manacled, marched to the vicinity of Tîrgovite, and impaled. Taller stakes were reserved for the two Turkish commanders.
Dracula was pleased with what he had accomplished, for “had the Turks wished to bring their ships from Constantinople to the Danube they no longer have fording points, because I have burned, destroyed, and laid waste their towns.” Dracula had reasserted his control over the whole length of the Danube River down to the delta and Black Sea region. In essence he also reestablished Wallachian supremacy in the province of Dobruja, which had been won by his grandfather Mircea (Durostor and Eni Sala were both located in that province).
Sultan Mehmed was still busy besieging the city of Corinth in May, but he made an initial attempt to punish Dracula for his daring by sending his grand vizier, Mahmud, a part-Serbian, part-Greek renegade and an able diplomat used by the sultan in various successful Balkan missions, to lead an army to destroy Brila, the largest Wallachian port on the Danube. Overreaching his official instruction, Mahmud, having captured the port, organized a full-scale military offensive involving some 18,000 Turkish troops and launched deep sallies into Wallachian territories, pillaging and burning villages along the way and taking the population away in bondage. When Dracula heard from his scouts of these atrocities, he force-marched his army and caught the vizier's rear guard near Brila, as the Turks were trying to make their way back to the right bank of the Danube. According to the Italian chronicler de Lezze, Dracula's forces destroyed a good part of Vizier Mahmud's army; only 8,000 Turks survived.
This humiliation proved to be the last straw. Mehmed gave up the siege of Corinth and decided to launch a full-scale invasion of Wallachia. Dracula's control of the Danube, however, meant that the sultan would be compelled to invade the country by land from Bulgaria, rather than using the usual water route (the Black Sea and the Danube). The fleet would be used only as an ancillary weapon after a landing had been effected. From a strategic point of view, given the hopeless disparity of forces, Dracula had two options: he could either disperse his troops at diverse locations along the river to prepare for a number of Turkish landing points, or alternatively, had the main Turkish offensive taken place by way of the Danube, he could have made use of amphibious operations, as his father had done in 1446, following the fleet on land by using his fast-moving cavalry to confront the sultan's army at any disembarkation point. As things stood, the element of s
urprise in the Turkish attack was greater, since Dracula could not anticipate the precise landing spot, once the Turkish army could proceed to the Danube from their assembly point in Bulgaria.
Meanwhile, the prince's extraordinary exploits on the Danube were greeted in western Europe by mixed awe, admiration, and praise. It seemed as if the days of the great Hunyadi had returned. A new hope of liberation spread throughout the enslaved lands of Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece. The Transylvanian towns of Braov, Sibiu, and Bistria were among the first to hear the good news, which then spread on to Buda, Prague, Vienna, and even to western capitals. Venetian diplomats such as Pietro Tommasi at Buda, Domenico Balbi at Constantinople, the Cardinal de Saint Angelo, the papal nuncio, and Florio de Reverella, representing the duke of Ferrara (both stationed at Buda), and the representatives of Milan, Ferrara, Bologna, and other Italian states became absorbed in their dispatches with Dracula's Danubian offensive. Ultimately their missives reached the careful eyes of Pope Pius II, who henceforth became an admirer of Dracula's military talent. The Venetian representative at Buda, Pietro Tommasi, in particular turned into a self-styled advocate who pleaded Dracula's cause, with the knowledge that the contents of his reports would go straight to Rome. He expressed the hope to the Venetian senate that once the promised subsidies were sent from Rome and Venice on March 4, 1462, “the Hungarian king will do all he can to help Dracula.… He promised that he would descend at the head of his army and cross into Transylvania.” This was of course wishful thinking. An English pilgrim to the Holy Land, William of Wey, who had happened to sojourn on the island of Rhodes on his way home, wrote that “the military men of Rhodes, upon hearing of Dracula's campaign, had Te Deums sung to the praise and honor of God who had granted such victories.… The lord mayor of Rhodes convened his brother soldiers and the whole citizenry feasted on fruit and wine.” The Genoese from Caffa in the Crimea sent envoys to Dracula informing him that his campaign on the Danube had saved them from an attack by some 300 ships that the sultan had planned to send against them.
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