I wish I could come visit, but my legs sadly continue to be in poor shape, and what little recovery the warm air has effected would be undone by a long carriage-ride; and riding a horse is out of the question entirely.
Wishing you all the best,
Izsák the Scribe son of Selomó
Letter from Galeotto Marzio to Jakab Mendel the Elder
December 7, 1475
To the Prefect of All Hungarian Jews, Jakab Mendel the Elder,
It is with great sadness and disappointment that I must inform you I will not be able to meet with you again this week, despite our prior arrangements. While our meeting last Thursday was most fruitful, I must return to my native lands as soon as possible due to family matters, and humbly ask for your understanding. We can continue our pleasant conversation in writing, and I do truly hope that I can keep you informed, and possibly in some measure also entertained. As you so rightly said, it is well within the domain of a Prefect to keep himself informed, to the greatest extent possible—and I am humbled that you sought me out to provide you with this honour.
But I do not wish to part from you without providing you with further news of the Court:
Vlad of Wallachia will be returning to fight the Turks in the South. It is a very dangerous assignment, but the lord seems delighted, and when he finally reappeared from his self-imposed exile from courtly life, he seemed revivified, his cheeks bursting with fresh blood. He partook of the royal dinners he has been invited to with apparent delight, though he missed several of the lunches; I suppose he still needs those few daylight hours of additional rest.
I had been greatly worried about his health, as you know, but the news that he will be able to move forward with the campaign to retake Wallachia for himself has quite literally reanimated him. He has even taken to letting out his hair instead of braiding it in Transylvanian fashion. He looks most handsome with his long wavy hair, and standing next to King Mátyás, a resemblance between them struck me that went beyond the superficialities of physical appearance. I never dared ask the Wallachian lord if he had any Székely ancestry, feeling such a question to be importunate from a foreigner like me, but his command of the Magyar language is flawless. Then again, his Italian is also quite good, and his Latin shows a book learning surpassing that of any other noble who’d earned their reputation by the sword. It is no surprise that Mátyás appreciates him, even seeing that he held him in prison for so many years.
I do believe the upcoming campaigns bode well for all of us. But—and this should stay between us—I still dearly wish the King would marry, for he remains restless and agitated without a suitable Queen. I will see what I can organize in Italian lands.
Remaining truly yours,
Galeotto Marzio the Chronicler
Letter from Majsi son of József to Jakab Mendel the Elder
To the Prefect with great urgency!
I am going to be going South to fight in the King’s new campaign! Or rather to deliver more messages. I have joined Vlad’s Personal Guard and I will be even allowed to have weapons and a horse!! It is amazing the King is now allowing all this for Jews and especially for me!
Father is very proud of me and financed the horse with much coin. I told him “I will make sure to feed it” but a lot of my coin will go to buying equipment, especially a suit of armour!! I am glad horses do not eat meat!!
I am trying to become Vlad’s manservant or lance-bearer or I don’t know all these military words! I remember what you told me about his hair but he never lets anyone touch his hair and he also only ventures out after dusk. It is very very frustrating. The armies will move under cover of darkness, people are saying.
I have already seen his command tent and I think he is hiding something under his beddings. I will try to investigate!!!
Majsi, the Warrior (And I would say “The Defender of the Christian Faith” like these people always say of themselves except that would not be so nice for a Jew like me to say. Am I still defending the Christian faith somehow!? I think I am defending the world from a great evil.)
Letter from Jakab Mendel the Elder to Rabbi Izsák the Scribe
With the Aid of the Heavens
The 13th of Teves, the year 5236 since Creation
December 11, 1475
Esteemed Rabbi Izsák,
I need your urgent advice. Against my judgment, but unfortunately with the support of his parents, my dear nephew has decided to join Mátyás’ new southern campaign, led by Vlad of Wallachia.
I know very well what the Torah says about honouring one’s parents and would not dare impose myself into this dispute—and the news Majsi will send home might ensure the safety of our community, and inform us in more detail about the lives of Jewish people under Turkish rule. But I am greatly concerned for him. I gifted him a dagger into which I had some of your protective sentences engraved, but it might not be sufficient. The Other Side can exert a strong pull and try to make us stray from the paths of the Law, and Vlad is a charismatic man; if anything, his transformation has no doubt made him stronger. I do not fear for my nephew’s physical safety as much as I fear for his soul. He is by nature inquisitive, and might stumble on more than what would be good for him.
I also fear that if any of this secret knowledge were to come to light, surely the Gentiles would use it against us. They accuse us of kidnapping children and drinking their blood, although such acts are expressly forbidden in the Torah. Under the reign of King Mátyás, such libellous voices have received no royal support, but surely if the King had to choose between his most loyal commander and the Jewish community, he would not show us beneficence. I know you have been away and may be somewhat out of touch with our community, but I ask you to trust my judgment—any turn of events where the King and his loyal commander are revealed as these “estries” you spoke of would lead us to certain disaster.
I still do not know the identity of the thieves who stole our previous correspondence, but I suspect that they worked either for the King or Lord Vlad. I have taken steps to prevent this happening again, with the aid of the Heavens.
If in your studies you have come across any further weaknesses these creatures of the Other Side might have, I beseech you to inform me. Majsi will need all the help he can get.
I have heard that Galeotto Marzio has also decided to join the campaign, and he is certainly in Pest-Buda right now; but then, there are many rumours flying around about who might be joining Vlad of Wallachia. I will try to seek out Galeotto—I know he has been getting into gambling debts behind the King’s back, and I might be able to use some of my discretionary expenses to motivate the chronicler to provide me with information.
I will strive to inform you—your knowledge, wisdom and learning are all that can help us in these times of danger and spiritual struggle.
All the best, and pray for us,
Jakab Mendel the Elder
Letter from Galeotto Marzio to Jakab Mendel the Elder
February 23, 1476
To the Prefect of All Hungarian Jews, Jakab Mendel the Elder—also my dear friend,
It pains me greatly that we had to part without one more of our fruitful and entertaining discussions. You know you are a natural-born storyteller, just like me? Tales will be sung of Galeotto Marzio, just as I am now singing the tales of others; and I trust your name shall also endure.
I will attempt to remedy my grave error by writing you a missive from camp. I have ample coin to ensure it reaches you speedily and safely; and in any case I need to repay you for the favours that you have generously bestowed upon me. I will not forget your intercession in the manner of the debts I had incurred with the nobles of the Court, and I hope this information proves useful to you in exchange.
Right now we mainly travel under cover of the night, and do our best not to light fires needlessly, so you will have to excuse my careless penmanship—I have but the smallest candle to cautiously light my tent for just a few minutes.
We have split from the armies o
f King Mátyás after our siege and conquest of Szabács, and our current goal is to retake Srebrenica and its rich silver mines. Vlad of Wallachia is leading the army, together with the Serbian lord Vuk Branković. The King is planning on returning to Buda soon, but our soldiers will push onward.
Vlad has designed a strategy that hinges on his great cunning. He has gathered to himself 150 horsemen bedecked in Turkish battle finery, and will ride into town with them tomorrow, on market day. They will mingle with the visitors to the great market, and then attack from within when our main force reaches the town. I am dubious of this plan’s success, but Lord Vlad has spoken in council most persuasively, and has demonstrated his uncanny ability to disguise himself as a Turk. I do not know if the Magyar soldiers and the assorted foreign mercenaries of Mátyás will be capable of replicating his feat, but if Christ is with us, who’s against us?
Pray for our souls, in your own way—it cannot hurt. And think of your dear friend,
Galeotto Marzio
Letter from Majsi son of József to Jakab Mendel the Elder
The 16 of Second Adar, the Year 5236
To the prefect!! You can also pass it along to the Rabbi.
I actually put a date this time!!
I hope you enjoyed my previous letter about the siege of Szabács! I hope it reached you speedily, I had to give it to someone who is not so used to couriering. I am still elated from our victory, and now I have another victory to report! Today I dressed up as a Turk and a mighty Turk to boot! We snuck into Srebrenica by posing as Turkish soldiers on a little bit of a leave and maybe slightly drunk too (a great excuse when you can’t really speak Turkish). At first it was just me and the lord and a few more other people chosen from his most loyal soldiers. We split up to investigate and find weak points for the attack. I was with the lord and I get the impression he likes me a lot. He says Majsi you are cunning you know? And I say I am just a simple errand-boy. I am no scholar. He says we will find out today just how far my invincibility goes. Things will come to the light of day. I think he knows I’m reporting on him but wants me to report on him because he thinks he will die. I just nod and go along.
He does not like the Magyars very much by the way. Is he really Székely? Maybe he just doesn’t like people, full stop.
So we go into the market and in our Turkish getup we got by raiding some raiders. And before that he secluded himself in his tent and came out masked like a Turk but I knew it was not a mask at all. I think I’m the only one who knows. We went into the market and he speaks Turkish!! Does he speak any language? Does it come from the shapeshifting? I wanted to show him my blade to see if he can read the Hebrew inscription, but he did not want to look at it and it even made him angry. I did not want to anger him.
He told us to avoid the other Turks in the market (there weren’t that many, though they were positioned at choke points) but he went up to them and had a conversation.
Then slowly the rest of the soldiers came in and everyone who could obtain something that looked like Turkish garb. It was as if the Wallachian lord had cast a spell because everyone looked more Turkish than when we were practising in camp. I was confused who were the real Turks. The real Turks were also confused because there weren’t supposed to be so many patrols coming in.
And then!!! When the rest of the army arrived at the walls, we attacked the Turks inside the city and cut them down!! Well I personally didn’t much cut them down because I know, warfare and all, but doesn’t the Gemore say the death of a person is like the death of an entire world, so I’d rather not. I don’t know much of the Gemore but I know that one. The lord had no such reservations however!! He fought like a bear and making wild slashes left and right and when his great sword was knocked out of his grip he literally fell upon the Turks and tore them apart with his bare hands!! I have never seen such a sight, you like to say that part from the Torah that nothing is new under the Sun but this was pretty new to me!!
I don’t know if he is a monster, he still seems human to me, but that is not human strength. He does have a reputation for evil but he plays up to it for great effect. He had some of the men gather the corpses of the slain Turks and had them impaled on stakes right outside the town, to instil fear in the incoming Turks coming to their comrades’ aid, and there was indeed great fear among the Turks so I suppose this worked. People call him the Impaler from his old days as ruler of Wallachia when he supposedly impaled his live enemies, but I did not see that. He is proud of his moniker though and that scares me but he seems no more cruel than the Magyars to be honest, or the Turks. They are all quite cruel. If us Jews had an empire we would probably be cruel too.
This is not a criticism of you!!! G-d forbid.
I am still not sure what Vlad has under his bed. I wish you were a bit less sedentary because you could surely contrive to sit on it. His bed, I mean. But you are sitting in Buda while... Oh you know.
With great respect, Majsi
(I will also try to get more letters for you and send them as I get them and can find your contact. I might not send you more of mine with them because they take much time to compose, and we will soon be on the march again. I ask for your understanding! Again, Majsi.)
The following letters were enclosed with the above:
July 9, 1476
To the King,
The battles have been proceeding as planned. After our victories in the South, we are turning to the Northeast and making a move on Wallachia. I have devised a few unconventional tactics, and for these I need to requisition an amount of coin from the royal treasury, as detailed in the attached document. The axes are especially important. Please instruct your quartermasters that these be the kind used for cutting down trees first and foremost, not battle-axes to be used upon enemies. I shall explain later; I ask for your trust and understanding in the meanwhile.
Further personal communications will also follow.
Your loyal servant,
Vlad of Wallachia
July 9, 1476
Dear Mátyás,
I apologize for the dry tone of the previous letter; I am sending this one separately because I have reason to suspect spies in our midst. Our gambit with the disguises worked well, and contributed greatly to our military success, but Lord Branković has grown suspicious of me.
I do believe the figure of Vlad will soon outlive his usefulness. For the time being it is highly beneficial for me to be reviled and feared, but battles end while mouths still go on to speak, and eventually someone will no doubt collate all the details and understand my nature. I suspect someone is opening my letters; my errand-boy is dedicated but quite simple, and it might prove easy for a spy to get past him.
I do ask you to allow me a final moment of glory before the planned demise.
How are plans for the wedding proceeding? It is good I learned some Italian from Galeotto and that impertinent brat Janus.
In the meantime I’ll spread word of my “wedding”—I will need some help with picking my supposed offspring and my future widow.
Wishing you a good recuperation after your many battles,
Vlad
[below and in a different hand]
I am greatly amused!!! But what is that bit about the future widow?! —Majsi
Letter from Galeotto Marzio to Jakab Mendel the Elder
August 22, 1476
To my dear friend, Jakab Mendel the Elder,
This humble chronicler is always delighted to hear from you. I need to apologize for my delay in responding—we have been on the march to the northeast, and what a difficult march it has been! Periodically the Lord Vlad has the soldiers stop to cut down trees by the roadside and roll them over the road itself, for we have now reached the great Carpathian forests, and he intends to cut off escape routes for the enemy. No doubt also for ordinary peasant passers-by, but as I am fond of saying, the ends justify the means. (One day this aphorism will ensure the continuation of my name, if I dare say so myself.)
Honestly, all were co
nvinced the axes would serve the purpose of making the infamous stakes for impalement, but so far they haven’t seen any such use. They have been only used to cut down timber.
Morale is good, if only because all dread Vlad of Wallachia. He makes splendid use of his infamy, as a true leader would. He cultivates an air of cruelty, unlike our friend the King, who tries to appear affable and a friend of the common people. I have assisted both of them with my talents, as I would also be willing to assist you.
It is fascinating that you have taken an interest in the beliefs of the common folk about the netherworld—had I known earlier, I could have regaled you with all the old wives’ tales I hear around camp. I have never heard of such a being as this “estrie” that you describe, though many nations do speak of various bloodsucking monsters and revenants. Curiously, what little the Magyars know about such creatures seems to originate entirely with other folk. The Wallachians speak of the “strigoi”—a male creature, unlike your estrie—that could be considered similar, if I have understood this right. Yet you will be hard-pressed to find a Magyar not of Székely origin who has heard of this demonic creature, and presumably the Székely heard it from the Wallachians. My servant Ferenc calls such a monster a “murony,” which word must originate in the Wallachian “moroi” meaning a dead person. But your estrie sounds more like the strigoi, which is also a revenant, rising from the grave. You can fight the strigoi with garlic or lovage, whose strong smells drive it away. Some also say marriage can prevent a person from becoming such a monster in death, but I must say most of these folk marry with or without fear of these Devil-creatures—especially in the villages, you cannot find an unmarried adult who is not a widower. And we all know that peasants speculate about people of unusual qualities.
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