In the Shadow of Empires

Vlad Dracula, three times ruler of Walachia, never once ruler of Transylvania, indeed he left Transylvania at around the age of 7, when his father took the throne in Wallachia and moved his family from Sighisoara to Tirgoviste (and no, he didn't have a castle in Transylvania either. Neither the one in Bran, nor any other). Vlad was given as a hostage to the Ottomans in ca. 1442 and held there until his father's murder in 1448. He then briefly ruled with Ottoman backing. Sent packing, he roamed around until he managed to get the throne back in 1456. He ruled for 6 years in what by many is still seen as a golden period, where crime and anti-social behaviour was as good as eradicated through harsh and very public punishment of those that broke the law (impaling was particularly popular. He ha.......