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Mircea the
Elder
Since the death of Vlad's grandfather (Mircea the
Elder) in 1418, Wallachia had fallen into a somewhat
anarchical situation. A constant state of war had led to
rampant crime, falling agricultural production, and the
virtual disappearance of trade. Vlad used severe methods
to restore some order, as he needed an economically
stable country if he was to have any chance against his
external enemies.
The Struggle by
L.J.Smith
The early part of Vlad’s reign was dominated by the
idea of eliminating all possible threats to his power,
mainly the rival nobility groups, i.e. the boyars. This
was done mainly by physical elimination, but also by
reducing the economic role of the nobility: the key
positions in the Prince’s Council, traditionally
belonging to the country’s greatest boyars, were handed
to obscure individuals, some of them of foreign origin,
but who manifested loyalty towards Vlad.
For the less
important functions, Vlad also ignored the old boyars,
preferring to knight and appoint men from the free
peasantry. A key element of the power of the Wallachian
nobility was their connections in the Saxon-populated
autonomous towns of Transylvania, so Vlad acted against
these cities by eliminating their trade privileges in
relation with Wallachia and by organizing raids against
them. In 1459, he had 30,000 of the German settlers
(Saxons) and officials of the Transylvanian city of
Kronstadt who were transgressing his authority impaled.
Dracula - Vlad III the Impaler -
Transylvania
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