Radu cel Frumos (or Radu the Handsome), (c. 1437/1439 – 1475), was the younger brother of Vlad Ţepeş (Dracula) and voivode (prince) of the principality of Wallachia. They were both sons of Vlad II Dracul (Dracul : the dragon or devil), but by different mothers. They had two older brothers, Mircea II and Vlad Călugărul, both of whom would also rule Wallachia for a short period.
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[edit] Life with the Ottomans
In 1444 Radu went with his father and elder brother Vlad Tepes to visit the Ottoman Sultan Murad in Adrianople, where they were kept as hostages as a part of a treaty signed by their father, while Mircea II ruled the kingdom in their absence. However, when Hungarian hero John Hunyadi defeated the Ottomans in battle, he replaced Mircea II and his father with Basarab II, son to Dan II of Wallachia.
The boys were taken to be held in the fortress at Egrigoz, but were not actually confined in a cell. However, it was still a delicate and potentially dangerous situation. Three years earlier, the sons of Serbian noble Đurađ Branković had their eyes burned out for being suspected of plotting an escape. The two brothers were later taken to be educated in logic, the Qur'an and the Turkish language. They were also trained in warfare and riding horses. The boys' father, Vlad Dracul, was released quickly, in 1443, and with the support of the Ottomans he returned to Wallachia and took back his throne from Basarab II.
Meanwhile per records of various "pederastic relationships" in the court of the Sultans: the most notorious was the one of Radu cel Frumos; while a hostage at the Ottoman court in the 1440s, Radu (whose epithet, "cel Frumos" means "the Handsome"), younger brother of Vlad III the Impaler, after first refusing his favors to the Sultan he was wounded with his own sword after recovering Radu became the most beloved of the Sultan Mehmed II.
[edit] Struggles for the rule of Wallachia
Radu's older brother Mircea II, a capable military commander, had recaptured the fortress at Giurgiu in 1445, having the Ottoman prisoners executed by hacking them to death. Vlad Dracul did not take part in this campaign against the Ottomans so that he might retain the throne, but he was aware of it and had allowed his son Mircea II to lead the Wallachian forces. Later, Vlad Dracul had to sign yet another treaty with the Ottomans in which he had to return the fortress to the Ottomans in an effort to continue his rule as well as keep his captive sons safe.
In November, 1447, John Hunyadi launched an attack against Wallachia due to its being allied with the Ottomans by the treaties signed by Vlad Dracul. Radu's father fled, but Mircea II was captured by boyars from Tirgoviste, and had his eyes burned out and was buried alive. A short time after their father was captured and killed. Vlad Ţepeş was released in 1448, and was the Turks' candidate for the throne of Wallachia, the first of a succession of times he would hold the throne, holding it this first time for only a matter of months. Radu, however, fell to the seductions of the Ottoman court, and remained with the Turks for the moment, apparently of his own volition, and willingly converted to Islam.
Radu's brother Vlad Tepes later went on to take the throne from Vladislav II in 1456, and began his reign of terror for which he would become best known following this period. Like his older brother Mircea II, Vlad Tepes was an able military commander, and now found himself opposing the Ottomans, but fought successfully against them for a number of years. This was due in part to the fact that the Ottomans feared him due to his brutal tactics. However, in 1462 a massive Ottoman army marched against Wallachia, and Vlad Tepes fled to Transylvania. During his departure, he practiced a scorched earth policy, leaving nothing of importance to be used by the pursuing Ottoman army. When the Ottoman forces approached Tirgoviste, it was said that thousands of men and women were found to have been impaled along the roadside. [1]
Vlad then went into a guerilla campaign mode, destroying an Ottoman force commanded by Great Vizier Mahmed-Pasha in May, 1462, pursuing them in their retreat as far as the Danube. On June 16th and 17th, he again defeats a sizeable Ottoman force in what has become known as The Night Attack, which resulted in heavy casualties to the Ottoman army, as well as logistical losses. Until this time, Radu, by then 26 years of age, had been living in relative comfort in the Ottoman court.
The Ottomans placed Radu on the throne, and Vlad Tepes, with whom Radu was now an enemy, soon after began successful guerilla attacks against Radu's armies, launched from Vlad's mountain stronghold on the Arges River. Radu ruled from 1462 until 1473, with little to show for his reign. In 1473, Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân (Basarab Laiotă the Old) took over the throne for a year; in the same year Radu regained the throne and retained it until the following year. During the course of 1474 Radu was Prince three times, and Basarab twice; by the end of that year Radu was Prince once more, and remained so until the following year when he died of syphillis, and was naturally succeeded by Basarab. Vlad Tepes would take the throne one last time, for a period of only a month, in 1476. Radu left a daughter, Maria Voichiţa, who afterwards became the wife of Stephen III of Moldavia.
[edit] Popular Culture
- Radu features in the game Legendary Warriors, as the primary villain. He is portrayed as his brother Vlad's ultimate rival, and most hated adversary. He is shown to be young and headstrong, yet arrogant and proud, listening to nobody. He wields a pair of spears.
- Radu appears as a character in the Doctor Who audio drama Son of the Dragon, played by Douglas Hodge.
- Radu appears as a character in the film Dark Prince: The True Story of Dracula.
- Radu features in the first novel of the "Cassandra Palmer" series by Karen Chance and the first novel of the 'Dorina Basarab' series, as a slightly effeminate young man.
- A vampire character named Radu appears in the anime series Trinity Blood.
| Regnal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Vlad III Dracula | Prince of Wallachia 1462-1473 | Succeeded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân |
| Preceded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân | Prince of Wallachia 1473-1474 | Succeeded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân |
| Preceded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân | Prince of Wallachia 1474 | Succeeded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân |
| Preceded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân | Prince of Wallachia 1474-1475 | Succeeded by Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân |
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