RADU THE FAIR: This story is great and actual history. It turns out that Vlad III, the historic and bloody Prince (king actually but called Prince) of Wallachia better known by his nickname of Dracula, had three brothers. When his Christian father made a pact with the Ottoman Sultan to gain his throne, Dracula's father sent young Vlad and his handsome young brother Radu to the Sultan's court as hostages. The two brothers were raised with the Sultan's son Mehmet. They studied together. Radu grew up to be very handsome and charismatic. He was nicknamed Radu the Fair, and Mehmet pursued him. They are said to have become lovers.
The two brothers lives diverged. Vlad hated school at the court and rebelled often. So he was often punished severely. Radu converted to Islam and became a leader of the elite Ottoman Jainassary troops. Vlad eventually became Prince of Wallachia -renowned for torturing prisoners while he ate. He switched sides and opposed the Ottomans. When the Sultan sent in troops Vlad and his army slaughtered 20,000 Turkish men, women and children by impaling them and leaving a forest of their bodies to scare off the Turks. It worked in scaring off the Ottoman troops. So the Sultan called in Radu to take care of Dracula.
The brothers battled and became known in Turkish legend as the Blood Brothers. Radu drove out Vlad Tepes (Vlad the Impaler) who fled to Hungary. Radu became Prince allied with the Ottomans and appears to have had a fairly prosperous reign until his untimely death around age 40. He also assisted Mehmet in conquering Constantinople. Thus is the story of Dracula's brother and Mehmet the Conqueror.
No comments:
Post a Comment