He decreed that no one should go hungry in his Kingdom, and invited all the poor, unfortunate souls who tainted his concept of what society should be to a banquet in the great hall in Tirgoviste. One day, Vlad Dracula decided to cleanse his Kingdom of those he considered to be lazy and unproductive, those who suffered from illness, a handicap, or were simply born in poverty. He abhorred weakness of any kind, and was determined to be the ruler of a kingdom which would only be host to the rich and powerful. Needless to say, Vlad Dracula in no way considered these people human beings, and he treated them worse than animals, severely punishing and torturing his captives, whether or not they had done anything to provoke him. Many were forced to work naked, for their clothes had fallen off from wear. Construction of the castle was difficult work, and many of the slaves died in the process. Thus began Vlad the Impaler's reign of blood and terror. Those who were old and weak were impaled for all to see. Those who were in good health were condemned to a life of slavery, and put to work on the construction of his Poenari Castle on the Arges river.
In 1458, following an Easter Sunday feast, Vlad Dracula had all the Boyar families who had been attending arrested. Vlad Dracula formed an alliance with Hunyadi, in the hopes of persuading him he was the rightful heir to the throne, but it wasn't until 1456, that Vlad Dracula would make his move, killing his father's murderer, and defeating Vladislav II, to take over as the new ruler of Wallachia.
Vlad Dracula, still in his teens, with the help of Pasha Mustafa Hassan's Turkish cavalry, defeated the Boyars, reclaiming the throne for a very short period of time, as Hunyadi would soon thereafter appoint Vladislav II to the post. The throne of Wallachia, which would have normally been reserved for Vlad Dracula, was now occupied by the Boyars. While in captivity, Vlad had grown resentful, and vowed to have his revenge. In addition to learning of his father's demise, Vlad was also told his older brother, Mircea had had his eyes gouged out, and been buried alive by the Boyars of Tirgoviste. Vlad Dracula was granted his freedom following his father's death, but Radu decided to stay behind. In the winter of 1447, Vlad Dracul was assassinated in a coup orchestrated by one of his relatives, John Hunyadi, who had devoted his life to fighting the Ottoman Turks, and did not approve of Vlad Dracul's pro-Turkish policy. He even went as far as allowing Sultan Murad II to keep his two sons, Vlad Dracula, and his younger brother Radu, as "insurance" that he would not plan to strike against the Turks. Merely two years later, in a strange turn of events, Vlad II betrayed the Order of the Dracul, forming an alliance with the Turks. It was there young Vlad Dracula would get his first taste of the opulent lifestyle, and perhaps also where the beast within would begin to grow. In 1436, Vlad Dracul took over the throne of Wallachia, taking up residence in the palace of Tirgoviste. While growing up with such a name would normally present problems for most of us, Vlad certainly did not seem to mind, as he really did live up to his title but before we look upon the exploits of the son, let us learn a bit more about the father. Vlad was not called Tepes, which means "spike" in Romanian, until after his death instead, he was known as Vlad Dracula, the appended "a" meaning "son of," so essentially, throughout his life, he was known as the "son of the Devil." The name Dracul can be interpreted in two ways, the first translation from Romanian would be "Dragon", but it sometimes also means "Devil". Transylvania, along with Moldavia and Wallachia, are now joined together as Romania. Vlad Dracul was also a knight in the Order of the Dragon, a secret fraternity created in 1387 by the Emperor, sworn to uphold Christianity and defend the empire against the Islamic Turks. Vlad III, Dracula, Drakulya, or Tepes, was born in late 1431, in the citadel of Sighisoara, Transylvania, the son of Vlad II or Dracul, a military governor, appointed by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund.