Radu Cel Frumos - Struggles For The Rule of Wallachia

Struggles For The Rule of Wallachia

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 was blinded with a red hot poker before being buried alive. A short time after their father was captured and killed by the forces of John Hunyadi, Vlad III was released in 1448 and was the Ottoman Turks' candidate for the throne of Wallachia, the first of a succession of times he would hold the throne, this first time for only a matter of months.

Radu, at the age of 22, became a leading figure at the Ottoman court. He was sent by Mehmed to suppress the rebellion and subdue Anatolia and the border with Persia. He became a successful Janissary commander in the Ottoman Empire. He also served during the Battle of Otlukbeli against Uzun Hasan.

Radu's brother Vlad III later went on to take the throne from Vladislav II in 1456 and began his second reign for which he was to become famous. Like his older brother Mircea II, Vlad Ţepeş was an able military commander and now found himself opposing the Ottomans.

However, in 1462 a massive Ottoman army marched against Wallachia, with Radu at the head of the Janissary. Vlad retreated 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, they encountered over 20,000 of their kind impaled by the forces of Vlad III, creating a "forest" of dead or dying bodies on stakes. This atrocious, gut-wrenching sight was too much even for them to bear and frightened them into retreating.

Vlad waged a guerrilla campaign against the Ottoman forces commanded by the Grand Vizier Mahmed-Pasha in May, 1462, pursuing them in their retreat as far as the Danube. On June 16 and 17, he again defeats a sizable 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.

Radu cel Frumos and his Janissary battalion were given the responsibility of repelling his brother's deadly raids after the Sipahis failed to subdue Vlad. Radu was now given the task of leading the Ottoman Empire to victory. He was positioned north of the Danube, after most of the demoralized Ottoman Turks withdrew. There the brothers, known in Turkish as the Blood Brothers, fought lingering battles. Radu and his Janissary blended into the hinterlands well supplied with gunpowder and a continuous flow of Dinars. Radu had soon gained control of much of the country side.

Meanwhile, his brother Vlad III, due to his harsh policies towards the Boyars (whose power struggles he blamed for the state of the realm) was betrayed by them. Vlad III traveled to Hungary to ask for help from his former ally, Matthias Corvinus. But instead of receiving help he found himself arrested and thrown into the dungeon over false charges of treason.

After the victorious campaign north of the Danube the Ottomans placed the young Radu (then 26 years of age) as the pasha of Wallachia. Soon after, the Janissary under his command began attacks and raids on Vlad III's mountain stronghold on the Arges River, Poenari. During his reign the Ottoman Sipahi's gained a strong foothold in the south of the country. In 1473, following an agreement with the Ottomans, Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân (Basarab Laiotă the Old) took over the throne. Between 1473 and 1475 Radu briefly returned twice to the throne. His sudden death at the age of 40 in 1475 triggered the comeback of his brother Vlad III Dracula.