Darkness began to grow inside of the young Dracula; he learned never to put his trust entirely in one person and to always take vengeance on those who would betray him. .
Following the assassination of his father in 1447, Dracula escaped from the palace and after a brief seizure of power in the principality of Wallachia, traveled to Moldavia, ruled by his uncle, Prince Bogdan where he was exiled until Bogdan was brutally murdered in 1451. With no other alternative, Vlad presented himself to Janos Hunyady, governor of Transylvania. Hunyady soon became Dracula's greatest teacher and mentor, teaching Dracula important political tactics and strategies against the Turks. After Hunyady's death (caused by the plague on August 11th), Dracula left Transylvania for Wallachia and overthrew Prince Vladislav II (Dracula caught up to the fleeing Vladislav and killed him 9 days later). This would begin his longest and most famous rule over the country, but not his last . And so the question remains: was Dracula truly a son of demons or was he just a sadistic ruler with no belief of remorse? Well the first thing that is brought to my mind about the subject is both. .
During Dracula's primary rule (1456-1462) his tactics for dealing with the issues-especially in dealing in foreign affairs with the Turks, now his sworn enemies-were in a word unorthodox. In two words unorthodox and horrific. One event illustrating this inordinate concern for "the respect of diplomatic usage" occurred during a reception of a Genoese delegation from Caffa, narrated to us by Michael Beheim: .
I have found that some Italians (i.e., Genoese) came as ambassadors to his court. As they came to him they took off their hats and hoods facing the prince. Under the hat, each of them wore a coif or a little skullcap that he did not take off, as is the habit among Italians. Dracula then asked them for an explanation of why they had only taken their hats off, leaving their skullcaps on their heads.
