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Their bodies were left to rot outside the city walls as a reminder of what would happen if anyone else dared to flout his rules.
    Vlad soon became infamous for his inhumane cruelty and rumours spread about his empire that he ate the flesh and drank the blood of his victims. Vlad was very proud of his work and liked to arrange his victims in geometric patterns, using the length of the stake to determine their rank. Because he loved to see his victim’s suffer, Vlad used impalement as his preferred method of torture as it was one of the most gruesome and painful ways to die. He carried out his torture in various ways, but he usually had a horse attached to each of the victim’s legs and then a sharpened stake was gradually forced into the body. Vlad made sure that the end of the stake was not too sharp so that his victim would die slowly, and it was forced up the anus until it came out of the mouth. The impaled would then be hoisted up so that their own weight literally dragged them down onto the thick stakes.
    Other hapless victims had their eyes gouged out, were decapitated, skinned alive, boiled, burned, dismembered, eviscerated and even simply disfigured just for Vlad’s own entertainment. Turkish ambassadors who refused to remove their turbans in his presence were asked why they insulted the prince in such a manner. When they told him that it was their custom to leave their hats on, he repaid them by having them nailed permanently to their heads. Vlad watched in delight as the men writhed in agony as large nails were driven into their skulls.
    Vlad was obsessed with a moral code and was particularly concerned with female chastity. Women who lost their chastity or were unfaithful to their husbands, were subjected to Vlad’s cruelty. He went as far as having his own mistress disembowelled in public because she lied about bearing his child. In fact. Vlad loved to torture women, it gave him some sort of sadistic pleasure. He often had their breasts and sexual organs mutilated and it was rumoured that he forced mothers to eat their own babies.
    It wasn’t long before Vlad’s tyranny was such that no one dared to oppose his laws. In fact his subjects were so scared that he flaunted his authority by leaving a gold cup on permanent display in the middle of the central square of Tirgoviste. The cup remained untouched as everyone was fully aware of what the consequences would be.
    Many historians have tried to justify Vlad’s actions on the basis of political necessity, although in reality it was probably his desire for revenge and a lust for overwhelming power. Throughout his reign Vlad continued his efforts to eradicate the old boyar classes out of Wallachia, determined to introduce his more modern approach and to gain a firm and respected footing in his empire. As he got rid of the boyars he replaced them with new, middle-class men – men he knew would be loyal to him.
     
    BEATEN BY THE TURKS
    For the most part, Wallachia had been free from attack from the Turks during the reign of Vlad III. However, a new sultan came to power in 1461 and the Ottoman Empire once again turned their attentions to Wallachia. Vlad was informed of the approaching Turkish army, and knowing that his army would be greatly outnumbered, he planned a daring venture. He waited until it was the middle of the night before leading a small elite force into the Turkish camp. His aim was to catch the sultan off guard and kill him in the hope of demoralising his troops. Due to the element of surprise and Vlad’s knowledge of the rough terrain around the camp, his mission was almost successful, although they only managed to wound the sultan.
    His attack on their camp only succeeded in making the Turks more determined and Vlad prepared to flee from Targoviste. His wife, who believed that escape from the Turks was impossible, committed suicide by jumping into a river from one of the battlement towers. Vlad managed to escape through a secret passage, with a