In the reader letter, I answer these questions and more and prove that, just as the narrator stated in the opening lines of Braveheart, history is written by those who've hanged heroes. Perhaps that is the case for Vlad Draculea III of Wallachia.
Most boys, Wallachian and European, turned
while under Turkish (Ottoman) rule and became Janissaries, or members of an
army of foreign boys loyal to the Turkish cause.
Vlad’s younger brother, Radu the Handsome,
was imprisoned along with Vlad. Not long after their arrival, Radu became a favorite
of the Sultan, Mehmed II, and shifted his loyalty to the side of the Turks,
leaving Vlad to endure the hellish captivity and experiences on his own, with
only his Catholic faith to lean on. Vlad’s experiences while in Ottoman
captivity that are detailed in this book, while fictionalized, are based on
real events detailed by Vlad and historians alike. When Vlad’s captivity was
over, he held fast to his Catholic faith and left his little brother, now a
lover of the Sultan and a practicing Muslim, in Turkey.
That's it, folks! I hope you enjoyed this week's excerpt from my reader letter!
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