LLT 180-1 SP 10                                                                                Name:

Vlad Dracula: Discussion Questions

Book II: Prince

Chapter 1: 1456 Tirgoviste

1.       Vlad Dracula is once again voevode of Wallachia.  Upon taking the throne, he is sent letters by both the Sultan Mohammed and the Roman Catholic king of Hungary asking for his oath of allegiance.  To whom does Vlad swear an oath of allegiance and why?

2.      Besides allegiance, what else does the Sultan demand from Vlad Dracula?

3.      Who has Vlad’s true allegiance and/or trust up to this point in the story do you think?

4.      What does cousin Stephen want from Vlad Dracula?

5.      Who is Gales?

6.      What is Snagov?

7.      How does Vlad win over Father Gregor’s support for his cause?

8.      What secret mission does Vlad send Father Gregor on at the end of chapter 1?

Chapter 2: The Porte (Capitol of the Osmanli Empire)

1.       What affront does Vlad make to the Turks/Sultan at the beginning of this chapter?

2.      What role has Volinos the Greek merchant taken on for the Sultan?

3.      What kind of army is Vlad creating in Wallachia?

4.      By what name does this army call themselves?

5.      Radu (Vlad’s brother) has always coveted being the Wallachian voevode.  What kind of future does he intend for Wallachia when he becomes the prince?

Chapter 3:  Tirgoviste

1.       There have been numerous Turkish attacks upon Wallachian villages near the Danube river, why?

2.      Wilk has been recruiting Draguli from among the peasants and commoners.  However, three of his latest recruits are ‘uncommon’ commoners. What use do the Draguli have for the blind man and the legless man whom he is pushing around in a cart?

3.      The third ‘uncommon’ commoner is Kyril.  What is his story?

4.      Vlad tells the new recruits that they will have to be ‘unholy’ (commit atrocities) in order to fight in Holy Wars, what consolation does he offer them?

5.      In what manners and by what means does Vlad Dracula reach out to the Wallachian peasants and common people?

6.      At the bottom of pages 107-108, a criminal is accused of petty theft and brought before Vlad Dracula for sentencing.  What are your thoughts of Vlad’s punishment for the thief and of his reasoning behind the punishment?

7.      Do you agree or disagree with Vlad’s expectations of a boyar’s duty to those in his service and Vlad’s displeasure with the boyars of his realm?

8.      Father Gregor is asked by Vlad for his opinion of “a man who takes a fee for a service and does not deliver that service.” (109) Why did Father Gregor hesitate in his answer?

Chapter 4: Wallachia

1.       How does Vlad reward Cirstian (and numerous other brave men in his service) for his courage and service to the peasants?

2.      The peasant father/husband requests that he himself be allowed to hang the Turkish raiders who attacked his home.  Vlad refuses the peasant’s request, why?

3.      Instead of hanging the raiding Turks, Vlad decides to impale them, combating the Turkish weapon of terror with his own terror.  However, when Vlad issues this order for impalement to his men, they do not immediately comply, why?

4.      One member of the Turkish raiders is spared his life, which one, and why?

Chapter 5: Tirgoviste

1.       What is the news out of Moldavia?

2.      What is the news out of Hungary with regard to the sons of the late Janos Hunyadi?

3.      With the turmoil in Hungary and the fall of Serbia to the Turks, what does the Wallachian church and the boyars want Vlad to do and why?

4.      What great service did Gales (of the few boyars in Vlad’s trust) provide for Vlad and how is he rewarded for this service?

Chapter 6

1.      How does Father Gregor, in league with the Wallachian boyars, try to use Prasha as a pawn in their schemes?

2.      Why does Vlad have a problem with beggars?

3.      What is up with the golden cup?  What purpose does Vlad intend to serve with this cup?

Chapter 7: Tirgoviste, Easter Day 1457

1.       Three Riddles:

a.        Resurrection riddle: What was the purpose of this riddle?

b.      How many voevodes have you [the boyars] known?  What was the purpose and the answer to this riddle?

c.       Can you [boyars] imagine a worse death than Jesus’s crucifixion?  What was Vlad’s answer and the purpose behind this riddle?

2.       What did Vlad Dracula do on Easter Sunday 1457 that became a key component of his legend?

Chapter 8: Summer Tirgoviste

1.       Vlad and his army (Draguli and boyars) marched into Transylvania to strike back at Hungary and its Saxon merchants (also called burgers) for harboring a rival claimant to the Wallachian throne.  An old woman stood in the road between Vlad’s army and the town.  Vlad’s army feared her and a called her a strigoica.  What is a strigoica?

2.      Vlad and the Wallachians feasted as the Saxon merchants (burgers) were impaled.  Once again, the old woman shows up.  What is the significance of this second encounter between the old woman and Vlad Dracula?

Chapter 9: Autumn Tirgoviste

1.       Vlad has organized a ‘beggars’ ball’ of sorts.  He provided the beggars of Tirgoviste with new clothes, a feast, music, and lots of wine.  A leader emerged from among the beggars to debate with Vlad on the reasons behind this ‘beggars’ ball’.

a.        Vlad asked why these beggars refused his urging to find work.  How did the beggar leader respond?

b.      Vlad has determined that beggars are useless to Walachia, but the beggar leader disagrees.  What purpose does this beggar leader claim for his fellow beggars?

c.       Vlad calls in Father Gregor to read all the drunken, sleeping beggars their last rites (all the beggars, except the beggar leader that is!)  Father Gregor urges Vlad to spare the beggars and to show mercy.  Vlad claims to have shown them mercy, how so?

Chapter 10: 1458 The Porte

1.      Recall that upon the Sultan Murad’s death, we were introduced to Murad’s advisor, Chalil.  Chalil, under the new Sultan Mohammed is no longer an advisor, but has since become a spy, who disguises himself as a merchant. At the beginning of chapter 10, the merchant spy (Chalil) has come to report to the Sultan.  What news does he bring from Hungary?

2.      We also learn of the fate of the beggars at the ‘beggars’ ball’, which was?

3.      Recall the mass murder of the boyars after the boyar feast, we now learn what happened to the boyar families, wives and children.  What was their collective fate?

4.      Who/what is Kaziglu?

5.      What mystery surrounds those whom Dracula impales?

Chapter 11: Hungary

1.       At the end of chapter 10, the Sultan believes that Vlad Dracula “had made a colossal mistake.”  Can you determine what this mistake was from reading chapter 11?

2.      Why does Mattias, the new king of Hungary, hire Jan Jiskraz, a mercenary, to fight Vlad instead of using his own army?

Chapter 12:  1460 The Porte

1.       The feud between the Saxons and Vlad has ended without war, much to the Sultan’s displeasure.  What were the terms of the truce, set forth by King Mattias?

Chapter 13: Months later, Castle Dracula

1.      Vlad’s men capture Chalil the merchant spy and drag him before Vlad.  What new plans does Vlad devise for this spy?

2.      Who does Wilk remind Vlad of that would be helpful to Wallachia in this new plan?

Chapter 14: Tirgoviste

1.      Two famous legends of Vlad Dracula are revealed in this chapter. The first involves the Italian merchant who had once given Vlad that golden cup and the other is of an embassy of Turks sent by the Sultan to Tirgoviste.

a.       The Italian merchant was robbed of 160 gold ducats.  The thief was found (through an early system of neighborhood watch) and was put to death, but how did Vlad test the merchant’s honesty?

b.      The Turkish embassy came to once again demand both tribute and child-tribute to the Sultan, though it was not this that insulted Vlad the most.  What about these Turks enraged Vlad?

2.      On page 149, Vlad refers to an historical figure that had great influence upon Vlad’s own public policies.  This historical figure’s name was Draco, and the laws that he placed up are referred to as “Draco’s Laws”.  What policies of Draco did Vlad use in his management of Wallachia?

Chapter 15

1.      To finish up the second famous legend of the Turkish embassy and their costly disrespect in Tirgoviste, how did that story end?

2.      Volinos, the Greek merchant who was ‘sold out’ (revealed as a spy) by Chalil to Vlad, comes to Vlad with his mission to set up a parlay between Hamza Pasha and Vlad.  Volinos informs Vlad that each side is to only have a small escort (with the same number of men.)  How does Volinos offer to help Vlad?