Another one of the illegitimate offspring of Mircea, Alexander, ruled between 14 as Alexander I Aldea. Mihail ruled from 1408 to 1418 as co-ruler with his father but Romanian custom, which ‘allowed’ for concubinage, meant that Vlad II Dracul’s bastardy did not impede him from also claiming the throne. In fact, of the many sons born to Mircea, only one, Mihail, was conceived in the marriage bed. Vlad Dracula the Impaler’s father, Vlad II Dracul, was the illegitimate son of Mircea I of Wallachia.
Succession to the throne in both Wallachia and in the Ottoman Empire was not necessarily by primogeniture or by legitimacy. Perhaps the first question in terms of family intrigues we should look at is the question of sons and brothers. This dichotomy of succour and sedition was never better displayed than in the family histories of the clan of Dracula and in that of their Ottoman opponents in the Balkans. Equally they can be places of danger, deceit and division. Families can be a place of safety, repose and support during hard times.
