Stories at Bucharest’s Map Museum: Transylvania in Fries’ 1525 and Mercator’s 1595 Maps, and Dacia in Fries’ 1541 Map

Map Museum16 century map of Transylvania by Gerardus Mercator, hand painted in red, yellow, green, brown watercolours

Stories at Bucharest’s Map Museum unfold through three remarkable early maps: Lorenz Fries’ 1525 map of Transylvania, his 1541 map of Dacia, and Gerardus Mercator’s 1595 map of Transylvania, each offering a glimpse into how cartographers of the past imagined and recorded these historic lands.

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Where Did Vlad Dracula Live as Voivode of Wallachia, 1456-1462, Part 5

Vlad the Impaler, Curtea Veche Bucuresti

Curious where did Vlad Dracula live during his second and longest reign of Wallachia, besides Targoviste? Then join my travels today.

Vlad had spent years traveling through the Ottoman lands, Moldavia, and Transylvania—but where did Vlad Dracula live during those years, and which courts, fortresses and roads shaped the man he would become?

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Following Vlad III in Moldavia and Transylvania: Exile and New Alliances, 1449–1456, Part 4

The years Vlad III spent in Moldavia and Transylvania, exiled, perhaps at the Edirne Ottoman court too, are the ones we now the least about-almost no records were left. These are the years that sparked my imagination writing the historical fiction saga Blood of Kings, Heart of Shadows.

So what exactly do we know about the time Vlad III spent seeking refuge at the Ottoman court an then exiled at the Moldavia court and in Transylvania? He was not yet calling himself Vlad Dracula, and not yet called Vlad the Impaler either.

Continue reading “Following Vlad III in Moldavia and Transylvania: Exile and New Alliances, 1449–1456, Part 4”