Radu cel Frumos

Radu cel Frumos (Radu the Handsome), (c.1437/1439-1475), was the younger brother of Vlad Ţepeş (Vlad the Impaler; actually Vlad III). They were both sons of Vlad II Dracul (Dracul : the dragon or devil), but by different mothers. They had an older brother too, called Mircea, who was buried alive. In 1444 Radu went with his father and elder brother to visit the Ottoman Sultan Murad in Adrianople, where they were kept as hostages, while Mircea ruled the kingdom in their absence. The father, Vlad Dracul was released first in 1443. Vlad Ţepeş was released in 1448, and was the Turks' candidate for the throne of Wallachia; Radu, however, remained with the Turks for the moment, apparently of his own volition, and there is evidence that he had become the lover of the Sultan's heir, the later Mehmed II. According to Chalcocondylas, Mehmed's first attempt to seduce him ended in disaster. Radu cut Mehmed with his sword and then, in fear for his life, ran and climbed up a tree. Mehmed only talked him into coming down by promising not to kill him.

Under Turkish pressure Vlad fled to Transylvania in 1462, and the Ottomans placed his brother on the throne of Wallachia. Radu ruled from 1462 until 1473, when Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân (Basarab Laiotă the Old) took over the throne for a year; in the same year Radu regained the throne and retained it until the following year. During the course of 1474 Radu was king three times, and Basarab twice; by the end of that year Radu was king once more, and remained so until the following year when he died of syphilis, and was naturally succeeded by Basarab. He left a daughter, Maria Voichiţa, who afterwards became wife of Stefan cel Mare.