Dracula Goes to War Meanwhile, it was time for Matthias to prove the seriousness of his intentions regarding the crusade. Preliminary military actions were beginning south of the Danube, in the Serbian lands, which by that time had already been captured by the Turks. At the end of November or early December 1475, Ilona saw her husband and stepson off to war, which progressed rather slowly. King Matthias and the entire Hungarian nobility gathered under the walls of a small Turkish fortress, Šabac or Savač (the fortress was located on the Sava River). A drawing depicting this "fortress" has been preserved. The drawing clearly shows that the towers are low, two-story structures, and instead of walls, there are earthen ramparts topped with a wattle fence. Matthias's army besieged this wattle fence for an entire month—from mid-January to mid-February 1476. Dracula, of course, watched this with a smirk, as 14 years earlier in Wallachia (Romanian Land), he had led a similar campaign against the Turks on the Danube. In January 1462, he captured and burned about 10 similar fortresses and damaged the facades of just as many more. Now, Dracula observed how Matthias's army was unjustifiably wasting time with just one, although the reason was clear—the king was deliberately avoiding a confrontation with the larger Turkish forces. The aim of the military actions initiated by Matthias was to raid enemy territory while avoiding large-scale battles. The army then moved on to Bosnia to liberate it from the Turks, but as expected, the "defenders" found the country devastated, and the Turks had vanished without a trace. 4 Months with Family and the Birth of a Son When Dracula returned home in March 1476, he had no desire to leave again. He spent 4 consecutive months with his wife, which, given his restless life, was a very long time. Shortly after Dracula's return—likely in early April 1476—Ilona gave birth to a boy who went down in history as Mihnea the Bad, a prince of Wallachia (Romania). However, some historians believe that this boy was not Mihnea and that Ilona's son had a different name. This opinion is based on the text of the Old Russian "Tale," where another, the eldest son of Dracula, who was raised in Turkey and later fled to the Hungarian court after his father's death, is mentioned. This son was named Michael, and historians, based on the similarity of names, speculate that he is Mihnea. However, if we accept this theory, it turns out that Mihnea the Bad first ascended the throne when he was almost 60 years old. For Wallachian (Romanian) princes of that time, this is a very atypical situation, so it is more likely that Mihnea the Bad was indeed Ilona's son and ascended the throne at the age of just over 30. In May 1476, everything should have settled down for the couple, as that was when the 40 days allowed for postpartum "purification" according to the rules of the time were to end. Ilona hoped to become a mother more than once, but their happy family life lasted only until early July 1476, when Dracula once again went off to war. The war was fought on the territories of various states. Initially, these were battles with the Turks who had invaded Transylvania, and then King Matthias finally fulfilled his promise and helped Dracula reclaim the throne of Wallachia (Romania). However, the king himself did not join the campaign, as he was preparing for his wedding to Princess Beatrice. ... Read the continuation in the next article...